By Rayleigh (@rayleighdkaiser)

Of Passion And Joy: A Review of Hi-Fi Rush

A Love Letter (Game) To Video Games

43 min readJun 1, 2024

Prelude

What is the first thing that comes to mind when you see the words “video games”?

When I was a kid, the first video games I played were flash games. They’re simple, some of them real simple, but they’re fun. Honestly, a few still are to adult Ray.

Maplestory, a 2D MMORPG with charming art and banging music, greeted me as I entered my teenage years. It was not only good enough to occupy my afternoons but also became my first gaming obsession. It helped that the game was free to play, and the cash shop could be safely ignored as I couldn’t reach anywhere near the endgame anyway. I had a wonderful time being lost in a big, sophisticated world, but I eventually stopped because grinding levels alone in an MMO didn’t exactly scream fun times.

When I had my own laptop a few years later, I decided to try the “Big Boy Games” I’d heard so much about. AAA games, as I would later know. Far Cry 3/4, Mad Max, Dying Light, Devil May Cry 4, Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain, and many others. Until then, I never thought video games could be expansive and in-depth in so many ways. They opened my eyes to new possibilities of how much this medium could do.

Then, after I started university, I found myself trapped in the black hole known as Destiny 2 and then Apex Legends. I enjoyed my time with them, but it was also a dark turn in my perspective of video games. I learned how predatory they have become, with in-game items costing more than their real-life counterparts [1].

And now, in 2024, there’s not a single day that I won’t see a scummy thing in this industry. One day, I’ll see one gaming corporation boldly lie about a headline feature being implemented in a video game and then scrapped [2] or another callously fire the lead writer responsible for some of the best writing in their games due to corporate “growth” [3]. It’s just the norm to see this sort of news now. The suits only view video games and the people who make them as nothing more than disposable assets to be squeezed dry for money. They’ll never admit it, but their actions couldn’t be any more transparent [4].

Yet, people’s love and passion for video games persist. If you even dip so much as a pinky toe in the video game industry, you’ll know that 2023 is one of, if not the best, years for this medium, having the highest number of highly-rated games in the last 20 years [5].

Then, you have the indie scene. Despite how unprofitable it is to create indie games [6] [7], some of the most iconic titles are from this side of the industry. For example, Undertale, Five Nights At Freddie’s, Stardew Valley, Vampire Survivors, and Hades, the last three being in the top five highest-rated games of all time on Steam [8].

I’ve played my fair share of indie games, of course, as someone who’s tightly wrapped up in the embrace of everything this medium has to offer. There’s a prevailing sentiment in the community that indie games are more artistic than big-budget games due to greater creative freedom, and it’s hard not to see why. Based on the Steam charts alone [8], there are only about six non-indies (more or less, depending on how you categorize them) on Steam’s top 30 highest-rated games of all time. If that isn’t some kind of indication of that sentiment, then I don’t know what is.

(For clarification’s sake, I used Steam and not Metacritic because the former requires the person to have bought and played the game to submit a rating; thus, the data is much more reliable.)

Hyper Light Drifter is one of the first and best (indie) games I’ve played that showed me how artistically driven a game could be. Its story is told entirely without words, and its Ghibli-inspired pixel art environment creates an immaculately evocative world. It is because of its lack of high visual fidelity most AAA games possess that makes it memorable.

Video games are art. Art isn’t “better” just because it’s more technically impressive, as much as the executives of video game companies want their consumers to think. Art is an expression of love for something the creator(s) holds dear to their heart.

Now, dear reader, we arrive at the main topic. Well, as the title suggests, Hi-Fi Rush is a love letter to video games, and one can’t grasp the full weight of that statement without first examining the context in which it lies. So, with that out of the way, let’s start the track, shall we?

Hi-Fi Rush, Entering The Scene

Hi-Fi Rush, a rhythm-based action game developed by Tango Gameworks and published by Bethesda Softworks, was announced AND released on January 25th, 2023. As we’ve established earlier, 2023 is an incredible year for games, and by many accounts, it’s the second high-profile release of the year after Forspoken. (If you’re aware of its reputation, there’ll be a comparison between these two games later because the contrast is too striking to ignore.)

Firstly, I’d like to highlight the incredible circumstances of Hi-fi Rush’s official launch. There was not a single whiff of this game’s existence prior to its announcement, and despite being released on the day it was announced, in only two months, it reached two million players [9]. For context, the Resident Evil 3 remake had 2.7 million copies sold in two months [15]. Even a game from one of the most popular franchises in video game history only outsold Hi-Fi Rush by 0.7 million.

I’ve never heard of an AA video game [10] from a brand-new franchise sold on the same day it was revealed to the world reaching this level of popularity this quickly. It had two functionally identical trailers, one less detailed than the other, and both were released on launch day. In other words, its popularity was almost single-handedly carried by word of mouth. That’s also how I learned about this game, because everyone I saw talking about it did so with adoration.

I swear, if this game had come out in any other year, it would’ve been a strong game-of-the-year contender, but I’m getting ahead of myself. So, let’s finally talk about the game, and we’ll start with the first thing that any player will notice: the art style.

From The Top

Seconds after launching Hi-Fi Rush, you’ll witness this magnificent view:

The art speaks for itself, its vibrant colors painting a wondrous world you’ll soon be exploring from a bird’s eye view. It’s a small part of the game, sure, but just look at it. Immediately, it sets the tone of the game, subtly informing you of the whimsical experience waiting ahead.

