Stylish, weird, snappy, extremely fun. This is just one of those games where you look at it and you know its going to be a rad time, its a rhythm platformer, and it looks like that. And the game lives up to that concept with some amazing electronic beats and tight level design, as well as a very touching story. This game reminded me a lot of, of all things, Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective. Both games really take advantage of the idea of death, both are weird cult hybrid mash-ups of different genre, and most importantly, this game takes the biggest thing from the ending LOL.

And like Ghost Trick, this game is just a tight short but extremely rewarding experience. I had a blast just tearing through levels and listening to those tunes while getting my ass beat. I wish this game wasn't just stuck on PS4 and Switch, because this is an experience worthy of everyone's attention.

An absolute delight for rhythm game fans. It can be a real challenge mastering the mechanics at first, especially since the tutorial doesn't mention some of the slightly more complicated tech.
That being said, this has one of the best soundtracks I have ever heard in a game, and learning to master a song to be able to get through a level without dying is incredibly satisfying.
All of this is packaged in a really nice little story that's surprisingly touching and just a real pleasure to experience.
However, the game isn't perfect by any means. There's some bullshit enemy placement here and there, and on occasion mechanics don't work as intended. First play throughs of certain levels can be pretty frustrating as a result.
All this being said, if you are a fan of rhythm games and have not played Mad Rat Dead, please do. It is one of the most underrated games I have played in recent years, in part due to really poor marketing in the west, and deserves much more recognition than it has gotten

HOLY CRAP

okay that was a good game. great story, fantastic music, genuinely enjoyable levels. i think sometimes its a bit too finicky? like the homing attack specifically, and bosses feel like they werent designed with the rhythm aspect in mind. but overall, a great game

also, as someone with a heart transplant myself, i love the representation

disclaimer: I only played the demo.

I really have to log this and put my thoughts out there. I love rhythm games. I am learning, though, that I don't like when rhythm games do... more. it's too much for me to handle. I thought I'd love Crypt of the Necrodancer. I... didn't. :( glad there was a demo of this. I was tempted to purchase it, but it was far too much money to spend on something I wasn't sure I'd like. the demo was longer than I expected it to be, so it gets points for that.
this game is SO cool stylistically and musically. like, it gets that all juuuuust right. but for me, the gameplay was very awkward. using different buttons really threw me off terribly. my shitty ADHD brain couldn't keep up and I didn't even actually complete the demo. embarrassing! but I'm glad I was able to try it.

Somehow both the best rhythm game and the best platformer of 2020. It's a whole game that manages to nail that "moving to the music" feel that the rhythm levels in Rayman Legends had, despite playing nothing like that. Mechanically it's probably closest to Crypt of the Necrodancer where every beat matches to a movement, but things like doing tricks in the air or breakdancing/charging to give yourself a longer dash or jump can be used to circumvent that a bit.

The soundtrack is also worth talking about. NIS brought in a few different artists to work on it, as well as having some of their own composers write tracks. The biggest outside contributor was DYES IWASAKI of Fake Type, but there are a few other independent artists too. I don't exactly know what to call the genre that most of the music falls into, but it's a kind of jazz-electronic hybrid (electroswing? IDK I'm not a big music guy). I've always kind of liked jazz so that part appeals to me and is probably one of the reasons I liked the soundtrack as much as I did, but the songs are all super distinct from each other and have a variety of tempos that are used to speed up or slow down the whole pace of a level. There are even a few songs that play with the beats a bit to throw you off of a basic "1-2-3-4" tempo for pressing buttons. The music also meshes incredibly well with the weird art style of the game and the absolute fever dream that is its story. This game has boss fights. This game has large scale hallucinations. This game begins with a narrator asking you moral questions while you watch a rat be cut open on an operating table. It's weird, it's wild, and it's incredibly fun.

It took me so god damn a while to complete this game.

The story is great and mostly importantly...

THIS SOUNDTRACK BOPS

If you haven't played this game, I suggest you give it a try.

Finished this while the power was out for nearly 24 hours; managing to beat the final boss with barely 5% battery left was so satisfying.

Mad Rat Dead is one hell of a game. The controls are snappy and (mostly) responsive, the art direction is both cute and unnerving, and the story is shockingly heartfelt. I found myself really connecting with its themes.

This is also one of the greatest video game soundtracks ever made, you cannot tell me otherwise. Catch me two-stepping to MAD RAT, ALIVE.

The plot is simple, but very good, interesting and above all not obvious. Developments and twists are done very well. I also loved the ending. It is a perfect plot for a game of this genre, and the way in which it is told makes it more enjoyable. The characters are also done very well, and you get really attached to the protagonists over the course of the game. Also, its original, varied and fun gameplay has definitely made it my favorite rhythm game. It may seem difficult at first, but it quickly gets carried away. It evolves more and more as we progress through the story, also including difficult boss fights in various levels. I guess I've never had so much fun in a rhythm game, and I will probably keep playing it in the next days. The only "criticism" that maybe I would feel like making is the fact that you don't have to start the level all over again once you are dead. The game simply allows you to go back in time to where you want, and continue from that point on. While it is a consistent choice with some plot elements of the game and to make the game "more viable" especially in the final levels, an option to change it would have been great. The soundtrack is probably the best element of the game. All the tracks are literally all gorgeous. Electro-swing is a really nice genre. I was a little sad that I couldn't hear the final boss ost while doing it, the sound effects covered pretty much everything. The difficulty of the game is medium, but you may find yourself in serious difficulty with the levels if you don't know how to go to the rhythm (being a rhythm game). Especially the last 3 levels require a lot of skill, given the high difficulty. However, as already mentioned in the gameplay section, if you die it simply makes you use some sort of rewind that makes you go back as far as you want, so you can use it in your favor. The only big problem with the game is the price. The base price on eshop (I played it on Nintendo Switch) is 39,99€, but in the Christmas discounts just passed, it costed 25€, which is already a more acceptable price. I am not informed about the price of the PS4 version.

IN THE END: I LOVED this game. It became one of my favorite games of all time, and I consider it a Must-to-play for Rhythm Game lovers. The only real downside is the high price.