PART 1: ←↓↑→

Earlier this year an arcade opened near my apartment that had a Dance Dance Revolution machine on it, out of curiosity, one day I decided to try it out, I fucking sucked at it, but I had the time of my life learning how to play it. This would then trigger a chain reaction in my brain where a sudden obsession for Rhythm games would begin, weeks after, I bought a used Guitar Hero controller and I set up Clone Hero on my PC, hell, I even got into Osu! This fire for rhythm games was always there since I played Elite Beat Agents and Theatrhythm Curtain Call when I was younger, but it was waiting for something to be rekindled. Now that said spark did its thing, now I can't get enough of this genre, and I have to play more of them.

PART 2: Let's break it down
Going through 2023 was impossible without seeing anyone bring up Hi-Fi Rush, and with good reason, no one expected anything from this game because nobody knew it existed until it was dropped after the reveal. When have you heard of a game actually pulling off a stunt like that and being met with overwhelmingly good reception?

Simple, it's because this is a fun ass videogame, it's a fantastic blend of two genres that when you think about them separately, it's difficult to picture them working together as well as they do. Hi-Fi Rush knows its target audience well and plays its cards accordingly, do you want to play it as a traditional action/hack and slash game? You can do that, sure, BUT you would be heavily encouraged to follow the beat to score high rankings and get through encounters as quickly as possible. To be honest, who wouldn't want to chase a high rank while playing at the rhythm of the phenomenal soundtrack?

While the story isn't anything out of the ordinary, HFR follows a very colorful and unique cast of characters lead by Chai, a knuckleheaded and overly ambitious dude that wants to be a rockstar... without even knowing how to play the guitar, (god that's kind of relatable imagine getting into a hobby and not being immediately cracked at it) so he signs up for a program that will replace his broken arm for an enhancement prosthetic that will surely make his dream easier to achieve, however because of an accident, the core of the prosthetic ends up being replaced with his MP3 player, giving him a unique connection to music, and cleverly justifying the way the game is played, since he now perceives the entire world with the BPMs of his playlist. He then proceeds to join a form a group of misfits to take down a company conspiracy, thanks to his severe lack of braincells, his interactions with the group lead to a lot of back and forth banter, giving place to very funny moments, interactions, which work very well thanks to the fact that the game doesn't want to hide away from the fact that it wants to roast him, but at the same time, he's too dumb to realize that he's being roasted. It's like watching the reels of the Voros Twins but made into a videogame character. I would like to get into more detail about the rest of the cast, but I've said enough, I think part of the charm of the game also comes from getting to know them all as you progress through your adventure.

Just like with your usual Hack and Slash games, it is very encouraged to play it even after you've beaten it, so you can develop the muscle memory to pull off an even bigger variety of combos and mixups and to get even better at parries. Thanks to all the Post game content that opens up, I see myself coming back to this game later this year to step up my gameplay, and if I'm mentally insane enough, just like I was with Ultrakill, you'll catch me trying to go for S Ranks on every level.

Sadly, Tango Gameworks might be gone too soon after shining too bright, but I hope people look at Hi-Fi Rush with inspiration to create something as wonderful as it was. That their legacy inspires others to catch that lightning in a bottle they achieved.

PS. If you look like Peppermint my DMs on Discord are open

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