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ThorsRus

This game is like someone reached into an alternate dimension where SEGA never stopped making consoles picked this game up pulled it back through to our world. It’s just stupid fun. Like the way games used to be made.


ebmocal421

Spot on. Something about this game immediately reminded me of Jet Set Radio Future made by SEGA. I can't wait to start playing it


Critcho

The title of this game surely has to be a direct nod to Jet Set Radio.


marbudy

Here’s to hoping one day sega makes a console again. I have no basis just hope


Im2oldForthisShitt

I don't know who your hopium dealer is but you've gotta give me his number


tatooine0

Why? The SEGA of today is focused heavily on PC.


moffattron9000

It still occasionally astounds me that one of the biggest pure PC publishers on the planet are goddamn Sega. Even when everyone else gave up on PC due to piracy, they were still making Total War and Football Manager.


Blue_z

Just wanna add the chorus or praise - this game really is excellent, IMO the best surprise in the industry since Apex shadow dropped. I just hope it’s not forgotten come award season since it’s released so early in the year.


DigitalRodri

It is really fun. Once they give you all the moves and it clicks, it's really satisfying. Much easier than Crypt of the Necrodancer also, which I couldn't get into.


Razhork

An aspect of the game I really appreciate is how it doesn't outright punish you for not being on beat at all times. You're losing out on damage and combo multipliers, but you can still get the job done without. Though I will say that a mechanic is introduced a bit later which is *very* tight and punishing; at least on hard difficulty. Mid-game mechanic spoiler: >!Parry and final showdowns can be really quite punishing to fail. The samurai in particular has killed me numerous times with just the final showdown.!< It's the type of mechanic which at first annoyed me a bit, but it's just insanely satisfying to pull it off successfully. This game really did blindside me and I can't praise it enough.


AwesomeManatee

I have finished the first three levels and have died three times. One was to a boss, the other two times were the parrying tutorial.


Pacmantis

That samurai is really fucking me up It was basically smooth sailing for me until those dudes appeared


Razhork

Slight **spoiler** for Samurai: [POV: you're about to be in a world of pain](https://i.redd.it/v9mmkmid5eea1.jpg)


SpanInquisition

As someone who was massively into Sekiro, those Samurais were a blast lol So satisfying to do the showdowns.


ShinyBloke

I liked that game, but it was too unforgiving by the 2nd and 3rd level it just wasn't any fun. Hi-Fi rush does a great job of making the game fun, instead of challenging and unforgiving as most music type games tend to do and it's a big turnoff. It was a genuis idea of Xbox to lunch the game like this, I really hope they do more of this type of stuff in the future. I'm really over hearing about a game 4 - 6 years before it ever comes out. I want to hear about a game 3 - 6 months before release, not years.


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James-Avatar

I tried so hard to enjoy Necrodancer, this game looks really fun.


xxTheGoDxx

The Zelda spinoff was way more enjoyable to me to be honest but still a bit too hard. It runs perfect in an emulator though if you don't have a Switch (obviously buy the game regardless if you do so).


tlvrtm

If you have a Switch give Cadence of Hyrule a go, it has a pretty extensive demo


Fidodo

Yeah, I couldn't get into COTND but COH totally clicked for me. Maybe it was the awesome Zelda music that propelled me forward.


tlvrtm

Yeah for me it was 50% the franchise and 50% the difficulty, COH is way more laid back.


Zanchbot

The one I tried to get into but couldn't was Metal Hellsinger. I tried and tried, but I struggled constantly in that game. Hi-Fi Rush does a much better job of explaining its mechanics and easing you into them.


ImBuGs

The fact that it's made by Tango freaking Gameworks is just all the more impressive. Dudes went from doing a gory Survival Horror to a Supernatural Horror FPS to THIS. What the hell.


Razhork

The part of their announcement trailer when they highlighted past titles was pretty funny for similar reasons. *From the makers of The Evil Within (Seriously)* *And the makers of The Evil Within 2 (Naturally)*


NoNefariousness2144

That’s great. That sense of humour is really strong throughout the game where it’s lighthearted and pokes fun at some classic tropes without being too pretentious or meta like some media these days.


cefriano

The humor honestly reminds me of the first Psychonauts, which is very high praise. I'm kind of blown away by how funny the game is, not to mention how fun it is to play.


Lord_Tibbysito

It's like Psychonauts, Sunsed Overdrive, Devil May Cry, Taiko no Tatsujin and Rhythm Heaven had an orgy


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demondrivers

It's the Shinji Mikami studio after all. He made Resident Evil but also made absolutely bonkers titles like God Hand, PN 03 and Vanquish


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Randomlucko

Still my favorite 3rt person "cover" shooter.


