The Thrill Of The Fight Tips: Become A VR Boxing Champion


The Thrill of the Fight is a single-player VR boxing game that provides an incredibly authentic, challenging, and satisfying VR boxing experience while providing a fantastic workout too. If you choose to enter this virtual boxing gym, you’ll need to develop your skills and use realistic movements to punch, block, dodge, and move around the ring to battle a series of opponents, each with their own unique styles and techniques.

This article will cover all the tips you need to master the art of VR boxing in The Thrill Of The Fight to help you emerge victorious from the ring. I’ll cover a range of boxing-specific tips as well as VR-focused tips to help you to improve your technique and beat every opponent.

The Thrill of the Fight is available for Oculus/Meta headsets such as Quest 2 and Quest Pro and is also available on Steam for all PCVR headsets.

The Thrill Of The Fight Tips

Tips To Make You A Better Player In The Thrill Of The Fight

The Thrill of the Fight feels as close to real boxing as you can get in VR, and it provides an incredibly immersive experience. It’s easily my favorite VR boxing game and one that I have spent countless hours playing. It focuses on being as authentic a VR boxing game as possible but doesn’t have any story mode or multiplayer. Creed: Rise To Glory is a good option if you prefer a more story-focused game or just can’t do without multiplayer. Before we go further, here are the most important tips you need to know to become a better boxer in Thrill of the Fight.

  • Ensure you have a play space of at least 2m by 2m. You’ll need space to move, dodge and punch freely, without worrying about hitting anything near your playspace
  • Use the practice dummy and other practice modes to efficiently improve your punching technique and accuracy
  • Optimize controller tracking by ensuring your play space is well-lit, so your movements and punches are recorded accurately
  • Keep your hands up at all times when in a match
  • Vary your shots to make it harder for your opponent to block them
  • Counterpunching is incredibly effective. Hit your opponent after he has attacked but before he can raise his guard
  • Use visual cues to know when to defend and when to go on the offensive
  • Target the head and the body. It’s very hard to protect both, so keep your opponent guessing
  • Use movement and dodging to avoid your opponent’s shots and to get around your opponent’s guard
  • Manage your stamina with a combination of attacking and defensive play

Before You Get Started

Even before starting a boxing match or jumping into training exercises, there are simple things you can do to make sure that your practice sessions or focused matches run smoothly, and that you can enjoy the game to its fullest.

The Thrill Of The Fight is a room-scale experience, and you might imagine you need quite a large room to roam about the ring, but the game is very good at encouraging you to remain close to the center of your play space while you are sparring with your opponent. As long as you have at least a 2m by 2m playspace, you should be fine, but a larger space is preferable if you have this available to you.

The last thing you want is to bash into your wardrobe or an unsuspecting family member, so it is vital that you create a large enough play space and clear it of potential obstacles. This gives you total freedom to move around and put your full energy into every hook or uppercut without the fear of injury.

Once you have your play space sorted, another essential aspect of preparation is making sure that it is well lit. This is essential to ensure that the gameplay works seamlessly as hand tracking can struggle when there is not enough light. The last thing you want when boxing is for your punches not to work simply because the hand tracking has been affected by poor lighting. By sorting it out before you even begin, you can avoid all potential frustration entirely.

The Thrill Of The Fight Beginner Tips

If you are just playing for the first time and are totally clueless about where to start, The Thrill Of The Fight has you covered. As soon as you are on the main menu page you will see a long list of tips on your right-hand side that you can scroll through.

Whilst you’ll probably be keen to jump into the action, read through this carefully as it covers all the basics that will give you a sound foundation of knowledge before you even start into a match or try out the practice modes. It goes through general information and some key points on scoring and combat to get you started.

Another thing to bear in mind is that this is a very physically demanding game and will have you working up a sweat in a matter of minutes. You may need to play in short bursts if your fitness level isn’t as good as you would like. The Thrill Of The Fight is actually one of my favorite VR fitness games, and I use it on a regular basis as a way to work out and keep fit.