Upon hitting play, you’ll be greeted with a cutscene and introduced to the main character, Chai. As you listen along to the track playing on his MP3 player, you see his goofy antics, characterizing him as a lovable idiot with the dream of becoming a rockstar. Then, you watch him participate in Project Armstrong, a program organized by Vandelay Technologies, the world’s foremost tech company. Project Armstrong first appears benevolent, offering disabled people advanced robotic prosthetics. Yes, the game’s main character, as well as most of the main cast, are disabled and I think they’re pretty great representation!

Unfortunately, much like real-life tech companies, the program is actually nefarious in nature, though the details remain concealed for now. And the bad luck doesn’t stop there. When Chai was placed in the machine meant to provide him with a robot right arm, his MP3 player set aside prior “accidentally” fell onto his chest and was integrated into his body with his prosthetic. Basically, imagine Iron Man’s arc reactor but an MP3 player instead.

With that, the introduction concludes, and the game officially begins. As you gain control of Chai, a critical observation will promptly be registered in your mind: everything moves to the beat of the music, including every step Chai takes.

I’ve written an article about this already [insert link], so if you’re interested to learn more, check it out there. To summarize, this game is a master-class example of sensory harmony, a perfect synchronization between two or more pieces of sensory information. Nearly all visual elements in motion, including almost all cutscenes and background objects, move in sync with the rhythm of the music. Additionally, once you reach the exit of the facility Chai was brought into, you’ll find yourself, the player, needing to do the same.

Why? Well, due to the unexpected accident earlier, Chai has been branded as a defect and must be “recalled,” or, in other words, permanently decommissioned. Left with no other choice, Chai must protect himself against the Vandelay security robots, and he does so with his magnetic stick that was meant to pick up trash but is now used to create a metal guitar sword. With a weapon in hand, Chai — and by extension, you — strike down your enemies.

Fight Like A Rockstar

The combat in Hi-Fi Rush is the meat of the game, and it is, beyond a shadow of a doubt, one of the most delightful experiences I’ve ever had in this medium. Firstly, let’s break down the foundation of the combat system and move up from there.

As a rhythm-based hack-and-slash game, every action you take during battle should be done along with the beat. If your inputs match the beat, you will be rewarded with higher points, damage, and speed. However, if you fail to do so, your actions will still be carried out on the beat. They simply won’t be imbued with extra oomph. You may struggle to sync your inputs with the music at the start, but don’t worry, because through repeated play and practice, you’ll subconsciously become more in tune with the game. That’s how it was for me.

Knowing that not all players excel at sensorimotor synchronization, the phenomenon in which one acts in accordance with a rhythm, the game provides visual and audio feedback. Whenever an action is executed to the beat, a small musical note will pop up, accompanied by a cheer, so the player will know if they’re doing well. If the player is really struggling, they can toggle the rhythm bar to keep track of the beat.

Now, if you don’t want to be spoiled about the mechanics you’ll unlock through the game, then I suggest you skim through. There won’t be any story-specific spoilers in the rest of the article, so if you only mind that sort of spoilers, keep on reading.

In total, you can perform seven actions during combat: light attack, heavy attack, dash, special attack, companion actions, magnet pull, and parry. Of course, there’s more depth to most of the mechanics, but those are the basics.

The light and heavy attacks are self-explanatory, so let’s jump straight combos instead. You can purchase and perform a variety of combos, the vast majority of which require a mix of light and heavy attacks. Needless to say, with the stylish art and snappy audio effect, all ground and air combos are a feast for the eyes. Below is an example I recorded.

Next, special attacks. As you can see in the gif above, there’s a white bar called the Rhythm Gauge above the health bar. It charges up when you collect those tiny red batteries also present in the GIF. Charge up the number of bars the special attack you equipped needs, and you can unleash it upon your enemies. I decided to pick one of the wackiest as the showcase.

The dash, as seen below, is used to avoid enemy attacks and move quicker in the world.

The magnet pull and backflip are used to approach an enemy and blindside them quickly.

Then, we have the parry, a gameplay mechanic that no excellent combat system leaves out.

You’ll notice there’s an additional action I took in the gif above, which is called a parry counter, one of three main ways one can utilize their companions. There’s also a dodge counter, which functions similarly, swapping parrying with dodging an attack at the last second.

Below is how a companion attack is typically used. You click the button and summon them into the battlefield.

The last manner in which a companion can be used is in a Jam Combo, changing the last attack of a normal combo with a flashy flourish at the cost of a Rhythm Gauge bar.

The primary function of companions is to circumvent certain obstacles in combat AND in the environment. I will not show the latter function because I’m trying to keep as many surprises hidden as I can in this review, but a GIF can illustrate the mechanics better than any amount of words, hence my sparing usage of them.

There’s one more thing that affects combat, and that is the chips. They can either add new passive features to Chai’s arsenal or make existing elements more powerful. For example, reducing companion cooldowns by x seconds or increasing the potency of health items by x%. But there are only a limited number of slots where you can install the chips, so you have to carefully consider which of the many chips suits your style best. Frankly, I wish I could double the slots by beating challenges or something because five is not nearly enough.

As you can see in all those gifs, there are so many more layers of visual effects than I described on display. The same goes for audio effects, but GIFs sadly can’t show you that. Although, you can be assured that the audio effects are no less masterful than the visual ones.