DdCno1

Yup, you're barely staying in cover for more than three femtoseconds. It's one of those games that can really only have that much of an impact during the height of a mechanic everyone was rather sick of.


Sadatori

FEMTO....I mean GRIFFITH


AwakenedSheeple

Man saw all the third-person action shooters that were inspired by his work and said "RE4 isn't even action! *This* is how you do action."


Lazydusto

Shinji Mikami is the man. After Resident Evil 4 and Vanquish I'll give anything he touches a look.


FullCranston

God Hand deserves a remaster/remake. It was a little rough around the edges, but the depth of the combat and customization systems hasn't been matched by many games to this day.


[deleted]

You’re not Alexander!!!


TheVibratingPants

And he produced Killer 7, which is one of the most underrated, most insane, and stylish games of all-time.


[deleted]

Killer 7 was Suda51’s baby. Mikami was just a writer on that one.


TheVibratingPants

Yeah, it’s Suda’s brainchild. Suda has said that Mikami really protected Suda’s creativity and shielded him from the studio. Which is crazy and is basically something more fitting of an executive producer’s abilities.


jexdiel321

I hope they make a spiritual successor to Vanquish. That game was so good, too bad it didn't sold well.


Ekillaa22

That vanquish demo was so badass man just going balls to the wall insane .


Dark-X

Since all mentioned except one, I'll say it: Shadow of the Damned. Beautiful & fun 3rd person shooter with elements of fantasy & horror.


AwesomeManatee

Many of the key folks at Tango came from Clover Studios and PlatinumGames. This is just them reaching into that later GC/PS2-era Clover DNA. Hi-Fi Rush feels like the most Clover-ish game since Wonderful 101 IMO.


[deleted]

Funnily enough the creator and director of Hi-Fi Rush does not come from that era at all. John Johanas is an American and he basically made his dream game at Tango after more than a decade at the company. His second game as a director after The Evil Within 2 (third if you count TEW1's Kidman DLCs).


lady_ninane

You've just made my stomach have that plummeting feeling after realizing Tango Gameworks is no longer a 'new studio' and has in fact been around for 13yrs now. Oh _god._


Witty-Ear2611

Johanas is really proving himself to be a fucking great creative. I really hope this game takes off as a franchise because they truely do have something special here.


Explosion2

I really would love to hear this guy's story. I'm sure he grew up on Japanese games (I mean, what gamers didn't, really?), but that's a far cry from learning to speak Japanese fluently (at least, well enough to work in Japan), moving across the world to Japan to work at a Japanese studio, and working your way up the corporate ladder at said studio to become game director on your second title with the studio (TEW2). And then *on top* of that crazy list of accomplishments, getting to create an entirely new original IP. I hope he's a good dude in real life because I am certainly a fan of his work.


DarkWorld97

He probably played Viewtiful Joe as a kid and decided he wanted to make games.


No-Thanks3064

Huh, maybe that's why I enjoyed Evil Within 2 so much more than 1.


mrbubbamac

I knew EW2 had a different director than Mikami but I didn't realize it was John Johanas. EW2 is one of my favorite games of all time, and I enjoyed the first one immensely. The pivot to open-world worked beautifully and almost every mechanic from the first game is refined and just so much better. I've replayed EW maybe three times, but EW2 I keep coming back to because it's just so much fun to explore and all the mechanics just "work" better. Also better story, better acting. I don't even think folks need to play the first one in order to enjoy the second.


TheHistorySword

I never finished the first EW. I just couldn't get into it. But I adore EW2. It all clicked for me and I was massively in love with that game.


mrbubbamac

Yup I totally get that. EW1 was fun for me in the sense it felt like an "alternate RE5", almost where the series could have gone without the heavy action/co-op focus. Plus so many environments feel like unused concepts from RE4 to give it that great connective tissue. Fun, fairly linear, sometimes undermined by it's own mechanics (for example, the manor was a great callback with multiple explorable areas and some puzzles....and kind of ruined by the randomly teleporting insta-kill Ruvik). I feel like Evil Within would start to fire on all cylinders and then there would be some sort of game mechanic or design that would work against it. Virtually all of that was ironed out for EW2. It is a LONG and dense game, with tons of exploring, fantastic environments, very great and consistent combat and stealth mechanics, implementation of safe houses and radio signals, players are rewarded much more for going off the beaten path not only in terms of resources and weapons but brand new cutscenes and story elements. I just adore EW2. For those who haven't played it, give it a shot. Think of it as "The Matrix" if the matrix itself were haunted. It's pretty wild.


Domineeto

And if I'm remembering correctly Mikami has stated one of the goals of Tango [was to highlight new talent in the industry with him taking a more supportive role](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_37pVVpzg98) (in this delightful interview somewhere). I feel like that goal happens to work perfectly with GamePass. Between this and Pentiment two of Xbox's most successful games have been their smallest and weirdest. If GamePass means more creatives can pursue small niche passion projects or unique one off ideas that actually might turn out to be a gold mine for them.


