Unbeatable introduces itself with a easy, but punchy premise: we discover a group of teenagers in a band, on the run from and entering into fights with the native authority. The twist? As a substitute of taking part in out as a conventional story-driven recreation, the beating drum of the expertise is structured round rhythm-based gameplay.
Sequences equivalent to desires and fight encounters are all guided by Unbeatable’s tackle the traditional Guitar Hero notes-on-a-fretboard fashion gameplay, by which prompts inform you which buttons to press in time with the music. Right here, it is solely two buttons: up and down. And whereas there are extra conventional gameplay moments–like minigames the place you could memorize motion patterns and react to the beat of various tempos–in an analogous style to Rhythm Heaven, it is the harmonious intersection with all the sport’s different sections, which might usually play out as mere cutscenes, that makes Unbeatable stand out.
A decade in the past, proper across the time that Rock Band and Guitar Hero launched their respective swansongs marking the decline of the home rhythm recreation period, it might have been novel to see a studio mix rhythm recreation mechanics right into a narrative journey. However Unbeatable is only one instance of this strategy; dozens of studios have been toying with the intersection of music video games with different genres. Now, 10 years after the rhythm recreation heyday, they’re basking in a renewed appreciation of these parts.
One can cite the likes of KickBeat, Beat Hazard, and Crypt of the NecroDancer as a few of the pioneers of this motion. But a few of the boldest examples did not seem on the setlist till nearer to 2020, together with Soundfall, a twin-stick shooter with rhythm-based mechanics, the first-person shooter BPM: Bullets Per Minute, by which your whole actions are tied to the beat, the Yume Nikki-inspired Everhood, and the hack-and-slash No Straight Roads.
Nevertheless it was 2023’s Hello-Fi Rush that took maintain of this rising motion and put it center-stage. The rhythm-based character motion recreation developed by Tango Gameworks was a shock in additional methods than one. It was a departure from the studio’s earlier work, which included The Evil Inside and Ghostwire: Tokyo. It was introduced after which instantly shadowdropped throughout a presentation by writer after which mum or dad firm Xbox. And, most significantly, it was a uncommon instance of a rhythm recreation with a triple-A manufacturing, boasting a prolonged marketing campaign and an inimitable licensed soundtrack.
The launch of Hello-Fi Rush, and the cult following it gained, marked a pivotal second for this new wave of rhythm video games. It is one which was solely strengthened by the launch of Fortnite Competition on the finish of 2023, a much more conventional tackle the style made by Rock Band creator Harmonix, however one which helped to reinforce this rising curiosity in a rhythm recreation resurgence.
Since then, builders have showcased much more examples of blending and matching rhythm and different genres. Ratatan launched itself as a rhythm roguelike side-scroller and a religious successor to Patapon. The Sifu-esque brawler Lifeless as Disco seems to be just like the pure evolution of KickBeat, the identical method BPM paved the way in which for Metallic: Hellsinger. Just some months in the past, Annapurna introduced Individuals of Be aware, a turn-based RPG the place every fight encounter is offered as a musical efficiency.
If music is embodied in your day-to-day life, the attraction of those style mashups is arresting. It is the satisfaction of a superb needle drop, however applied as a baseline, inviting you to maintain the rhythm with a faucet of your foot or a slight nod because the motion unfolds. Music inherently co-exists with visible media–scenes can develop into memorable moments with the precise music accompanying them. This new motion in video games, nonetheless, is akin to the strategy of movies like Child Driver. Music turns into much less of an accompaniment and extra of an energetic participant within the motion and drama, infusing each inch of the atmosphere and each step you’re taking to set the tempo in a playful method.
I do not suppose it is a coincidence that this motion is going on whereas corporations are manufacturing plastic guitar controllers once more, and as publishers are lastly revisiting a few of their rhythm recreation classics to try to carry them again to the highlight, as with Nintendo and Rhythm Heaven Groove. On the coronary heart of all of it, although, is the significance of paying consideration and listening to the builders who carry on influencing each other, the way in which musicians discover inspiration within the individuals who got here earlier than them, to reinvent previous genres.
It is onerous to say if extra AAA corporations will place bets on large productions round rhythm video games to try to recapture the heights of the period outlined by Guitar Hero and Rock Band. No matter how many individuals get a plastic guitar of their dwelling rooms once more, this new period of rhythm video games is already taking part in a special tune.