The GIFs are only a taste of how mesmerizing it is to fight in the game. When you pair all those actions and more in a battle, facing off a variety of weak and powerful enemies, you’d be wishing you could play all day, even if you’re not a skilled player.

Because here’s the kicker: the game’s not that difficult, even at the highest difficulty. I’ve played my fair share of hack-and-slash games before, and I’m not good at them. So, trust me when I say this is the easiest in the genre, and it’s due to one simple reason — it’s rhythm-based. Initially, the combat may feel daunting. After all, you’d have to avoid damage while dishing out strikes, ensuring your input matches the beat, AND do all that as stylishly as possible. There will be a learning curve, yes, and it may be steeper for some.

However, once you’ve familiarized yourself with all the different actions and realized the enemies can also only attack on the beat, the combat will simply click into place. By the end, you don’t even need to think about what actions to take; you merely do.

To conclude, imagine this: You know how when you’re listening to your favorite song, you find yourself tapping your finger along with the beat? When you’re in the groove fighting in this game, it’s like that, but a hundred times better. It is gleeful. It is addicting. It is Fun.

Of course, that is not all to the combat system. Just as it takes two to tango, the players’ abilities cannot present a stylish performance without their dance partner — the enemies.

Clankers Approaching!

All foes in the game (except for bosses) are robots, adding to the charming, cartoony vibe. Each and every one of them are colorful, varied in size and shape, and just delightful to look at.

The two above are the most basic adversaries in the game. Though simple, reflecting their role in combat, their designs are well-defined and oozes personality. Thus, even in the heat of battle, you can quickly recognize them and understand what they’re capable of.

As the game progresses, new enemies are introduced at a steady pace so the combat never becomes stale. Over time, stronger enemies, as seen in the pictures below, will be thrown into the fray, possessing larger sets of attacks unique to them.

Of course, variety doesn’t automatically mean they’re fun to fight in the moment. For example, though Elden Ring possesses a healthy variety of enemies to engage with, exciting battles were rare. That’s my experience, at least. The same goes for other hack-and-slash games such as Devil May Cry and Nier Automata. I’ll put it like this: if you were to ask me to play only the combat in these games out of nowhere for, say, ten minutes, I’d probably say “no” either because combat isn’t the most fun element of the game or because I’m not great at it.

What makes Hi-Fi Rush constantly engaging, to me, is that every action is tied to the rhythm. I’ve talked about how sensory harmony elevates the fun on the player’s side of combat, but its application on the enemy side is what maintains that fun.

Every single foe in the game, including the bosses, has crystal-clear wind-ups of multiple stages for their attacks. In other words, it will almost always be painfully clear when precisely the enemy will strike. And, in most cases, you only need to be aware of the final cue before damage is dealt.

Look at this parry GIF again. You can see that, a beat before the sword is swung toward me, a large, bright star popped up. It is incredibly hard to miss, and when attached with a similarly obvious audio cue, you’ll never be left wondering at what point you should respond.

To put this amazing game design into perspective, the average combat encounter past the third or fourth level will have anywhere from two to five enemy types and five to ten foes in total. Each of their attacks is different, and even the simplest enemies have at least two distinct moves. That number can double when it comes to tougher enemies. Thus, you’re looking at around ten different moves per fight on the high end, and you have to remember what enemy can perform which attack. While they aren’t so aggressive that they’ll gang up on you all at once, you’ll at least always be facing two sources of damage at any moment.

Imagine, then, they don’t move according to beat. They can strike as erratically as they wish, so you must memorize the timing of each attack of each enemy. And, remember, they don’t always use the same moves. They can switch it up whenever they want. How well do you think you’ll do if there are ten enemies of four types surrounding you? Sounds pretty intimidating, right? Even if you can kill all of them in one hit, you still need to do ten individual hits, plenty of time for them to kick your ass while you’re focusing on only one of them each time.

This is why Hi-Fi Rush’s enemies are fun to fight against. You don’t have to memorize everything. You don’t have to worry about foes that you’re not focusing on attacking you. The visual and audio components of the wind-up are always sufficient to inform you when you should be avoiding damage. Even if you can’t yet remember an enemy’s attack pattern, you won’t be utterly lost as to what to do, and so learning their moves is easier and less daunting.

Moving on, almost all enemies have a stun gauge. When their stun gauge is empty, they can attack you without being interrupted. Once it’s full, they’ll become as helpless as an inflatable balloon man as you wail your guitar sword at them. After a while, the gauge will be empty again. The more powerful an enemy is, the harder it is to fill the gauge. This is a great mechanic to force the player to learn the enemy’s moveset and react accordingly.

To fill up that gauge, you need to land attacks on them, but dashing away kills the momentum of your combo. Thus, the best way to stay in the fight is by parrying their strikes. This is the second half of the secret sauce that makes these enemies enjoyable to fight. In many action games like this, you’d always be on high alert to avoid damage; even in games where you can parry, you might mistime it and be hit anyway.

This game, with all its systems, empowers you to adopt a more aggressive playstyle. It wants you to keep the pressure on your foes since the stun gauge depletes rapidly once you cease your assault for a long enough time. You attack when the enemy doesn’t, and you deflect when they do. Moreover, the parry can open up offensive opportunities on top of being a defensive move, like the parry counters and various chip upgrades.