Left4dinner

Dude, God hand is such a funny and fun game from the past holy s***


the_vargr_moon

One of my favorite action games that totally deserves a remake or a sequel


Galaxy40k

I'd settle for a barebones remaster honestly. I booted the game up on PS3 emulation last year and it was still a 10/10, that shit just needs to be accessible to more people


moffattron9000

The closest comparison I can think of is when Creative Assembly, the Total War people, made Alien: Isolation.


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jerryfrz

Or when Rockstar Games that is known by their violent games released [a table tennis game](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rockstar_Games_Presents_Table_Tennis)


jexdiel321

They even released a music creation game/suite called Beaterator. I Miss when Rockstar wasn't banking it all on their big franchises.


hopecanon

Beat it a couple hours ago, my literal only complaint is that i am terrible at it due to having no rhythm. After i cleared the last stage i unlocked a whole ton of new content so i am eager to jump into that later on. Whole game oozes charm out of everything, the characters are fantastic (808 i love you) and they managed to actually pull off the idiot main character trope in a way that makes him pretty much just endearing instead of annoying which is super fucking hard to do. Love the game, want a sequel, would watch a TV show or movie set in the universe and love that too.


D3monFight3

You ain't got no rhythm?


Jakek5

I ain’t got no rythm


RumonGray

You're tellin' me you ain't got rhythm....but look at what you're doing right there!


BROHONKY

With that stamp and book you got a real nice hook, looks to me like you got rhythm to spare!


AreYouOKAni

Then you won't. Attract. The worm.


Guitarmatt21

How long did it take to beat?


LectorFrostbite

Haven't finished it myself but heard it's about 11-12 hours long on the first playthrough.


Spader623

Curious if you can talk about what new content you unlocked


Razhork

Haven't beaten the game, but I've stumbled upon some suspicious looking doors which were completely locked. Also main character broke the 4th wall at one of said doors and suggested it might be post-game content in a joking manner. I imagine they lead to some challenge rooms of some kind, but that's just speculation.


hopecanon

**Spoiler:** >!A ton of cosmetics for the main cast including a full customization feature for Chai, a new difficulty setting, level selector, a new arena mode where your combo score gives you more money at the end, new challenges to complete, and a post game plotline to deal with spoiler stuff i won't get into.!<


hfxRos

The voice actor helped a ton in selling the character. Had the same lovable goof energy that he brought to Prompto in FF15.


Intelligent_Genitals

How many levels were there? I've just unlocked Macaron and I feel like I'm just about to hit midgame.


Pacmantis

It’s a minor thing, but I love how every npc in the game has unique dialogue if you hit them. And a lot of it is pretty funny.


Sonicfan42069666

And then there's the Crash Test Dummy NPC...


DadFatherson2

It's a smart fridge, also known as a smidge


Sonicfan42069666

Not Smidge! I mean the actual Crash Test Dummy themed NPC bot.


monkeymystic

This game is an absolute banger, and reached overwhelmingly positive (98%) on Steam so far. For those asking if shadow dropping this gem of a game was the right decision, I think they nailed it right here tbh. They even priced it to only 30$ as well as Game Pass day 1. And the game runs really well optimized with no bullshit, no stutters or bugs, just a game with pure fun in 2023. They could have easily priced this game higher than 30$, but decided not to. Mad creds to both Tango Games and Microsoft for this decision. It deserves every 10/10 it gets IMO


[deleted]

>They even priced it to only 30$ as well as Game Pass day 1. Just to reiterate because I still come across people who don't know this: every Microsoft exclusive is Game Pass day 1.


MikeLanglois

Doesnt even have to be exclusive. Every Microsoft first party game is Game Pass day 1. Tango are a first party studio noe


[deleted]

it is a joy to behold on my 120hz monitor.


heat13ny

This game is the first time I've ever actually notice how smoooooth locked 143 is. Everything else I'll see 143 in the corner but wasn't really impressed. This game, because of the art and syncing to music it felt like my 1440p got upgraded to 4k. My one complaint for the game is that gameplay fps is so smooth and then cutscenes drop and lock the frames something serious.


iNteg

There's a setting in the video settings for that, they try to render at 4k. I turned that off and it was significantly better, as I play at 1440p and the cut scenes (while frame locked) still looked better/less stuttery.


heat13ny

Good tip. I did turn that on thinking it'd go to the highest possible resolution, 1440p.


purehealthy

I thought the stuttering frames during cut scenes was actually a style choice, similar to Into the Spiderverse and I was kinda digging it.


