Our series Inside XR Design examines specific examples of great XR design. Today we\u2019re looking at the game\u00a0Synapse and exploring the concept of embodiment and what makes it important to VR games.<\/p>\n
\nEditor\u2019s Note:<\/strong>\u00a0Synapse was released two years ago this week, but it\u2019s insights are as relevant as ever in 2025! In celebration of its release anniversary we\u2019re bumping this episode of Inside XR Design back up to our front page to continue the discussion around embodiment as a crucial design concept for compelling VR content.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
You can find the complete video below, or continue reading for an adapted text version.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Defining Embodiment<\/p>\n
Welcome back to another episode of Inside XR design. Today I\u2019m going to talk about Synapse (2023)<\/a>, a PSVR 2 exclusive game from developer nDreams. But specifically we\u2019re gonna to look at the game through the lens of a concept called embodiment.<\/p>\n
So what the hell is embodiment and why am I boring you talking about it rather than just talking about all the cool shooting, and explosions, and smart design in the game? Well, it\u2019s going to help us understand why certain design decisions in Synapse are so effective. So stick with me here for just a minute.<\/p>\n
Embodiment is a term I use to describe the feeling of being physically present within a VR experience. Like you\u2019re actually standing there in the world that\u2019s around you.<\/p>\n
And now your reasonable response is, \u201cbut don\u2019t we already use the word immersion for that?\u201d<\/p>\n
Well colloquially people certainly do, but I want to make an important distinction between \u2018immersion\u2019 and \u2018embodiment\u2019.<\/p>\n
\u2018Immersion\u2019, for the purposes of our discussion, is when something has your complete attention. We all agree that a movie can be immersive, right? When the story or action is so engrossing it\u2019s almost like nothing outside of the theater even exists at that moment. But has even the most immersive movie you\u2019ve ever seen made you think you were physically inside the movie? Certainly not.<\/p>\n
And that\u2019s where \u2019embodiment\u2019 comes in. For the sake of specificity, I\u2019m defining immersion as being about attention. On the other hand, embodiment is about your sense of physical presence and how it relates to the world around you.<\/p>\n
So I think it\u2019s important to recognize that all VR games get immersion for free. By literally taking over your vision and hearing, for the most part they automatically have your full attention. You are immersed the second you put on a headset.<\/p>\n
But some VR games manage to push us one step further. They don\u2019t just have our attention, they make us feel like our whole body has been transported into the virtual world. Like you\u2019d actually feel things in the game if you reached out and touched them.<\/p>\n
Ok, so immersion is attention<\/strong> and embodiment is the feeling of actually being there<\/strong>.<\/p>\n
And to be clear, embodiment isn\u2019t a binary thing. It\u2019s a spectrum. Some VR games are slightly embodying, while others are very embodying. But what makes the difference?<\/p>\n
That\u2019s exactly what we\u2019re going to talk about with Synapse.<\/p>\n
Cover You Can Feel<\/p>\n
At first glance, Synapse might look like a pretty common VR shooter, but there are several really intentional design decisions that drive a strong sense of embodiment. The first thing I want to talk about is the cover system.<\/p>\n
Every VR shooter has cover. You can walk behind a wall and it will block shots for you. But beyond that, the wall doesn\u2019t really physically relate to your actual body because you never actively engage with it. It\u2019s just a stationary object.<\/p>\n
But Synapse makes walls and other cover interactive by letting you grab it with your hand and pull your body in and out of cover. This feels really natural and works great for the gameplay.<\/p>\n
And because you\u2019re physically moving yourself in relation to the wall\u2014instead of just strafing back and forth with a thumbstick\u2014the wall starts to feel more real. Specifically, it feels more real because when you grab the wall and use it as an anchor from which to move, it\u2019s subconsciously becoming part of your proprioceptive model.<\/p>\n
Understanding Proprioception<\/p>\n
Let\u2019s take a second here to explain proprioception because it\u2019s a term that comes up a lot when we\u2019re talking about tricking our bodies into thinking we\u2019re somewhere else.<\/p>\n
The clearest example I\u2019ve ever seen of proprioception in action is this clip. And listen, I never thought I\u2019d be showing you a cat clip in this series, but here we are.\u00a0Watch closely as the cat approaches the table\u2026 without really thinking about it, it effortlessly moves its ear out of the way just at the right time.<\/p>\n
This is proprioception at work. It\u2019s your body\u2019s model of where it is in relation to the things around you. In order for the cat to know exactly when and where to move its ear to avoid the table without even looking at it, it has to have some innate sense of the space its ear occupies and how that relates to the space the table occupies.<\/p>\n
In the case of the cover system in Synapse, you intuitively understand that \u2018when I grab this wall and move my hand to the right, my body will move to the left\u2019.<\/p>\n
So rather than just being a \u2018thing that you see\u2019 walls become something more than that. They become relevant to you in a more meaningful way, because you can directly engage with them to influence the position of your body. In doing so, your mind starts to pay more attention to where the walls are in relation to your body. They start to feel more real. And by extension, your own body starts to feel more present in the simulation\u2026 you feel more \u2018embodied\u2019.<\/p>\n
Mags Out<\/p>\n
And walls in Synapse can actually be used for more than cover. You can also use them to push magazines into your weapon.<\/p>\n