Remember to be patient with the game, it definitely has a learning curve that can be difficult to master but satisfying once you start seeing yourself progress. Read on to discover my best tips for The Thrill Of The Fight to improve all aspects of your game.

Practicing In-Game Modes

Game modes in The Thrill Of The Fight VR

Heavy Bag

This is a good way of building up the strength of your strikes. The information provided is your best tool, with the last hit section providing statistics on the force, impact velocity, and mass credit, as well as telling you the type of shot you used. It is also helpful for identifying your most effective shot as under ‘best shot’ you will be able to see all the statistics, which might encourage you to use it more frequently in a match. As you improve, it is worth adding in a bit of footwork to better replicate a match scenario and practice staying light on your toes.

Speed Bag

If your arms don’t hurt already from practicing, they definitely will after using the speed bag. This will track your 5-second and 30-second average on how fast you are hitting the bag. There is no better way to improve your timing and endurance, or let out your anger, than having a good pound of the speed bag. I’ve found that this type of practice is most beneficial for jabs, particularly when you are trying to do them rapidly.

Focus Ball

Essential for building up quick hands and reactions, the focus ball helps you in your punch placement and efficiency in dodging it, you definitely need to keep an eye on it at all times! You are able to track both your hit streak and dodge streak to challenge yourself to improve and beat your previously set records. This is a surprisingly good practice mode for improving your endurance too so you will be punching fairly quickly and need to maintain concentration so as not to break the streak.

Practice Dummy

The practice dummy is an essential mode if you want to improve your punching precision and work towards being able to knock an opponent out in a fight. When you look at the dummy, you will see dots on its chin, the side of the head and body, and the front of its chest.

These are an excellent way of measuring accuracy as they light up in different colors the better the punch is. Check out the stats on damage, impact velocity, mass credit, and weak point bonus to track the efficiency of your punches.

By practicing on the dummy for a while, you will quickly improve at being able to strike these points hard so that when you enter match scenarios, you’ll see your strikes making yellow, orange, or maybe even red if you swing hard enough. This is much more satisfying than that little grey puff of smoke you would have seen before when your strikes were less effective.

Using the practice dummy in The Thrill Of The Fight VR to improve

Moving, Dodging, And Punch Timing

Throwing effective punches is critical to winning fights but your opponent wants to land too so it is essential to keep your hands up. Time your shots for when you see openings and get into the habit of always bringing your hands back into the guard position to protect your face so you aren’t caught unprepared by counters. This is tiring but the more you practice, the more comfortable and automatic it becomes.

Make sure to watch your opponent closely for attacks and stay mobile and light on your feet. With a little practice, dodging an incoming punch is easier than you think. Moving your head out of the way may buy you a crucial moment needed to bring your hands up to ward off the incoming blow. Remember that even not fully successful dodging will reduce the damage, so it is worth at least trying to stay out of the way.

Most importantly, even when attacking, keep your hands up always. Blocking is easy in Thrill Of The Fight, your gloves have a generous hitbox and they just need to be vaguely in the way of an incoming blow to completely nullify it. Don’t take hits without cause by not keeping a free hand up. If you are throwing a punch with your right, keep your left in front of your head. When you progress to the Endurance or Outclassed difficulties, a single punch from an opponent is capable of knocking you out for a 10 count.

How To Knock Your Opponent Out In The Thrill Of The Fight

While you can certainly score victories on points, after a couple of matches you may be wondering how you can win by knockout. This is a satisfying skill to master but remember that a combination of both ways of winning is most effective and try not to focus too intensely on knockouts alone. If you are having trouble knocking your opponent down, often there is a simple fix and you’ll need to have a better idea of what you are doing or more importantly, where you are hitting.

The trick is to imagine your opponent has an invisible health bar of sorts which means the more damage dealt to them, the easier they are to knock down. Therefore, hitting them hard and precisely goes a very long way. If you keep chipping away at them, they’ll be easier to take down.