Trust me, I was hesitant to engage with the parry for almost my entire first playthrough. Whenever I see a mechanic that requires strict timing, I often turn away because usually, they are a pain in the ass to memorize and quite punishing when I fail. That isn’t the case here. The balanced push-and-pull in this game makes me feel like an absolute badass for turning my enemy’s assault back on them while continuing to wail on their ass.

The best part? The game incorporates mini-rhythm games into the enemy’s moveset! When a mini-boss tier enemy reaches low enough HP, it’ll initiate a Rhythm Parry Attack. If the hit connects, you’ll be pulled into a special cutscene and be shown a preview of hits that will be done in a specific rhythm. Again, it’s just like any rhythm game. If you successfully parry all the attacks, you can take them out in a single hit at the end, or you can choose not to and milk them for more points. Also, each mini-boss has a different rhythm and number of hits you must parry, but speaking from experience, they’re all relatively simple to grasp.

Anyway, as with many things in this world, the combat system, unfortunately, has flaws.

Here Come The Boos

First, due to how many effects there are, there are times when I failed to avoid taking damage because I either couldn’t hear or see the incoming attack. Even worse, when I’m stuck in the last step of a combo, and I can’t do anything about it.

Second, the score. Your performance in each combat encounter is judged based on three categories: time taken, timing, and score. Your timing will improve as you play, and your time taken will almost always be S rank if you keep fighting. The ranks go from D, C, B, A, to S. As for the score, it is (supposedly) determined by the type of enemies in a particular encounter. The more powerful an enemy is, the higher it’ll raise the amount of score you need to get an S rank.

Here’s the problem: You need an insanely high score for many encounters to get an S rank in that category. I don’t know if the bar for the score rank is automatically tuned based on numerical values assigned to each enemy or if the developers manually adjusted them; either way, it’s often way too high. You can do everything right but still not reach the S rank. I’ve watched players far more skilled than me demolish an encounter and still only achieve an A rank. If they can’t do it, then there’s something wrong with the scoring. It can crush your enthusiasm somewhat to see you didn’t get an S rank when you think you’re doing great.

I will praise the score for two things: it doesn’t demand that you switch up combos constantly, nor does it care much if you take damage. In other hack-and-slash games, if you want to do well, you have to keep spicing up your attacks and not receive any hits. Trying to recall combos mid-battle can be pretty tough. In this game, though, you only need to avoid using the same combo twice in a row. In other words, if you have a hard time remembering your moves, just spam the default light and heavy attack combo alternatingly. Also, if you are hit, simply dash away before re-engaging. No need to pressure yourself to stay in the fight if you need a breather.

Third, there’s no lock-on. Personally, this is just a minor issue because I’ll hit my intended target most of the time. However, to others, it is grating to see Chai hitting or pulling himself toward the wrong enemy. If there is a sequel (and by god, I hope there will be), the devs should totally add a lock-on feature.

My last gripe with the combat system on the player’s side is all on the jam combo. Now, refer back to the GIF that demonstrates the jam combo here.

You can see how Chai is pulled into a brief cinematic while the companion is dealing damage. When an enemy with an empty stun gauge is pulled into a jam combo, their model will not move. They’ll just stand there and not react at all to your hits. It is very immersion-breaking, especially when you try to do this against a boss. Trust me, it looks bizarre and awkward.

The second issue with jam combos is that some of them are very obviously more powerful than others, and you won’t be penalized when using the same one repeatedly. Moreover, when you use a companion for a jam combo, their cooldown becomes non-existent. Thus, if you have enough Rhythm Gauge bars, you can just keep spamming the most powerful jam combo. There’s no reason not to do so, especially on the highest difficulty.

This is especially problematic when it comes to boss fights. Jam combos can be used to bypass the boss’ stun gauge by force because they can do nothing when the attack plays. Then, when the boss becomes vulnerable, you can charge up even more Rhythm Gauge with your regular combos. With the right chips slotted, you’ll basically never run out of jam combos, particularly if you start the fight with many Rhythm Gauge bars. I’m not complaining, considering how tough the later bosses are, but it makes me wonder if this was part of the dev’s vision. It would’ve been better if the player was encouraged to switch their jam combos more often.

On the enemy side of the combat system, during my first playthrough, I found the encounters a little too unbalanced. There were too many strong enemies and too few weaker ones. They made for tedious fights, but once I’ve gotten a better grasp on the combat system my second time through (and bought a bunch of upgrades), it’s a non-issue.

The last combat “hazard” that the enemy can utilize isn’t fun to play against. I can’t go into details, but it’s the only “hazard” you can’t overcome with parry/dodge counter. It only shows up near the end of the game (thank god for that), but it is annoying to deal with whenever it comes up. You’ll know what I’m talking about if you’ve played the game.

Speaking of enemies, bosses are too, and they have issues as well, specifically the grab moves and boring phases.

Bosses’ grab moves aren’t parryable when they should be. It took me way too long to realize you can’t parry the grab moves, even though it has the same cue for any other attack you can parry.

The second boss’s second phase (and onward), as well as the final boss’s second phase, are boring. You can’t attack them directly and must wait for them to attack instead. For an encounter as high-octane as a boss fight, the player should not be forced to wait around. It kills the momentum significantly. There’s a similar issue with the second-to-last boss fight at the end of each phase, but it’s less tedious.

