Survios and MGM Interactive studios jointly announced that Creed: Rise to Glory is a single player virtual boxing game with “Intuitive VR melee combat” and “real-life movement mechanics” that would present VR gamers and Rocky and Creed film fans with a “true boxing bout”. We took to the literal boxing ring that was set up at GDC 2018 in San Francisco, California for a sneak peek of Adonis Creed’s rise to boxing world champion and put the game to the fitness test.

Game Play



Before you jump into the ring and go glove to glove with some seriously tough fighters, you’ll get to go into a training session tutorial with the man, the myth, the legend — Rocky Balboa. Players train with boxing bags to practice combo punches and gameplay mechanics from our main guy Rocky.

Once you’ve completed boxers training and get a better understanding of the controller mechanics you’ll begin an event fight with beefed up opponents. During training, Rocky gauged how fast, strong, and smart you were in the gym and puts you mano a mano with a fighter that’s a match to your skill level.

Phantom Melee Technology

Survios and MGM Interactive used the Oculus Rift for their demo of the game and Oculus Touch controllers to punch at your opponent. Players will find that the impact vibrations are rewarding when you make contact but is clearly less realistic than actually hitting someone in real life. On the other end of the glove, getting jabbed or stunned by a landed punch will disorient you visually in the game. When you’re disoriented, you’ll need to mirror what your avatar is doing in order to continue the fight.

In Creed, your gloves in the game are your stamina indicators, so if you punch in quick succession you’ll tire out your Adonis avatar and head straight into the red zone. When you get tired in the game the avatar will show it. Don’t get into this zone because it’ll make it easier to get KO’d. Rapid fire punch combos and throwing punches while you’re in the red zone triggers punch fatigue; however, your glove-up blocking and lightning fast roll and dodging skills will replenish your energy up to normal levels.

Fitness Value

Based on our demo of Creed: Rise to Glory we can say that our heart was pounding with every punch and made our arms feel like bricks the end. As a VR boxing game, Creed is a great upper body workout that will also activate the core muscles with rolls, blocks, and when you turn up the heat behind uppercuts, jabs, and hooks.

The glove meters are helpful if you want to win, keep you from overdoing punch combos. However, it can be a little restrictive if you want to go full freestyle beast mode on your opponent’s and get some heavy duty cardio and upper body work in. With that said, Survios and MGM Interactive might want to add a freestyle boxing mode without a meter for people who want to work out extensively.

Another great Survios virtual sports title that has great arm mechanics is Sprint Vector, where you’ll use arm pumping and game mechanics to race around different tracks against competing players. Keep checking Survios’ blog and social media pages because they host weekly challenges that are guaranteed to keep you motivated and coming back for more!

Expected Release and Compatibility

Creed: Rise to Glory is expected to be released towards the end of 2018, with word from Survios that the game will be compatible with all premium headsets. Currently, as a single player boxing game, Survios might transform it into a multiplayer boxing game at a later date.

Wrap Up

We had a great time doing the Creed demo at GDC 2018, it was an awesome experience and we look forward to playing the game and reviewing it in full. We can’t wait to add it to our workout regimen! A big thank you to Survios for inviting us to try out their new boxing game.

We’ll see you in the ring!