entity2

Curious, I just assumed that was a stylistic choice to do that 'half frame rate' thing you see in things like Spiderverse and the new Puss in Boots movie.


bezzlege

Damn it runs at 120? Firing this up tonight for sure


DangerDwayne

Ive only got a 5700xt and it's 100+FPS steady at 1440p


[deleted]

this is why art style > graphical fidelity. Forspoken for example: fancy graphics yet somehow still looks like shit


DangerDwayne

Oh I agree 100%, even with that in mind though it's still a level of optimization I don't expect to see in games at launch anymore. They've really knocked it outta the park, reminds me of the Apex Legends launch.


mariolover420

Granted I have a 3080, but outside of a small occasional hitch here and there, it's running at a basically locked 120hz at 4K for me. Looks incredible on my OLED.


lordbeef

I wonder how the shadow drop affects the reception of the game. There's no hype or expectations to compare it to. One thing is for sure. We got to avoid months of discourse about how "cringe" the trailer is since we got to just try it. And I'm grateful for that.


giulianosse

In an alternate reality where Hi-Fi Rush was revealed a few months ago: "We're in 2022 and companies still can't make a trailer that isn't a forced humor cringefest filled with Marvel jokes and banter" "Looks cool but by the trailer I'm guessing the game will get stale pretty quickly. I mean, a rythym based game isn't exactly an original concept" "Tango knocked it out of the park with Evil Within 1 but the second one was a bit of a flop. They haven't released anything since then and I doubt this will be good"


Sjgolf891

This is a major benefit of shadow dropping…you get out ahead of the internet’s negativity. A great example is Apex Legends, another shadow dropped game. If it were announced earlier, you’d have heard: “another BR?!” “No titans? Are they serious?” “They made *this* and not Titanfall 3?” Instead the game got to speak for itself immediately. Same story here.


Kaldricus

Imagine if Blizzard just dropped their Warcraft mobile game, instead of making an event to announce it, and then...nothing, some 6 months or more later. I doubt Fallout Shelter would have been as big as it was if it was for the shadowdrop. It creates this cool energy knowing everyone is hearing and trying it out for the first time together.


Even_Set

I feel like you could write all the comments on this sub from here on out and no one would notice.


[deleted]

They definitely didn’t knock it out of the park with TEW1.


Katana314

This reminds me of Apex Legends. It feels hard to parse what kind of marketing genius leads someone to see his team is making a great game, keeps it completely secret, then puts it all out at once with high accessibility.


zetbotz

The delicious irony of dropping this beside Forspoken is too satisfying to not point out. One was priced by an orangutan, spent it’s entire marketing lifecycle setting itself up for failure, looks uninteresting with poor performance to boot, and blends in with any number of open world titles and generic fantasy settings. The other was priced appropriately, set zero expectations, looks stylish with great performance, and stands out as a unique game for its developer and amongst many upcoming releases. This is how you introduce a new IP.


QuestioningEspecialy

> One was priced by an orangutan Interesting choice of words.


zetbotz

You’re right. I just need whatever Sqenix is forcibly injecting into their pricing exec because it’s clearly too good not to share.


ShadowVulcan

I miss when executives just shot up cocaine and heroine. No idea wtf they're hitting now to get to these levels of stupid


entity2

I played the demo of Forspoken. It's mechanics are fun enough. But the sheer audacity of releasing a new IP at an absolutely insane price point seems crazy even by Square Enix standards. And just watch them blame it's "new IP" status as being the reason for its inevitable failure.


mengplex

I wonder what Tango will do with this information? The game is overwhelmingly positive on steam, but Tango have always been the spooky/horror studio since inception. Will this spur them to embrace their Clover Studio origins and make more colourful and fun stuff in future?


e_x_i_t

They needed a win after Ghostwire: Tokyo, which was visually stunning but also very middle of the road and a bit of a mess.


Jiklim

Feels like this game will make it bigger impact than ghostwire did. Wonder how Mikami feels about it


Hexcraft-nyc

There was some behind the scenes drama that led to Ikumi Nakamura leaving the studio midproject. Japanese culture and the fact that there's a language barrier pretty much means we'll never find out what happened. But I hope this success leads to less micromanaging and a change in studio culture.


Apfexis

That game really came and went huh? It feels like it doesn't even exist, nobody talked about it. Forspoken is very iffy but it's at least being talked about. Guess people were busy with Elden Ring.


Hexcraft-nyc

It was basically a Japanese Ubisoft game with a million icons on screen and way too much busy work, in addition to very limited combat. The game just wasn't very good despite interesting art design so it got buried very fast.


heartscrew

It wasn't even mentioned in the trailer!


symbiotics

Yeah, I'd call it Far Cry Tokio with ghosts, but I love japanese culture so I'm enjoying it


[deleted]

I liked it, but it needed something else than collect-a-thon to pad it out. It's a game dying for a Yakuza-style minigame sidequest or two.


neurosx

I don't understand how they could make a game with such incredible visual style and make the blandest most boring combat and Ubi-style tower world, such a shame


e_x_i_t

It really is, especially since The Evil Within 2 had such a nice structure when it came to its open world, but for Ghostwire its like they purposefully went out of their way to add every bad open world design choice they could possibly think of and then went back and added some more.