Striking precisely is a key component of The Thrill Of The Fight and you need to be able to hit the weak points. As we have discussed, the Training Dummy from the main menu is the perfect way to do this. If you want to get some knockouts quickly, then get really good at throwing punches to the head. Hooks are great because you can strike from two different sides, and there is a lot of room on your opponent’s jawline.

How To Tell If You Are Winning Or Losing

The Thrill Of The Fight is incredibly immersive partly due to there being no health bars visible which is great for a realistic feel, but it can make it difficult to know how wounded your opponent or your character is.

However, there are plenty of audio, visual, and behavioral clues to look out for that provide essential feedback as to how the match is going.

Audio Cues

When you land an accurate shot, your opponent will let you know by audibly gasping or grunting which is a great way to tell if a strike was effective. Remember, this goes both ways as your character will reveal pain in the same way.

If the computer AI lands hard and you hear your character grunt, then cover up and back off as you’re vulnerable to being knocked down if hit again. There is a subtle audio difference between the slap sounds of damaging and non-damaging punches as well, so listen out for that.

Visual Cues 

The Thrill of the Fight’s graphics aren’t particularly impressive, but one of this game’s great strengths is the subtle attention to detail when visually displaying damage. A hard shot on your opponent will be reflected in a grimace or pained expression on their face.

You might even notice their eyes roll back as they adopt a dazed posture. Over time you’ll see damage appear by way of cuts, bruises, and eye swellings. If you are hurt, your vision will darken, and you’ll see a tunnel vision effect. If this happens, get your hands up and back off as another hit at that moment could see you lying on your back.

Behavior Cues 

Opponents will cover up the area you have hurt them. For example, if it was a body shot that took the wind out of them, they will tuck their elbows in to protect themselves from liver or kidney shots.

Most tellingly, they will actively back off, stop throwing, and look for a chance to recover. This kind of damage only lasts around a few seconds, and they will have regrouped, so if you’re going for a knockout, you’ll want to hit them hard and with precision during these vulnerable moments

How To Win In The Thrill Of The Fight

How to win in The Thrill Of The Fight VR

In order to win a match in The Thrill Of The Fight you need to either knock out the other fighter before they knock you out or simply hit them more than they hit you. Another option is to try and knock them down three times in a single round which is known as a technical knockout.

In The Thrill Of The Fight, it is very difficult to knock out your opponent for a full 10 count. While knocking an opponent out for a ten count is technically possible, landing a hit so devastating that you get a knockout victory is extremely difficult and you will rarely see it.

Even though the referee counts every time, it will typically be to eight. To win a match early, you just need to do that three times in one round which can be really hard on some opponents. Especially when you have got two knockouts with only thirty seconds left.

Defensive Vs Aggressive

The simple answer is that in order to be successful in a match, you will need to utilize both. The importance is in recognizing when the best time is for each.

Attacking

When trying to attack, getting past the other fighter’s guard can be challenging to say the least, particularly when they are not actively attacking you. For example, if you are best at hooks but your opponent blocks the sides of their head, it can be difficult to know what to do. Thankfully, you don’t just have to wait for them to attack which is where knowing the AI comes in handy.

It is fairly straightforward as the AI will block the last place that you hit them with sufficient strength. If they block the sides of their head then throw some straight punches to their face. They might not do a lot of damage but their guard will move to protect their face, leaving the sides of their head and jaw wide open. Hits to the body can work even better, forcing your opponent to drop their guard to their abdomen.

Defense

You cannot win with a good offense alone and defense is just as crucial. This will mostly rely on you having good movement and dodging skills that we have already discussed. Remember to keep your hands up at all times as this is crucial to ward off any strikes from your opponent and keep your health as high as possible.

Defense is important when your opponent hit you a lot and you are dazed as you will need to fend them off in order to give yourself time to recover enough to be able to attack again. If you are overwhelmed with punches or about to be knockout, you can go on the defensive by moving toward your opponent which is known as clinching. If you are really close to your opponent, they will either stop punching you or their punches go behind your head and they will start walking backward.

