What you need to know
- The Beat Saber Rock Mixtape DLC launches on Tuesday, containing eight songs for $10.99 or $1.99 each.
- The tracklist includes Free Bird, the longest-ever Beat Saber song at nearly 9 minutes, and over 3,000 blocks.
- The new DLC pack comes on the heels of two other packs — Lizzo and The Weeknd — showing a faster pace for new songs than ever before.
Since its 2018 launch, Beat Saber has added electronica, alternative, and R&B hits, but despite Skrillex’s Rock ‘n’ Roll (Will Take You to the Mountain) gracing the game, it has never tapped the rock n’ roll genre for DLC until today’s long-awaited Beat Saber Rock Mixtape.
It’s the first pack, as far as I know, to add any music from the 20th century. Fans of classic rock, especially Guitar Hero fans, will instantly recognize this tracklist spanning from the 70s to the 00s.
- Steppenwolf — Born To Be Wild
- Survivor — Eye of the Tiger
- KISS — I Was Made For Lovin’ You
- Lynyrd Skynyrd — Free Bird
- The White Stripes — Seven Nation Army
- Nirvana — Smells Like Teen Spirit
- Guns N’ Roses — Sweet Child O’ Mine
- Foo Fighters — The Pretender
There are no duds or niche hits in the Rock Mixtape pack; every song is a recognizable favorite. I do wish the pack had a couple more songs from other heavy hitters like the Rolling Stones or Jimi Hendrix, or more modern classics of Guitar Hero fame like Through the Fire and Flames. Perhaps we can hope for a second Rock Mixtape down the line!
Most of these songs are longer than the average Beat Saber song, so you’ll get plenty of value out of them, but also need more patience and endurance to complete them without failing on Expert+. That especially applies to Lynyrd Skynyrd’s marathon of a song, Free Bird.
Like Beat Games’ most recent pack, The Weeknd DLC, the Rock Mixtape DLC uses new visual tech like movable objects and enhanced lighting, and it has custom environments based on each song’s album artwork. And Eye of the Tiger has a FitBeat-inspired beatmap with tons of obstacles.
Basically, this pack will give you a real workout, so if your Quest 2 starts to smell like teen spirit (or just really sweaty), you’ll want some workout accessories to go with your Rock Mixtape to make the experience more comfortable.
With the Lizzo DLC released in October, The Weeknd in November, and now the Rock Mixtape in December, Beat Games is on an absolute tear for adding new song content; it’s the first time since 2019 that it has launched five DLC packs in a year. We’re hoping Beat Games keeps up this pace in 2023, and we see some of our dream Beat Saber collabs make an appearance.