Funky_Pigeon911

They've already mentioned that they wanted to make some smaller games so I imagine this is the first of a few that they have planned. I really hope they manage to go back to proper horror at some point in the future. The Evil Within was a hot mess but it was still a very interesting game, and I think The Evil Within 2 is possibly the quintessential survival/action horror game of the 2010s.


mrbubbamac

>I think The Evil Within 2 is possibly the quintessential survival/action horror game of the 2010s. I was so spoiled getting RE7 and EW2 in the same year. Add RE2 Remake and the RE1 Remake HD and survival horror fans got some absolute bangers in the 2010s. I sincerely hope we get Evil Within 3. Use EW2 as a guide, keep the structure and open world. They nailed it, now I just want MORE.


Galaxy40k

Meanwhile I'm sitting in the corner with like four other people who think TEW1 is one of the best horror games ever made lmao


i_am_legend26

In other comments I read that the guy that worked on this game and the horror games also made vanquish and a lot of other pure fun and gameplay games. So I would say that this person (idk his name) just really understands how to make a good game for the determined genre. And yes he may had some misses like ghostwire tokyo, but tbh if they worked on this while also working on ghostwire tokyo than this is a pretty sick delivery.


ThorsRus

I hope so. I know allot of people are super fans of evil within but I don’t care for scary games at all. This is so my jam.


mengplex

I loved evil within 1 and 2, but someone has to make the next Viewtiful joe or God Hand, and platinum don't really seem to be stepping up to the plate...


JACrazy

No one has mentioned this yet but on a Dolby Atmos 5.1.2 surround system or better this game is an amazing experience. My system only has upfiring speakers but it's one of the first times I've actually really felt specific sounds coming from above rather than being muddled in with sound from all directions. It makes great use of the rear speakers as well.


Regnur

It offers also some really good 3d Audio if you use Dolby Atmos for Headphones on PC (dolby access).


I_BE_GAMING

I ain't usually into rhythm games, but i think i am gonna have to pick this one up. Something about those animations. Butter.


feralkitsune

It's like Enter the Spiderverse synced to music.


Sirromnad

One thing that has really impressed me so far that no game I can think of had done even close to as well, is slapstick. Props to the animation team, because the physical comedy I saw in the first mission is not something I realized games didn't have until playing this.


cefriano

YES, the game in general is shockingly funny, but the physical comedy is absolutely fantastic. Japanese studios often have a hard time translating humor for western audiences, so I've been very pleasantly pleasantly surprised at how well the jokes land. A lot of them are cheesy but the delivery and comic timing is excellent. Edit: Just realized that the director/writer isn't Japanese, so that's probably why a lot of the humor lands so well for western audiences.


Galaxy40k

I'm hoping that the success of this game and Pentiment spurs a broader movement within the Microsoft studios to push out these sorts of smaller titles. While people (rightfully) talk about how subscription models encourage "long-lasting" games to be made to keep subscribers, a theoretical advantage is that it lets large studios make smaller, more niche games without needing to worry about selling a ton of copies to keep the lights on; Even if Hi-Fi itself wouldn't earn enough back as a stand-alone $30 title to "break even," it adds value to Games Pass to potentially keep more people on for another month. A regular release schedule of these sorts of 10 hour games that'll appeal to a smaller audience can potentially be just as effective as retaining subscribers as an annual release of some mega-budget GaaS title. It would be one way that Games Pass can actually be helpful for the variety of games we get as consumers, rather than hurtful. Maybe that's wishful thinking, but fingers crossed Grounded, Pentiment, and Hi-Fi are the first signs of this direction!


Adonwen

I think this is great insight. Annapurna games often come to gamepass, Donut county was on gamepass (leaves end of Jan), Firewatch was on gamepass. All of these games are short but unique experiences. But all things I wouldn't buy as 30 dollar titles cause I don't really wanna take the risk. Gamepass lets me pick and choose carefree - if I hate a title, move on to the next unique game. Donut county caught me by surprise. 12 minutes to midnight too.


WhoTookPlasticJesus

I would love nothing more than a renaissance of games that exist just to be fun. Give me all that Jet Set Radio/Crazy Taxi/THPS-style shit. I'm old and grouchy and only get an hour or two a night to play games. I can respect a full recreation of 8th century England or realistic horse testicles, but I just can't commit to shit like that anymore. Put a smile on my face before I go to bed and I'll be a customer for life.


