It's the year 2020, and I can't go to the gym. As luck would have it, an exercise game was released for the Switch, but as luck wouldn't have it it was really hard to find. I eventually managed to get one in the summer though, and proceeded to play it almost every day since. So by the most important metric -- Did the game actually get me to exercise regularly? -- Ring Fit Adventure succeeds.

The game comes with a pilates ring that you connect the right controller to, and a leg strap that you slide the left controller into. The adventure mode then has you jogging in place through obstacle courses -- at times you'll need to do squats, run faster, and squeeze or stretch the ring to proceed. Whenever you run into enemies, you'll fight them with exercises. These are generally strength-based (with the ring), aerobic-focused (moving about quickly), or some kind of yoga stretch. The game works nicely as a sort of virtual trainer, ensuring that you're maintaining the right pose, holding a position long enough, and doing enough reps to ensure you're getting a full workout. You can focus on your arms, legs, or abs, or shoot for a well-rounded routine.

Since the game was made to be like an RPG, I found myself a lot more engaged with the exercises. Doing a bunch of squats isn't as fun as doing a bunch of squats to defeat a gym-themed Dragon Quest monster. I could look forward to leveling up and gaining new abilities, the more I played. And even simply jogging through a level, it's a nice distraction to collect coins and find branching paths to take. The game thus succeeds in making exercise less boring, and offers incentive to keep me going longer than I would otherwise. (I'll throw out that it's not hard to listen to a podcast or audiobook while playing this game... and that made me feel extra productive.)

There are a bunch of small tweaks that I think would improve the game. It is easy to get over-leveled in this one, so you have to really go out of your way to make enemies pose a threat. I also wish health-boosting exercises could be toggled to be attack exercises, because there technically isn't a reason to ever use them so long as you have the plentiful health items to use. (You can choose to just use the health-boosting exercises anyways, but the RPG illusion breaks when you start exercising for the sake of exercising!) An endless jogging mode would also be nice. And I'll throw out that the pulse reader and other data (calories burned, distance jogged) seem to be... unreliable, to put it extremely lightly. Most of the mini-games are also pretty lame.

But at the end of the day, all that really matters is that this game got me exercising on a regular basis for about six months now, which is a lot better than I've done with any other exercise regimen I've attempted over the last decade or so. I hope to keep sticking with this one, and thankfully there's a ton of content to work on (a pleasant surprise, tbh). Lots of titles (achievements), unlockable items and costumes, a skill tree to fill out, plenty of side missions, and even a full-blown new game plus. So I'll go ahead and recommend this one, even to those (like me) who weren't that impressed by past exercise games like Wii Fit.

I came to Ring Fit Adventure looking for something structured and easy to get into, to get me back into an exercise habit after a year of little activity following a major injury. It's this aspect where the game succeeds most, particularly if you have absolutely no idea where to start with exercise. I have found over the years that there is a big "inertia" component to fitness where you just need something to get you into the rhythm of regularly doing it to build that habit and discipline. Over the last 4 weeks playing, I found that the game is a good way to push you into that positive direction.

As someone who has access to a gym and has done different types of fitness regimens in the past, preferring to direct myself, I had a fine time with this, but I didn't feel it was a good long-term fit. The storytelling, RPG-isms, and overall structure of its main Adventure mode got in my way more than they motivated me.

Side modes were better, but I didn't feel much value to using those versus various smartphone apps that offer a more tailored experience. The rhythm game mode was an exciting concept, but feels awkward in comparison to other motion-controlled rhythm games like Beat Saber. I wish there was a happy medium between the main mode and side modes, a more minimalistic but customizable RPG mode that intelligently adjusted itself based on your performance and an overall fitness plan.

I think the physical accessories used to play this game are pretty neat and usually work well. They're especially fun with the various minigames that add more of a fun element to different exercises. It is frustrating when they don't quite work though, with a few too many failures to track leg movements for my liking. Still, the build quality of the ring makes it feel good to use, and the game does a decent job of guiding you to do a wide variety of exercises correctly and providing little tips to improve their impact.

These complaints are only really a big deal if you have better options available, so I would not discourage people who need to fit in a simple at-home workout from buying this game. I am back in the gym, and can at least thank the game for helping get the ball rolling again in the comfort of my own living room.