Progression From Easy To Hard Opponents

Different opponents in The Thrill Of The Fight VR

Progression is fairly straightforward in Thrill of the Fight, and you unlock each fighter by defeating the previous fighter. There are ten in total ranging from easy to outclassed and while each fighter has a different fighting style, they generally get harder the further along you get.

Additionally, there are difficulty modes ranging from ridiculously easy to extremely hard. Normal is the highest difficulty unlocked by default. Beating a fighter on Normal allows you to fight them on Endurance difficulty and defeating them on Endurance unlocks Outclassed. There are also some special fighters that are unlike anything else in the ‘extras’ button of the main menu.

Once you start fighting harder opponents, you will need to start just whittling them down. The best way to beat these opponents is to conserve your energy at the start and throw weaker punches in the earlier rounds.

Some people prefer to hit the face to make them easier to knockout and delay the round whilst some prefer to hit the body to cause them to struggle and throw fewer punches. If you make it until the last round, you can either try to knock them out or consistently hit them with your strongest punches as they won’t be able to hit back.

Best Types Of Punches In The Thrill Of The Fight

The more you get into the game, it is worth going away and learning some basic boxing techniques. These shots are exactly what you need to improve and the more effectively and accurately you can throw these shots, the better. If you are new to boxing and want an idea of what the correct form looks like or how to do these simple punches, there are some excellent tutorials easily accessible on YouTube.

Jab

You can use a left jab or a right jab which is also known as a right cross. These punches are ideal when aiming for the chin or dealing a blow to the body and are easy to do in quick succession so are ideal for trying to wear an opponent down.

Hook

Hooks are perfect for trying to knock someone out as it is easy to get a lot of power through a strike and you can punch from two different sides with either a left or right hook. Your target area is also quite large, with a considerable amount of space on your opponent’s jawline.

Uppercut

If you want to hit your opponent right under the chin, then the uppercut is a fantastic way of generating enough power to deal a deadly blow. You can use both hands so try and alternate between them to avoid fatigue and figure out which one you are more comfortable with so you know the best way to swing a knockout punch.

Settings

The Thrill Of The Fight is fairly customizable which is a great strength of the game. If anything feels off while fighting, you are very likely to find a solution by checking out the settings menu. There are a few different options but the most important are Glove Size, Drift protection, and most of all Punch Force Adjustment.

Glove Size

When it comes to glove size, it is easiest to have the glove size match the general size of your actual hands, with most fitting in the ‘medium’ category. However, changing your glove size to fit your playstyle can also be beneficial, or an interesting way to shake the game up.

It is much easier to block incoming punches with big gloves as they have a bigger hitbox to make contact with your opponent’s hands. However, it is harder to get past your opponent’s guard. On the other hand, smaller gloves are much easier to sneak in past another fighter’s guard, but are not large enough to allow for easy defense.

Drift Protection

This is a matter of preference as well. While it is off by default, turning it on will make fast punches drift less, and keep your movements in VR much tighter. This is especially true for hooks or uppercuts. The distance to your opponent will be closer by necessity, as you will not be able to throw punches as far, but those punches will feel much more realistic, and it definitely makes it a bit easier.

Punch Force Adjustment

Automatic Force Adjustment is on by default, so the force multiplier of your blows automatically changes. If the multiplier is high, then a blow that is physically weak will deal a lot of damage in the game. Equally, if the multiplier is low, then a blow will not deal any damage.

With Automatic Force Adjustment on, the game will change the multiplier according to the hardest punches that you throw. Throw very hard punches, and the multiplier goes down. Throw very weak punches and the multiplier goes up. This system encourages throwing consistently weak blows, with an occasional knockout swing.

If that style of boxing does not appeal to you, or you would rather not have the force of your blows arbitrarily decided for you, turn Automatic Force adjustment off. Without it, you may feel that your punches deal damage more consistently according to how much effort you put into them and how accurate they are on weak points. Make sure to also adjust the multipliers manually to a setting you feel comfortable with.

Alex Atkinson

Alex Atkinson is a regular writer for VR Lowdown and she has a keen interest in everything related to VR and AR.

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