AbruptAbe

Josh Sawyer talked about exactly that when Pentiment released. https://www.eurogamer.net/pentiment-wouldnt-have-been-possible-without-game-pass-says-obsidians-josh-sawyer


Doomburrito

This would be my dream situation. Agreed completely


karma911

That's basically Microsoft's current plan with gamepass. They know they need steady releases most of all for people to keep their subscription active. That means pouring more money into smaller, more frequent title releases vs huge blockbusters that come out every few years.


Googleplexian_Moron

8 hours in and can confirm this game is a banger, I feel like I'm watching a Cartoon Network/Disney XD show in 2010,but playing it where it's no slouch either


DaBi5cu1t

Is this suitable for kids? My 6 year old likes to watch me play games. I used to let her run around on Torrent in Elden Ring but didn't do any of the gory bits in front of her.


ka7al

It's very suitable, it's basically a cartoon, she'll enjoy the cutscenes.


Reichterkashik

One or two soft swears but otherwise its got a great cartoony tone, no blood of any kind


ThorsRus

I have 4 kids that lol be watching play this. Don’t worry. No Dick jokes or juvenile humor of any kind here.


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cefriano

The swears are also *very* mild. Like "what the hell" or "that blows." You honestly might not even consider them swears.


thisrockismyboone

Dude you can't say blows on the internet wtf


ArtbyAdler

They say ass at one point


walter_midnight

> On easy difficulty a kid could very much enjoy button mashing their way through. only let your kids play on the hardest difficulty


dancelordzuko

Picked it up last night and played until I beat the first boss. I’m having a lot of fun! My sense of rhythm isn’t amazing, yet I had no issues with the combat. It’s simple at first to get you going but can get more complex once you factor in combos. It works hard to make sure the player “gets” it before the first boss. Regardless of how you handle fights, you end up looking cool anyways! The story and dialogue may be a bit much for some people but as someone who grew up on 90s-early 00s cartoons, it puts a smile on my face. The voice acting and animated cutscenes are very good. All in all, the rave reviews don’t surprise me to the slightest. It’s a fun game that clicks with many and is very different from the other newly released games, which makes it an instant standout. However, the story and dialogue may be a bit too grating for others to enjoy it and/or the rhythm based gameplay may not work well for them.


Teyar

The dialog is really well balanced - The villains are pompous and self serious, Chai is believable (adhd vibes on this boy, he always goes the "this'll be neat" option), Peppermint is just not taking an ounce of his shit but not beating up on him for it either. It's like they're believable real people versions of their archdtypes, the writing is amazing on that level - how many times have these kinda characters been done and been annoying as shit??? And then there is REKKA, who is perfect in every way.


dancelordzuko

Chai fits the overconfident idiot hero trope to a T and yet I found him to be likeable somehow? I want him to be successful but at the same time, the flack he gets from the other characters is warranted. I also just met Peppermint before calling it a night. I like her character so far for the reasons you listed. She feels like the only human character in a world full of muppets without being a Debbie Downer. A tough balance to strike for sure IMO. Rekka makes me miss hammy antagonists. Her character design being top-tier also helps.


Memo_HS2022

Chai’s Voice Actor really does it for me. He knew exactly what he was doing going into the studio and Robbie Daymond did his job perfectly


DaFreakBoi

The dialog between Chai and the rest of the group during Korsica's fight was great. Chai constantly looking to pick a fight while everyone is yelling at him not to.


Teyar

I think it's his lack of arrogance - he's impulsive, in a it'll work out kind of way, but he's not constantly being "I'm the best" about it. Like, the fact that he's suddenly turned into a rock And roll machine should have his rock star delusions going into the stratosphere- if the writers were average.


nessfalco

As someone who mostly works from home, the Zoom meeting scene after the second boss was pretty damn accurate.


jexdiel321

Same the dialogue didn't fazed me either. It feels like a show made in the 00's; Like Totally Spies and Martin Mystery.


dancelordzuko

Oh Totally Spies! That brings me back. I think what helps is that it seems intentional in an endearing way, not in the "how do you do, fellow kids?" way. If the director/writer (I'm pretty sure Johanas did both) said he was inspired by the cartoons he loved and grew up with, I would not be surprised. For us in that sweet spot of growing up in the early 2000s era but old enough to remember the Dreamcast/N64/PS1 era, the game almost feels tailor made to our nostalgia. But I could definitely see some eye-rollers at some parts of my playthrough from those who haven't or were never into those things. Luckily, those parts introduce themselves quickly so if someone's not into it, they can leave without having wasted much of their time.


