The Thrill of the Fight 2 review: VR’s best boxing game is ready for its rematch

Halfbrick Studios’ combat sports sim is currently in early access

The Thrill of the Fight 2 / Halfbrick Studios

My first competitive bout in The Thrill of the Fight 2 ends in round one after my opponent performs a drum solo on my head then does an obscene gesture from across the ring. Let’s call it a warmup.

Halfbrick Studios’ sequel to the best boxing game on VR is currently in Early Access, which means only online multiplayer is available. With the main event of offline single-player planned for an undisclosed date in 2025, right now you have to face off against actual people rather than AI bots. The problem is, actual people don’t always fight fair.

In my second contest I try a more cautious strategy, raising both fists in front of my face for an impenetrable high guard. It doesn’t matter. My opponent launches a sustained flurry that flashes my vision and prompts a high frequency ringing in my ears, like when the grenade explodes near the guy in Saving Private Ryan. Again, I’m on the floor.

Read more: I got knocked out by an actual Olympic boxer in The Thrill of the Fight 2

Your success in The Thrill of the Fight 2 depends on how good you are at actual boxing, which goes some way in explaining why I keep ending up on my back. Real-world skills transfer, and fights feel real, as if you’ve been directly transported into a boxing ring. Your opponent is right in front of you actively trying to punch you in the face. It’s enough to activate your fight or flight.

The Thrill of the Fight 2 / Halfbrick Studios

In fact, this might be the most sophisticated boxing simulation ever made. It’s responsive, with intuitive controls that directly mirror your movements without delay. You can flick jabs from the hip like Thomas Hearns, launch lighting hooks like Roy Jones Jr, or simply wave hello to your opponent from your corner. 

The feedback too captures what it’s like to stand inches from another person who wants to punch your lights out, with thumping impacts, flying sweat, and heaving breathing when the rounds drag. Beating up a rival in front of a packed crowd is a thrilling experience, and may just summon your inner warrior. 

Authentic physics let you deploy cheeky veteran moves, like extending an arm to smother an opponent’s jab at the source (useful for long-range fighters). Feinting also works. Just as in real life, you can pretend to go low and force your opponent to block their stomach, then deliver a crushing blow to the head.

There are also secondary systems at play, such as a momentary stunned effect that kicks in when you’ve taken too many hits, and weak points to target, such as the chin and liver. Hitting your rival in the mouth actually makes their lips ripple.

The Thrill of the Fight 2 / Halfbrick Studios

Be prepared to find the room for it. The game requires 2.5m squared of unobstructed space. If you’re out of luck you’ll have to play in stationary mode in which you stand still and move your body using the thumbstick. It’s not ideal. Thankfully, mixed reality is an option. Here you’ll turn off the virtual environments and fight in your actual house, which means there’s less chance of inadvertently knocking over the TV.

Movement works surprisingly well, given there are no sensors on your feet, with the game impressively managing to render your entire body without your bones getting mangled. This all comes together into an, at times, astoundingly realistic boxing experience that fundamentally understands the sport. 

That’s only when you have the right sparring partner, though - someone who’s willing to trade, rather than simply win at all costs. There’s a definite learning curve. In a handful of matches I find little defence against people who spam punches, despite me shelling up, using evasive head moments, and simply walking backwards (difficult if you don’t have a large area in real life to walk backwards into). 

Maybe it’s a skill issue, but some online opponents definitely seemed to be taking advantage of Early Access wobbles. There’s what’s known as ‘height glitching,’ where players max out their height slider to create a character far taller and rangier than they actually are. The game measures your height automatically when you load in, but there’s nothing stopping you, say, standing on a box. The developer says it’s working on height-based matchmaking as a solution. 

Its predecessor, which launched in the nascent of VR in 2016, gives you the ability to ply your craft against bots who fight with honor. Some are counter-punchers, conservatively waiting until you miss, then responding with a combo. Others are inside fighters, relentlessly walking you down and plying you with uppercuts. However they fight, it always feels like boxing.

At the moment you can’t always say the same for its sequel, largely because there’s no offline single-player mode yet. In its online PvP mode, some players have found ways to game the system. Fortunately, they don’t represent the game as a whole.

The Thrill of the Fight 2 Spectator app view / Halfbrick Studios

To its credit, Halfbrick Studios is updating the game on a weekly basis. It recently added a new damage system that aims to reduce the effectiveness of punch spamming. 

“Many players have reported that the new damage system combined with the counter-punch changes from last week have given them the tools to effectively fight against players who just punch continuously without defending,” the dev writes in a recent blog post. 

There’s also been an update to the trauma effect you see when you get hit, which better conveys how much damage you took, and a standalone spectator app that lets you watch fights in third-person from the crowd.

You won’t get a sense of how good the game is until it adds everything that made the first one so effective, however. Features like AI opponents with different styles, training apparatus including boxing bags, speed balls, and practice dummies, and a more in-depth character creator with unlockable gear to keep you coming back. 

Early Access isn’t the ideal condition to showcase The Thrill of the Fight 2. Online mode is a fiery crucible where well-intentioned newbies are met with a wanton barrage of violence, and there’s no way yet to sharpen your tools offline against bots.

While it’s made its ring walk slightly too soon, The Thrill of the Fight 2 is still an incredibly advanced boxing simulation that doubles as a sweat-inducing workout. The finished game will comfortably out-box its predecessor, but Early Access still needs a bit more time in the gym.

Score: 7/10

Platform tested: Meta Quest

The Thrill of the Fight 2 is now available in Early Access on Meta Quest 3S, Meta Quest 3, Meta Quest Pro, Meta Quest 2