Unlike Devil May Cry (and probably other hack-and-slash games), subsequent playthroughs and higher difficulties do not offer different enemy encounters. In other words, if you want to play the campaign more than once, you’ll likely find the first four-ish missions easy and dull.

That’s all my complaints about the game. Yeah, every other part of the game is pretty much flawless. Honestly, even my complaints about the combat system are not all that serious. It’s well-polished, easy to learn, relatively easy to master, and it’s a lot of fun, but where does it take place? After all, the fights have to happen somewhere, and thus, we segue into the next best thing this game has to offer: the level design.

A Wonderland For All Ages

My favorite level design in a video game is Psychonauts 2 because the story being told is baked directly into the environment. Please play that game. It’s terrific. As for my second favorite level design in a video game, it’s this one.

. Level design, in this context, refers to a linear slice of the world separated by different missions/levels like the original Mario game levels. Meanwhile, for map design, the locations you can access in the game are interconnected in some way, such as cities in Skyrim or paths in Hollow Knight. Thus, even though map designs are technically more impressive, I view level designs more highly due to how curated the player experience can be.

For one, the levels are solely interested in keeping the player entertained. It doesn’t care if it isn’t “realistic” as long as it’s exciting and the theme of the area is preserved. Hell, there are logs scattered throughout the levels that poke fun at the need to have levels prioritize realism, and I agree. Isn’t it more important to have every corner of each level be a delight for the players to explore and admire?

In addition to the eye-pleasing visuals, the levels also cleverly incorporated unobtrusive directions for the players to follow. It is an exquisite background design that I must show at least a little for you to appreciate.

The placement of the sign makes sense in-universe, and it also doubles as a guide, informing the player where to go. It’s a small thing, but this attention to detail is why the levels are excellent. Every single element that you can see is lovingly sculpted and placed. Simply walking through the levels, you can feel the developers’ passion oozing from their work.

Not only that, you have a good reason to take in the sights. See those gears above the glass case? That’s the game’s currency. You can obtain them by defeating foes, completing challenges, and finishing minor quests, but you can also find them peppered everywhere, including inside breakable objects. There are also collectibles for upgrades, like increasing your health or adding an additional Rhythm Gauge bar. Therefore, you’ll always be looking around.

Moving on, recall the concept of “sensory harmony” I mentioned earlier. The application of that principle through various distinct areas, combined with the attention to detail and the earworms that play throughout the game, forms a wonderland that no one with a beating heart can resist falling in love with. It’s simply magical.

Of course, the levels aren’t just eye candies connecting one battle to another. You have platforming sections that are, you guessed it, in motion with the beat. Sometimes, those sections even switch between 2D side-scrolling and 3D perspective, which is just so freaking cool. There are also collectibles scattered in the levels that demand you to be observant of the environment.

(Fun fact: You can find a log entry that talks about coffee. Pay attention to that keyword because it’s one of the funniest recurring jokes in the game, and you can easily miss the “explanation” if you don’t find that log. Also, I believe almost every level has a secret encounter with Tango Gamework’s snail icon, among a bunch of other cute references.)

Lastly, minor activities and rhythm-based sections are scattered throughout the stages, and they make for refreshing breaks between combat encounters. Speaking of which, a minor nitpick about the fights is that, within some levels, they don’t show up frequently enough. The levels can occasionally go on for long stretches with just platforming sections, which is too much downtime. The opposite doesn’t happen.

While playing, you’ll often be rewarded with something fun to look at, collect, or do whenever you pay attention to your surroundings, which sadly doesn’t apply to many games. It’s why I cherish masterfully conceived video game levels, especially those capped off with a flashy, honest-to-goodness boss fight.

Is That Boss Music I Hear?

Boss fights, the staple of any action game; the great obstacles that challenge the player’s skill. While this game lacks one or two more boss fights, the ones that do exist are impeccable. They aren’t punishing but will still require your full attention to defeat.

In my first playthrough, the last three bosses took me a few tries to overcome; but in my second playthrough, at the second-highest difficulty, I only lost to them once because I was being a little too careless.

Unlike the bosses in most games I play, I enjoy fighting the ones here. Because every attack must be executed to the beat, once you’ve observed their attacks a handful of times, you can reliably predict when they will strike. In many games, bosses can be frustrating because they’ll sometimes act in ways you don’t have time to react to or break the perceived “rules” that govern them.

For example, you observe that a boss will pause for three seconds after performing a three-hit combo before attacking again. You see this happening four times already, but on the fifth time, it appears to start attacking only two seconds after the combo. It’s safe to assume something triggered the pause’s shortening, but you don’t know what because a dozen things happened during that timeframe. Unless it happens consistently, you won’t know the reason.

Thus, having the bosses’ attacks bound to the beat ensures there’s never a moment where you’re confused about what happened.

Of course, as does many well-designed boss fights, the bosses in Hi-Fi Rush have phases too. Often, the transition to the next phase, which will expand the bosses’ moveset, is done with cute rhythm sections. Yes, the rhythm-based action game has rhythm minigames in it. Shocking, I know. On a serious note, these rhythm minigames are brilliantly implemented, and some bosses also include the set parry rhythm attacks. After all, players might be a little worn down after fighting for an entire phase or two, so a change of pace like that can help reinvigorate the battle.