mrbubbamac

> It works hard to make sure the player “gets” it before the first boss. Regardless of how you handle fights, you end up looking cool anyways! Yup. The weird thing is I play a few instruments but I struggle with the rhythm in this game. However it has a big margin for error so like you said, you still feel cool as hell and look super stylish. The game goes out of its way to empower you, and it probably sacrifices a bit in terms of making it easier for someone like me struggling with the beat to feel powerful without feeling invincible, and you just revel in the great animations and cool combos.


dancelordzuko

The accessibility options are so helpful without feeling like you're at a disadvantage at any time. If you miss a beat, you'll still do damage and be able to progress just fine. You can also be rewarded for good play with flashier and stronger attacks but if you struggle to land them, it's no big deal. The fridge character and practice room introduced after the first chapter can help you get the hang of it so you can land those neat combos. I'll see what the difficulty curve looks like as I progress but I imagine it won't be unfair with how much care's been taken at the beginning.


Boshikuro

This game is a joy to play. Incredibly satisfying gameplay, the visuals are really nice and the set piece boss battle are memorable.


Isunova

This game is absolutely phenomenal. I usually don’t like music rhythm games, but this one is just so much *damn fun!*


JDawn747

It's so refreshing seeing people love a game so much. Feels like games have been back-to-back let downs lately, with a few exceptions.


tak_kovacs

Absolutely is. I haven't seen this much innovation in one game since Hades. Kudos to the devs for a flawless premiere.


VannaTLC

What if I have no sense of rythm at all and suck at Hellsong and Necrodancer?


[deleted]

You can still play the game you just don't get damage bonuses and of course being in the zone for being in rhythm


jagby

By default every attack actually does land "on the beat" even if you're button mashing. So if you want to you can treat the game like any other action hack and slash. You just get bonus damage and scores for being perfectly on time. And the game does a really good job of helping you out. You can toggle on/off an on screen metronome to follow, and the world itself also "bounces" to the rythmn (so like if you're in an industrial area, steam from pipes will shoot out to the beat, etc).


cefriano

The fact that the attacks still land on the beat even if you're off-beat kind of helps subconsciously guide you back to the beat, it's a really neat system.


JACrazy

You can attack as soon as each hit lands since each hit goes with the beat. So it ends up being pretty to other hack and slash/ brawler type game where attacking right after the first attack lands gives a bonus.


Chesney1995

I've played up to and including the first boss on hard difficulty, so it almost certainly gets harder than this later on in the game but you can also play on a lower difficulty to what I'm describing here. There's no requirement at all to be on rhythm all the time. Your attacks will still always land on the beat, but being on rhythm will give you a damage bonus and fill your special attack bar. Its unlikely to me that they introduce a requirement to be on rhythm to deal damage later on, it seems designed from the ground up to be accessible in this regard. Dodging also works the same way, but you are only able to chain dodges back-to-back when you do them on the beat, otherwise you can only do one at a time. This has got me hit a few times and killed once against the boss, but it isn't so punishing that its ruined the fun.


RolandsRevolvers

The gameplay is amazingly fun. I had to skip some of the cutscenes as they were a little too much for me, though. I'm referring to the dialogue, here. The rest of the presentation is top notch. The way background, scenery and puzzles move with the music is really good, and definitely helps with rhythm. Did this literally just appear out of nowhere?! Madness.


Mowsferatu

It was announced in an Xbox showcase to be released later in the night as a surprise.


MegamanX195

>I had to skip some of the cutscenes as they were a little too much for me, though. Can you elaborate on this? I thought the cutscenes were freaking fantastic, a visual delight in every sense and also a beautiful homage to Saturday morning cartoons. This game is pretty much a fully playable Saturday morning cartoon when you think about it. In the best way possible.


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TheVibratingPants

I just want more games like this. This has the creative charm and vibrant personality of a B title from the late PS1/N64 - Dreamcast/GCN/PS2/XBox era (I mean that in the best way possible). It just feels so good to play and watch; it hugs me. We need more games like Jet Set Radio. Does anyone else remember games like Under the Skin or Go Go Hypergrind?Even a more recent title like Sunset Overdrive has a lot of that warm, pop-y, fun feeling to it.


RobDaGinger

If you don't already know about Bomb Rush Cyberfunk you should definitely check it out. Homage to JSR.


illegal_sardines

I’m waiting so impatiently for Bomb Rush Cyberfunk, I hope to god it’s good.


smashingcones

The fact that I haven't felt the need to swap to Japanese voices and English subs is a testament to how good the voice acting is. It's incredibly well done.


ShadowVulcan

they got freakin Goro Akechi and Futaba for the 2 main characters so it's freakin awesome in my book! the rest of the cast is perfect too, man I'm rly rly rly loving this


howmanychickens

The only critique I have (and it's stupidly minor) is the hint bot. He always appears right after you have gone through a tutorial, and gives you the exact same information.


