Since I had gamepass I thought I would give this game a shot since I knew it was so short. Little did I know I would be playing one of the most wholesome and sad games I've played all year. For being such a short experience the game is able to cover so many topics in a way that are subtle and very powerful. Themes of becoming disillusioned with ones culture and finding a home in a foreign land all feel very lived in. I will not begin to say I relate to these experiences given that I am a white boy from the Midwest.

Even given my background I still felt extremally sympathetic to these struggles. The unconditional love on display really reminded me about all my parents have done for me. I'm just gonna come out and say it, this game almost left me crying like a baby. It's such a short sweet experience I just can't recommend it enough. Even if the gameplay is nothing super special, if a game can make me cry you bet I am gonna give it a high recommendation.

When it comes to games it can't be understated how easily a fun vibrant style can win me over. Hi-Fi Rush has this in spades as what initially pulled me was its gorgeous art style and excellent character designs. Almost everything this game brings to the table is presented with such confidence that it was hard not to appreciate what was in front of me.

What initially made me stick around was the extremely satisfying rhythm-based combat. Even a guy like me who often struggles with rhythm-based gameplay fell in love with how good it felt to get through an encounter without missing a beat. As soon as I heard the invisible crowd chanting my name as I got my first S rank I was hooked.

One of the features that surprised me the most was the game's emphasis on parrying. Being a hack-and-slash game I was not oblivious that there would be some form of parrying. This was something I initially dread as, even though I have played my fair share of these types of games, parrying was something I always found myself struggling with. Unlike these other games, Hi-Fi Rush sits you down and forces you to be somewhat competent with this mechanic. This irked me at first as I felt it was unfair for the game to roadblock me with a mechanic I was hopefully gonna try to use as little as possible. This lesson was what finally convinced me of how useful this mechanic is. Not only does the game become immensely easier once this mechanic is mastered, it is also the gateway to some of the most stylish combat I have ever seen.

Outside of the stellar gameplay, what I truly loved the most were the characters and their interactions with one another. Chai is such a loveable goofball that brings out the best in all the people around him. Watching his journey from a wannabe "rockstar" to a genuine rockstar was immensely enjoyable. The cast as a whole is one of the strongest I have seen in a while. The family love that slowly grows between them on all is genuinely one of the most wholesome dynamics I've seen in games.

A common fact about this game is how it just came out of nowhere. The success of Hi-Fi Rush should be a wake-up call for the industry that a game does not need all the marketing in the world to be one hell of an experience. Turns out that making your game with genuine love and creativity creates one of the most lauded games of the year. Hopefully, this marks a return to form in some ways where games start to incorporate aspects such as alternate costumes, challenge modes, and a boatload of other extra content without them being regulated to DLC.

Overall I feel this is one of the best games in its genre. Tango Gameworks has a record now of surprising releases with Evil Dead 2 and now Hi-Fi Rush. I am extremely excited to see what they make next.