Each stage in which the boss fight occurs is fantastic, as you may have expected, but do you know what’s even better? The music. Hi-Fi Rush is a rhythm-based action game packed to the brim with references to music, so how could the track that plays in each boss fight be anything less than spectacular? The answer: of course not. I won’t reveal what copyrighted songs are used, but know that they elevate the fights immensely, especially if you attack on beat with the tracks. Oh, and if you’re streaming the game, there’s an option to toggle “Streamer Mode,” so all copyrighted tracks are replaced with original compositions that closely mimic those tracks. It’s pretty neat.

The final thing about the boss fights is the splash art. It happens whenever the fight gets serious and toward the end, right as you defeat the bosses. I simply must mention this because the splash art is fucking GORGEOUS. I’d happily hang them in my room as wallpapers, and I expect very few people will disagree with that sentiment.

Also, I want to shout out the second encounter of the tenth level because it has the second-best splash art in the game AND a sick copyrighted tune to kick it into high gear. (Hint: The first word of the track name is “Invaders.” If you know, you know.) It’s the most “boss fight” standard encounter in the game, and I love it.

Okay, now, we’re gonna step a little into the spoiler section. Still no specifics, but I wanna talk about my thoughts on each boss. If you don’t want to know anything, skip right to the next section. Are we clear? Good.

The best praise I can give to the first boss is that it is an amazing first impression. It’s not as impressive as the later bosses, but it serves its role in the game at that point well. There’s only one move I dislike because it lacks an audio cue, so I often fail to avoid it. Other than that, it’s good fun.

The second boss is a little too easy, but only if you’re fighting in the second playthrough, as the parry mechanic is introduced after this fight. Pretty much all their attacks can be easily ignored with the parry, so it’s just kinda dull the second time through. On your first time through, they should be pretty tough.

The third boss is my third favorite boss, ha. I like this one because it’s the most different from all other bosses, but even on my first playthrough, it’s still pretty easy. There’s not much to say except it’s the most narratively dense fight and satisfying one for which to get a perfect score.

Now, the fourth boss is my favorite because this fight has the highest amount of distinct mechanics involved. Some people might disagree, but eh, I like it. The only issue I have is what I’ve already mentioned in a previous section and the fact that there are a lot more mid-air attacks involved.

The fifth boss is the coolest one, hands down. They have the best introduction scene, best music, best design, best splash art, and best stage because the location of the fight changes twice. So, why don’t I like it? Well, the fight’s not that interesting for the most part. Each phase is essentially split into two parts, and the second part is always boring. Only the third phase is fun, but it’s too little too late. It’s a shame, really. I’m sure the devs had more stuff planned but ran out of time or money to flesh out their moveset. It also doesn’t help that this boss doesn’t have nearly enough screen-time compared to everyone else, making their presence in the game even weaker.

The final boss is my second favorite because it’s the most challenging. The battle combines all previous combat gimmicks and demands you to lock in. If you don’t focus and rely on your parry, you’ll get your ass handed to you quick. Unfortunately, this boss’ second phase is the worst one out of all boss phases. Otherwise, this would’ve been my favorite fight.

With that, the section on boss fights has concluded. However, you may wonder why Chai is fighting all these bosses at wacky levels. Well, it’s finally time to talk about the heart of the game: the humor, the story, and the characters.

The Pen Is Mightier Than A Guitar Sword

This game is hilarious.

✂️ Funny

10 seconds · Clipped by Star Dragon · Original video "Hi-Fi RUSH Gameplay Walkthrough FULL GAME (4K 60FPS) No…

youtube.com

This 10-second clip with minimal spoilers shows how the humor in this game is constructed. While it won’t cause anyone to roar with laughter, it’ll at least make you grin. Notice how the characters move while the lines are delivered. The game excels at pairing funny lines with physical comedy, and its cartoony style means that it can pull off visually absurd gags.

https://youtube.com/clip/UgkxJ0K2_tAArxn6PxICMV2cfnU9vAyBNN35?si=EDrOYjDpvWfIifXW

This is another clip with minimal spoilers. Even between fights, the game will inject humor to preserve the levity of its tone.

This kind of comedy is peppered throughout the game, and I absolutely adore it. It’s genuinely shocking to me how many of these gags land, especially when you compare them to the jokes that modern AAA video games have. I won’t claim that everyone’s going to enjoy this style, but I argue it is essential to the story and the narrative tone. It helps that the jokes are original, organic, delivered in character, and flow well with the scene instead of the pacing grinding to a halt so the predictable punchline can have its little moment.

If you’ve seen discussions about this game online, you’ll notice many compared this game to “those morning Saturday cartoons back in the day.” And it is. There’s no doubt the game aims to capture the whimsical spirit of those stories, but that doesn’t mean it is without depth.

Too much media nowadays are too embarrassed to accept the silly aspects of themselves, as though they must appear mature to be respected or taken seriously when that mindset couldn’t be any more childish. Hi-Fi Rush ignores that shame and embraces its sincerity, preoccupied with entertaining the player, whether through laughs, awes, or emotions. If a piece of art cannot love itself, how can it expect its audience to do the same?

That is why so many who played this game adore it: the people who made it didn’t shy away from stamping their love for the work they did into every inch of this piece of entertainment. Ultimately, the humor is the representation of the combined effort of all the devs, and it is integral to the story that they’re trying to tell.

On the surface, the story is simple. Chai wants to live, so he uses his new wacky powers and teams up with his new buddies to defeat the people who want him disposed of. As I mentioned, the game’s obviously trying to emulate those Saturday morning cartoons, so its simplicity is its appeal. If you have watched one of those cartoons before, you already know how this game will conclude. However, if you look a little deeper, which isn’t all that difficult, you’ll understand what the story is actually about.