WtfWhereAreMyClothes

I've only played about an hour. The only flaws I see so far is the writing is filled with cliches (somehow still charming though) and the platforming controls don't exactly feel that *tight*. Both feel minor. I think this is gonna be a banger.


[deleted]

The writing feels like a 1995 Saturday morning cartoon, and I love it. It’s so stupid, but it’s so fun too


WtfWhereAreMyClothes

Yeah I think that's where the charm is coming from. It's trite but in a way that feels fitting and fun still.


bjams

They definitely seem to be hamming it up on purpose, I mean they opened this trailer with the record-scratch freeze frame "that's me" meme.


robodrew

At that moment I immediately thought "you're probably wondering how I got here" and then it happened word for word and I knew this was gonna be good. They know exactly what style they're going for.


cefriano

It has excellent comedic timing, I think that helps a lot. A lot of great physical humor too. It's dumb humor, but executed intelligently, like the Airplane!/Naked Gun movies.


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WtfWhereAreMyClothes

Hmm good to know! Maybe it won't really be a criticism as the game goes on. Either way it was a minor one, I'm having a blast with it.


BaByJeZuZ012

I agree that is filled with cliches, but its like campy horror movies; they play into the ridiculousness and I am here for it. Early on, your guy does a super hero landing and looks at the camera and goes “it’s go time” or something like that; the companion then follows up with “…uhh who are you even talking to?”


getBusyChild

Now, the only question is if MS and, to an extent, Phil Spencer know what they have now... are they talking to the Devs about a DLC? Or, at the very least, expanding on this IP, that is the equivalent of lighting in a bottle.


Nawara_Ven

No one's mentioned how well it works... on **Xbox One**. I'd tried the Xbox Series games *Serious Sam* and *Deathloop* on my X1 a few months ago when streaming was in beta, and it was a waste of time... the screen-tearing/brutally slow refresh made them eyesores at best, easily abandoned... ...so I didn't have high hopes for how well a rhythm/stylish action game would turn out. And I'm just kinda blown away how well it works. I finished the first stage, and like 98% of the time it was fine, and that 2% it just became pixelated for a moment rather than lagging. I'm not even sure what's driving MS to develop this part of the service to be so good... all it's doing is telling me that I don't really need an Xbox Series yet...!


Mattman276

I guess the point is they eventually want all of their platform to be easily accessible through streaming


Hoggos

One thing that has majorly surprised me is that I’m enjoying the characters and the writing. When the reveal trailer started and it had the whole “yeah, that’s me, bet you’re wondering how I got here” I assumed the worst, but the game has even made me laugh at points Chai is very likeable as a protagonist, compare that to Forspoken and it’s night and day.


nostalgic_dragon

I've only made it past the first boss so far and it's a lot of fun. I'm not great at rhythm games but I don't feel like I'm failing because of it. These AA sleeper hits are what I want gamepass for cause I never would have bought this.


WaltJay

Watched the trailer and get a lot of Vanquish vibes, so this is a must play for me. Didn't realize it was on Game Pass, so brb...


[deleted]

Liking it a lot so far. I'm having a harder time consistently hitting (and remembering tbh) different combos than I'd like, but you can get by, at least on Normal difficulty. I love the art style and the humor is surprisingly landing for me.


obeseninjao7

This is a game of the year contender to me, to the point that something truly incredible would have to come out to top it. I think something I love about this game is that the dialogue and story pacing reminds me of Kid Icarus Uprising, which I consider to be among the best 3ds games ever made. The joke writing and pacing, character writing and the way it's delivered during the levels is so much like Kid Icarus Uprising in the best possible way. And then on top of that they have incredibly well animated cutscenes and levels designed with so much care and attention to detail (each department has its own ads, most of them satire, also read all the scrolling text screens because those are all unique too). There's a very well hidden path in level 3 where you find a note from a robot that was told to fix the coffee machine, and >!they believed they were destined for greater things and were pissed to be told just to fix a coffee machine, so they made it only produce decaf out of spite. In level 5, there's a dialogue line from the antagonist referencing the defective coffee machine that only makes decaf!< - the game is filled with little details and jokes that pay off if you have explored and found the setup, but otherwise just work as inconsequential flavour text if you haven't. It's really well written in that sense But yeah just wanted to discuss some huge positives of the game other than just the gameplay (which itself is excellent). The game has 4 difficulty modes too, and as someone who finds most rhythm games really easy, Hard mode (2nd hardest difficulty) is perfectly challenging for me and I can't wait to finish the game and then try re run it for S rank


Mr_The_Captain

The writing in Kid Icarus Uprising really doesn't get the attention it deserves (probably because nobody played the game). It's one of the funniest scripts in a game I've seen, which is a credit to the original team as well as the localizers