VR developer focused on creating immersive storytelling experiences. Follow me on Twitter: @VRHeavenNews
October 2nd, 2023

Many people are just getting their Meta Quest 3, so I thought this would be the perfect time to write a guide on how to play Thrill of the Fight.

Thrill of the Fight offers a highly immersive boxing experience that rewards players for their real-world movement, strategies, and boxing techniques. It’s a great workout and will push your stamina to the limits. Here are some tips and tricks to excel in this VR boxing simulation:

How to Score Knockouts in Thrill of the Fight

Thrill of the fight alternate cover

1. Target Weak Points

A common question asked is: Does it matter how hard you hit in Thrill of the Fight? 

The game can’t determine how hard you hit, so it’ll estimate your power based on the speed of your punch. Although power is important for scoring knockouts, it isn’t as important as accuracy (hitting the weak points) and consistency.

As a great man once said: precision beats power, and timing beats speed.

Hitting certain parts of a boxer’s body causes more damage. These weak points are shown with lights on a training dummy, and bonus damage is displayed on the info panel. Targeting these weak spots can daze your opponent or even cause a quick knockdown. The computer opponent will try to target your weak points, which is why their punches might feel strong.

It’s crucial to target weak points in order to score knockouts. To get better at hitting these weak points, I recommend you practice on the training dummy.

2. Make Them Dizzy

A strong punch can daze or ‘dizzy’ a boxer. Dizzied boxers can’t hit as hard and should back off. If they keep getting hit while dizzied, they might get knocked down. The recovery time again depends on the punch’s power.

Dizzied computer opponents appear disoriented and will defend themselves. When you’re dizzied, your vision doubles, the screen darkens, and the effects intensify as you get closer to a knockdown. A hard punch causing dizziness is accompanied by a grunt sound.

3. Accumulate Damage

When a boxer sustains hits to the head or body, they accumulate trauma and pain. As these levels increase, the boxer becomes more vulnerable, receiving more damage from subsequent hits. This build-up also determines how long they remain down after a knockdown.

Only impactful hits contribute to the rise in trauma or pain levels.

4. Understand Punch Impact in the Game

Figuring out the impact of a punch in reality involves many factors like speed, mass, and body mechanics. “The Thrill of the Fight” simplifies this by looking at the speed of the punch and a set mass value to decide the punch’s impact.

Different types of punches, like hooks, have their own specific multipliers.

In this game, there’s no traditional health bar. Each punch’s effect is evaluated on its own. Lighter punches, shown in light blue, don’t cause damage. Stronger punches change color from blue to yellow to red, indicating the severity. After a match, you can see a breakdown of damage given and how many punches were impactful.

5. Understand Knockdowns vs Knockouts

A powerful punch can knock an opponent down. These critical hits show a red effect. If you cause a knockdown, you’re moved to a corner while the referee counts. If the opponent doesn’t get up by the count of 10, it’s a knockout. However, there’s an “eight count” rule; the ref will count to 8 even if the downed boxer stands immediately. The time they remain down depends on the force of the knockout punch. If you’re knocked down, your screen turns black, and you’ll hear counting. You’ll stand automatically.

6. Target the Body and Head

One approach that’s been successful for me centers around the stomach. I rapidly and repeatedly target it. This makes the opponent instinctively lower their guard to shield the stomach, leaving their head vulnerable.

I use this opportunity to land powerful blows to the head. When they raise their guard again, I resume my stomach assault. This is a simple, yet highly effective strategy.

Just remember to keep your guard up after you throw the body shot, because oftentimes they’ll try to land a counter.

7. Control the Fight With Your Jab

Oftentimes you’re tired and need to recover. The jab is the perfect weapon to control the distance and pace of the fight. The jab, often termed the ‘boxer’s bread and butter,’ is used in 3 ways:

  1. As a range finder
  2. To set up other punches
  3. Control the pace of the fight

My favorite combo is a jab to the body, then a cross to up top. Sometimes you can feint the jab then come with the cross.

8. Land Combos

Landing combos is the key to victory.

In “The Thrill of the Fight,” the sheer power of a single punch rarely equates to a knockdown or knockout. However, oftentimes it can cause them to become dizzy. A few more heavy blows during their dizziness can equate to a knockout.

So, the next time you step into the ring, remember to mix it up. Throw jabs to test their guard, use hooks and uppercuts in succession, and always be on the lookout for that opportune moment to unleash a powerful combo.

How to Win Fights

“The Thrill of the Fight” employs a scoring system that mirrors real professional boxing.

