Maestro & Maestro: Secret Sorcery review — VR rhythm at its finest

If you’ve ever wanted to be an orchestra conductor without worrying about embarrassing yourself in front of an audience, then Maestro might be the game for you. As a huge lover of classical music, I won’t lie, I’ve always wondered what the conductor was doing waving their hands around. After playing Maestro, I can certifiably say it’s both a rewarding and hectic job!

Maestro is a rhythm game set in a Parisian opera house, where you get to play as the conductor. Since this game is in VR, the immersion here is top notch. Before we dive into the meat and bones of the game, you can play Maestro either with your VR controllers, or enable hand gesture movements. I opted for the hand gestures, as it really adds to the experience since all you see of yourself on screen is a pair of gloved hands. 

As you take your place upon the podium you will meet your guide, Eric de Roch. He will give you tips, bring you refreshments, and not so silently judge you throughout your career as a conductor. On the podium you will find your music book, with over 15 wonderful classics in it from the likes of Mozart, Beethoven, Stravinsky, as well as a few jazz pieces sprinkled in the mix. The Secret Sorcery DLC, which is currently a separate purchase for $8.99, adds five new songs including tracks from Harry Potter and Fantasia. 

You will have access to a handful of songs to start, and unlock more if you succeed in your performances. Be sure to pick up the neat fact sheets complete with info about the composers and the inspiration behind each piece, which I found very interesting! I also enjoyed tossing everything I could get my hands on at my pal Eric de Roch. 

At the start of Maestro you only have access to the Parisian opera house stage, but as time goes on you will unlock more stages, costumes for your orchestra, gloves for yourself, and new batons! The Secret Sorcery Pack unlocks The Coven set, which turns the stage into a spooky outdoor graveyard scene set up under a full moon over a gothic castle. I absolutely love looking around at the gorgeous details on all of the sets, but The Coven stage and costume pieces were by far my favorite. You can mix and match all four cosmetic pieces to create your own unique look by tapping the coordinating tab on the right side of your music book.

Once you’ve selected your piece and the difficulty you wish to play on, all that’s left is to start by tapping the podium twice. The game itself plays like most VR rhythm games, with arrows moving towards you that you must hit at the precise time. But you will also have to be quick to point at the circles for cymbal queues, and use your hands to raise or lower certain sections of the orchestra. I will readily admit that the jump from easy to medium difficulty was pretty nuts. Missing notes appear as red and make a very off-key note, which can lead you to panic very quickly. The position of the arrows before you constantly moves to indicate which section of the orchestra you are supposed to be focusing on. This gets bonkers on higher difficulty, I felt like my head was going to unscrew moving it left and right! I challenged myself on a few medium songs, and would love to work my way up into hard, but I am sure it will take a lot of practice to get there.

There is a score meter on your podium that tracks your performance, if you pass the song you get the pleasure of turning around to the audience, which was honestly so satisfying. They will shower you with roses and praise, you take your bow and they cheer even louder. But, if you fail your song you will get bombarded with rotten tomatoes and booing. Thankfully it only happened to me twice on medium difficulty, but it still hurts the ego a bit. Be sure to take in the beauty of the opera house, even the ceiling has intricate details. When you take your bow on The Coven stage, there is a skeleton under your podium that you can high five. 

While I know that the point of the game is to be the conductor and play the music pieces, I was so excited to keep playing new songs to unlock the costumes and stages. They truly did a phenomenal job with the immersion and design of each set of cosmetics, and I hope they add more in future updates!

The developers have said they will continually add more songs to the library, and I'm anxiously awaiting more DLC to join The Secret Sorcery Pack. As of now here is a list of songs currently in the base game:

• The Ride Of The Valkyries – Wagner
• Carmina Burana – Orff
• Danse Macabre – Saint Saens
• From The New World – Dvorak
• Messa Da Requiem – Verdi
• The Dance Of The Knights – Prokofiev
• The Rite Of Spring – Stravinsky
• Night On A Bald Mountain – Mussorgsky
• Caravan – Ellington
• Whiplash – Levy
• Sing Sing Sing – Prima
• The 5th Symphony – Beethoven
• Swan Lake – Tchaikovsky
• Figaro’s Wedding – Mozart
• The Hebrides – Mendelssohn

The following five songs come with The Secret Sorcery Pack:

• Hedwig’s Theme (from Harry Potter) – John Williams
• The Sorcerer’s Apprentice (from Fantasia) – Paul Dukas
• In the Hall of the Mountain King – Edvard Grieg
• Symphonie Fantastique – Hector Berlioz
• El Amor Brujo – Manuel de Falla

I’ve been playing Maestro daily since receiving the code, and my son has also been enjoying it. If you like rhythm games, and love classical and jazz music, picking up this title is a no brainer. I have zero complaints about the game, found zero bugs, and had 100% enjoyment. You can find Maestro on Meta Quest, Steam, and Pico.