Aside from music, there are numerous video game references scattered throughout the game, either through computer logs, dialogues, cutscenes, etc. While many of them are funny and fourth-wall-breaking, they also reinforce the idea that this game is about the medium in which it exists, both the good and the bad.

(Oh, also, one minor thing about the cutscene I love is that 2D cutscenes (and even comic book pages!) are occasionally utilized before or after a 3D one, and the transition between the two is always smooth as hell. It’s simply incredible; I’ve never seen any game do this before.)

In the first cutscene alone, you can already see how callous the people running Vandelay Technologies are. During that animated sequence, the CEO of Vandelay Technologies announces Project Armstrong is about helping people. Yet, a minute later, away from the public eye, he calls the project’s participants “losers” and only wants influential individuals. He and the company don’t care about their products or the people who use them; they only have eyes on one thing and one thing only: money. It’s a critique of modern tech companies, true, but it also points at the video game companies that are trying to copy their nasty older brother.

In 2023 and 2024 (so far), an estimated 16,000 people in the video games industry were laid off [11]. Despite the fact that 2023 is perhaps one of the best years ever in video game history [5], it is also one of the worst years ever for the people who made them. Hell, there’s a whole Wikipedia page detailing how fucked this entire thing is.

Hi-Fi Rush’s story is the game developers’ lament of that cruel and despicable trend in the video game industry. So often, the story shows people want to create, that they want to keep working the job they hold so dearly, but can’t, all because the dickheads running the company want more money. They’ll turn every single asset the company owns into scrap metal if it means they can earn a cent more compared to the previous quarterly earnings. Even if they have access to every single wallet and bank account on the planet, they’ll still want more.

I spend every day immersing myself in the video game scene, watching and reading reviewers, players, and game developers alike talking about this medium of entertainment. It has never been so difficult to love something wrought with so much corruption and exploitation. This art form is still so young, so utterly brimming with potential, yet creators and consumers are at the mercy of the moneymen who despise both.

That rot might’ve affected this game, too. Despite Tango Gamework’s best attempt to deliver their vision of the game, they’re sadly constrained by time and cost. By a certain point in the story, it’ll become extremely obvious that the devs had to cut large chunks of the game. They even had the characters make meta-jokes about the cut content, making their pain evident. The levels would’ve been longer and more elaborate; there would’ve been more bosses, more enemies, more encounters, and so on. I suspect a glaring issue with one of the most emotionally significant scenes near the end of the game is also due to this. If you need confirmation about what I’m saying, check the game’s official soundtrack released on Bethesda Softworks’ YouTube channel and play the final track named “Secret Song,” sung by the game’s director himself.

If there is a sequel, I hope the studio can have all the time and money they need to make the game they wanted without compromise. However, unlike the real world, where those disgusting lumps of greed manifest can barely be overthrown, the world of Hi-Fi Rush is not so bleak. With Chai and his companions, there is hope.

Chai is a rockstar, a rebel, and though he started off as a goofball, he grew to become a dependable person. Seeing the good that he could do, his future companions approached him, believing that, together, they could reform Vandelay Technologies.

Each companion is wonderful on their own, though some of them appear a little too young for their actual age. Still, they’re all distinct, whether in terms of their personalities, designs, and voices. Speaking of which, I must applaud ALL the voice actors. It is evident in the performances that everyone who contributed their voices to this project relished every second of it. (Also, I played this game after I completed Persona 5 Royal, so it’s funny to hear two of the main characters in that game playing the lead here.)

I can’t speak too much about the companions as that’ll involve all the spoilers. However, I can say they make a great team, especially when they’ll chime in not only during cutscenes but also when Chai’s running around doing dumb shit. I especially love one of the characters because of how the devs change their expression. It’s really creative and hilarious. Also, if you make that character wear a hotdog costume, their model will change in an amusing way during the last two levels.

The side characters, one-off characters, and villains are all great, too. Again, they each bring different flavors of humor into the game, and their exaggerated performance really sells it. Like, in each level, there’ll be a handful of robot encounters you can interact with or listen in on the conversation, and they’re all just funny. A relatively spoiler-free example below.

These Robots!! Hi Fi Rush Funny Moments

There’s one particular boss that I love the most because of how over-the-top they are. It’s the one that screams “ANIMEEEEE” in their appearance and behavior. You’ll know who it is the instant you see them.

With that, I believe I’ve touched on everything the game has to offer. Now, let’s proceed to the conclu — Huh? There’s more?

Wait, It’s Not Over?

This entire section will touch on what happens after the completion of the first playthrough. PLEASE SKIP THIS SECTION IF YOU HAVE NOT PLAYED THE GAME AND SCROLL TO THE CONCLUSION. You don’t want me to ruin the surprise, even if I’ll still be vague about the details. Are we good? Okay, let’s go.

After you’ve beaten the final boss, you’ll discover that they left more evil, stinky stuff on the Vandelay campus. So, Chai and his team need to take care of that. In other words, the game highly recommends you play through the whole game again, ideally on a higher difficulty.

You’ll want to do it for three reasons, the first being the most obvious: the challenge rooms.