Round Winner Criteria: Each round, three separate judges award a point to the boxer they deem the winner. If a boxer achieves more knockdowns than their opponent, they’re automatically selected as the round’s winner and given a 10-8 scorecard.

Scores are displayed in the “Must 10” format. This means the winner always scores 10, with the loser’s points shown as the difference subtracted from 10. So, in a round where a boxer achieves two additional knockdowns, the score would be “10-7” in favor of the dominant boxer.

It’s crucial to note that only punches causing a significant level of damage count towards this calculation. There may be instances where judges declare no winner if the damage is too close, or even mistakenly favor the boxer who inflicted less damage.

Declaring the Winner: If the bout concludes without a knockout or technical knockout (TKO) result, each judge’s scores from every round are combined. The boxer favored by the majority of the judges wins the bout. This implies that even if you excel in a few rounds but marginally lose others, you could still lose the match. Hence, consistent performance throughout is vital.

In cases where a boxer is knocked down and doesn’t rise before the referee counts to 10, or when they’re knocked down three times leading to a referee-declared TKO, the outcome is decided by knockout or TKO. In such instances, the judge’s scores are disregarded.

Thrill of the Fight Tips

1. Blocking

Imagine invisible shields from your wrist to your elbow. If the opponent’s glove or wrist touches your glove, wrist, or any part of your arm, their attack is blocked. This can also act as a parrying move.

To block your opponent’s punches, lift your gloves and arms. This stops their fist from hitting you. The game is player-friendly, so if the opponent’s glove just touches yours, their attack is stopped. But, be careful! The opponent can try to hit where you aren’t protecting.

2. Hit to the Body to Slow Down Opponents

Constantly targeting the body, especially the midsection, can deplete an opponent’s stamina. The more you work on their body in the early stages, the more you’ll notice them slowing down as the match progresses. A fatigued opponent is less likely to dodge your punches, mount an effective offense, or maintain a solid defense.

3. Clinching and Exiting Matches

If an opponent comes too close, you can clinch into them, making them step back. But if you press in and they don’t have enough space because of a red rectangle on the floor, they won’t move. If this happens, you should step back.

When you press into your opponent, the referee might tell you both to separate. If you keep pressing without moving back for a while, the referee can stop the match before it’s officially over. This can be a way to leave a match early if you don’t want to continue till the end.

4. Auto-Adjusting Punch Power

Normally, the game automatically figures out the right multiplier for you. It sees your hardest consistent punch and sets the multiplier so that this punch reaches the game’s ideal impact level. This same multiplier is then applied to all your punches. So, whether you’re throwing light jabs or heavy punches, they all get adjusted based on this value. This ensures everyone can play the game fairly.

The multiplier can decrease with each punch, but only increases after completing a full round and only if enough punches were thrown.

5. Manually Adjusting Punch Power

This is a more realistic option where as you get more tired in real life, your punches get weaker as there’s no more auto-adjusting power in game.

If you don’t like how the game is adjusting your punches, or if you don’t like it changing during a match, you can set your own multiplier. Go to the game’s Settings, scroll to the bottom, and turn off “Automatic Force Adjustment”. You’ll see sliders that let you choose your multipliers.

Remember, there’s no one-size-fits-all value. The best multiplier is whatever feels right for you. If you want a starting point, play a round with the automatic setting on, and then adjust from there.

Space Needed to Play Thrill of the Fight

“The Thrill of the Fight” needs a space of at least 2m by 1.5m (7ft by 5ft) to play. There’s no virtual movement – you’ll be physically moving in the real-world space. Make sure your play zone meets these measurements and is free of obstacles. Set up your space carefully during the VR software’s initial setup to enjoy the game properly.

Setting Up Your Play Zone: When you’re setting up your game space in SteamVR or Oculus, you’ll mark out your available space. This lets the software know where you can safely move.

  • With SteamVR, you’ll get a rectangular play zone which you can adjust and turn as needed.
  • Oculus will show you your play zone, but won’t let you change it. However, some other software can help with this if needed.

Game Experience: In “The Thrill of the Fight”, all the action happens inside this rectangular play zone set by your VR system. You’ll see a red rectangle on the ground marking this area. Whenever you play, make sure the rectangle is clear and free of obstacles. Ensure you’re comfortable moving and throwing punches anywhere inside this marked space.

Thrill of the Fight 2

Thrill of the Fight 2 has been in development for a while and will offer vast improvements to the first game. The most exciting feature is multiplayer boxing. If you’d like to get notified when the game comes out, don’t forget to subscribe to our newsletter!