I have Wollom to thank for this recommendation, and I'd say it wasn't a bad time. It took me a while to get used to, given it's a whole 'nother genre of rhythm game that I am way less experienced in, but I had fun a good amount of fun.

I've gone into detail on my whole ordeal with rhythm games before, so I won't bother here. To talk about the actual game, it's fairly similar to Muse Dash, though with a few extra details and now utilizing both sides of the screen, which... like, it's cool, but it doesn't exactly add much, and, if anything, can make it a bit more difficult to focus on incoming notes when the camera is shifting between sides or pulling itself into the middle of the screen, noticeably reducing the room to react while also keeping watch on two different directions at once. I could very well just be bad at the game, but regardless, it sorta got to me.

The music was pretty hit or miss, I definitely liked Proper Rhythm a fair bit, but I'm already having a little trouble remembering most of the other tracks. I almost felt like I was zoning out for some of them, things just started to feel a bit samey after a while.

I don't want to be too hard on this game. It's a subgenre that I'm not the best at, in a genre that I'm already not very fond of, and even despite all that, it's still just a quick little side story made to anticipate the actual game's full release. I liked what it had, and while I might not be 100% interested in what's in store, I'm still looking forward to seeing how it turns out. The vibe is there, and they definitely nailed it. Good art, some nice emotional points, albeit a little quick and scattered, not a bad game. Hope things go well for the team.

Curto jogo de ritmo simples, só com 2 botões, mas é indubitavelmente divertido tentar ter highscores nas 14 ótimas canções que tem (atualmente). Amo a direção de arte toda, os character designs parecem cuspidos de uma produção do Studio Trigger e a forma como a integração das personagens com o ambiente é feita, com uma grande ajuda do lighting e a estética VHS, criam uma identidade visual muito apelativa. Apesar de ser apenas um prólogo e essencialmente uma demo para um jogo futuro maior, Unbeatable: White Label ainda conta a sua pequena história sobre uma protagonista atormentada pelos seus demónios, é pouco mas o que está lá é excelente. Entusiasmado pelo jogo principal, se mantiver este nível de qualidade, podemos ter aqui algo mesmo especial.

This game is gorgeous, has great design, music is awesome, everything feels smooth and buttery.

Few things I noticed though:
- I feel like some of the notes were a bit off rhythm in a few of the songs. Not like, I hit them off, but they came a bit too soon from what the song sounded like.
- Overworld movement could use some mending, the train station specifically, I felt like I should've been able to go further "back" (towards the horizon) considering how defined the map was, and sometimes the hitboxes/boundaries felt too big.

Music so bonkers good I bought the soundtrack within half an hour of starting the game. The tiny bit of story that's in here is also really promising and does a solid job of introducing us to its protagonist, Beat. She's messy, she's impatient, she's got hang-ups and complex feelings about very specific things. She's thoroughly compelling and at times, hauntingly relatable. That is to say, she's just like me for real (ADHD + perpetually doomed by debilitating perfectionism).

It's worth mentioning that the actual rhythm game portion has a bit of an initial difficulty curve and can take a while getting used to. It's mostly the "dodge" and "double tap" notes that were tricky since there aren't really direct equivalents to them in other rhythm games I've played. But hey, the struggle for mastery is part of the appeal so I don't think it really detracts from the experience or anything.

On 2023-11-16 I was browsing the "Anime" tag on Steam and stumbled upon the game demo "Unbeatable \[White Label]". It's just a demo, though it does have it's own listing on Steam. The full game doesn't even have it's own listing yet. This demo came out two years ago and there is no ETA on the full game. I came across reviews and some of the reviewers had tens of hours logged into the game. I thought "I can't imagine ever spending that much time on a demo, no matter how good it is". Then, within perhaps mere minutes of opening the game, I understood.

I recently (from today) watched a video that mentioned the concept of a piece of media hitting your heart before your mind. Unbeatable hit my heart, and it hit hard. It felt like when I first discovered my love for FLCL and The World Ends With You (TWEWY), my two favorite pieces of media ever. Any direct comparisons of Unbeatable to other media, as many Steam reviews bring up, is a disservice to how special Unbeatable is. The visuals are a beautifully, meticulously crafted yet rough aesthetic reminiscent of a nostalgic youthful sunny 90s summer. The world is within the character's grasp, yet so hard to grab. There's the feeling of freedom, but the fear and the anxiety that goes with such as well. The "game" part of it is ala Muse Dash but with much more curated visual flavor. The perspective frequently changes, notes coming from both the left and the right to make sure your eyes don't get complacent. After you complete the tutorial, you get a small peek at the "overworld" gameplay.

You walk into a building and there are your bandmates, waiting for your late-ass. They're rowdy. They're talking over each other. They show their distinct personalities within their first line of dialogue. The text in their speech bubbles match their personality and their tone with too many capitals to all lowercase to oversized text. They talk like a bunch of modern weird found-family kids. It feels intimate. There's slices of story before and after playing each original song for the first time. It feeds into each of those songs just right, giving your the information to enhance your interpretation of the lyrics. The original songs are so, so unbelievably awesome. Most rhythm games tend to just use electronic music, generic otaku music, collab music, etc. but Unbeatable's music is rock done by their very own band: Peak Divide.

"Empty Diary" and "Mirror" are my personal standouts. Playing these songs don't feel like how they do in your typical rhythm game where you're simply trying to get a high score or idly play to have something to do. It's a cathartic experience. It forces your soul to synchronize itself with the music and the feeling behind it. It's similar to the sink or swim beginning that many cult classics have. My soul resonated back to the game, allowing our feelings to become one in the same. It's a perfectly cultivated balance that can only be cultivated by pure feeling. Don't think too much, pick up the instrument, and start playing your fucking heart out.

My imagination can't stop running wild with just how good the emotional highs of the story can be with every single aspect of this game playing off each other. Rhythm games rarely have stories let alone the story being as important as the rhythming. Unbeatable is a low-profile project and I expect it to always be the way to that degree. It makes the experience feel deeply personal, moreso than otherwise. The creators are simply available to talk to on their Discord. These are people who could just be another friend of one's. Just, people, creating something so special. I think that speaks to what Unbeatable will manage to do in it's final form. I'll patiently await that form, for the song that Unbeatable sings, so that I can give it a meaning for myself.

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