In most of the levels, secret challenge rooms that were previously locked will become accessible. These challenges are pretty fun, though I admit they’re kinda underwhelming because I didn’t have to try more than once to get an S rank on them. Also, they’re not that creative, so they’re kinda meh.

The second reason you’ll want to replay the game is to grab all the collectibles you miss. This time, you can access rooms that require specific future companion’s abilities. I’ll be frank: I just used a guide for this one because I don’t want to miss anything. Also, it’s hilarious when you do a sequence break. The characters will do a meta-commentary about how things were supposed to go and you shouldn’t have done it. There’s actually quite a lot of that, like if you close the game right after finishing a level, Chai’ll be put back into the hub area when he’s not supposed to be there, and the characters will comment on it. It’s great.

The last reason is just to play at a higher level. You’ll likely unlock most abilities your first time around, but now you can fight with all of them and more. I admit, I didn’t experiment that much because I have a terrible habit of using the most effective tools in a game and never changing to anything else.

Going back to the challenge rooms, once you have cleared all of them, more will be introduced, and these ones are actually tough. They’re the same challenges as before, but now, the difficulty is cranked up to eleven. It took me an average of about four tries to beat each new challenge. While I liked most of these, the first of the new set is just way too hard and not fun at all. It took me over ten attempts to clear it. Although, I think the best part is the final set of computer logs you can find. All of them are cheeky and funny references to other games.

Once all challenges are completed, you’ll be greeted with the final cutscene of the game. The reveal wasn’t too surprising, but I liked it. I can’t wait to see what Tango Gameworks do with this franchise.

After the first playthrough, you’ll also unlock character customization. The stuff for Chai is pretty good, but the costumes for other characters are… kinda not great. I don’t like most of them, and it’s kinda sad the fun ones are locked behind DLC.

You’ll also unlock the Rhythm Tower and the Arcade Cabinet with two new modes. I haven’t tried them out yet, but I know those modes added new enemies, abilities, and costumes. I didn’t feel the need to play those to write this review because the combat is only a part of what makes this game great. Perhaps I’ll feel differently about the combat after playing those modes, but I doubt they’ll drastically shift my perspective.

Every Killer Track Has An End

Forspoken came out a mere day before Hi-Fi Rush did on the 24th of January, 2023, but people knew about it for months already at that point, and they were not kind to it. People have made fun of its dialogue relentlessly, as seen in the two YouTube videos below. The lackluster gameplay and less-than-stellar story/characters didn’t help improve its reputation.

In many regards, Forspoken is merely a symptom of the festering industry. It was a mishmash of ideas that were “popular” during the time it was made: high-fidelity and realistic graphics, an open world map with trinkets to collect and activities to complete, menial side quests, ha-ha-funny quips, uninspired “RPG” systems, and so much more.

To be extremely clear, I’m not laying the blame on the devs here. I doubt they chose to make the game this way, and even if they did, that doesn’t mean they didn’t pour their heart into this. No creatives would ever willingly create something “bad” if they had any say in it. Heck, it wasn’t even that awful, despite what you might’ve seen on the internet. I watched someone play the game, and it was decent. Real efforts were made to make this game good.

Perhaps you have some doubts about my stance. So, how about I remind you that the game’s publisher is Square Enix, the company that was still trying to capitalize on NFTs in video games [12] long, long after it was dead. Not only that, but after the game flopped, the studio that made it, Luminous Studio, was reabsorbed back into Square Enix [13]. If you’re not a corporate shill, you can see some dots being connected here. Of course, we’ll never know for certain what transpired behind the scenes, but is it really any surprise that the executives might’ve ordered the studio to make a product with buzzword features in it?

Look at Redfall, another disaster of a game released in 2023. You can check the Steam reviews and see for yourself. The studio behind it, Arkane Studio, was a master at making immersive sim games, one of the most intricate genres of interactive entertainment. Prey (2017) is one of their finest work yet and one of the best video games I ever played, period. Yet, they were forced to make Redfall, an open-world co-op shooter, a game that couldn’t be any more different from their usual offerings. Not only did the developers beg Microsoft to cancel the game, but 70% of the employees left during Redfall’s development [14]. If that isn’t enough to indicate the disconnect inherent between developers and executives, then what is?

Tango Gameworks first made The Evil Within 1, 2, and Ghostwire: Tokyo. While Ghostwire: Tokyo is more different compared to The Evil Within franchise, they’re all rooted in the horror genre and have realistic graphics. And then, they made Hi-Fi Rush, a game that is so ridiculously different from their previous releases that many people thought it came from another studio, but it’s not. Not only did Tango Gameworks smash it right out of the park with Hi-Fi Rush, but playing it will make you think they’ve been making this kind of game for years. See the contrast here? The difference between a product and a work of art?

Hi-Fi Rush is a miracle game in the same vein as Disco Elysium and Fallout: New Vegas. No one expected or thought they could exist, but they did. They showed the world that the demand for art made from love exists both on the developer’s and audience’s side. The moneymen don’t understand that video games are now as much art as they are entertainment, both aspects intertwined and inseparable. If the people making the games aren’t happy about what they’re creating, then how can anyone be expected to enjoy it?

The penultimate level of Hi-Fi Rush made me feel something special. The music, the art, the characters, the story, the platforming, the combat, and the rhythm sections all came together to form an impossibly magnificent crescendo.

The track builds up with the emotion brimming in the scene continuously, intertwined with the characters reaching a perfect harmony with each other during a rhythm section. If you played with streamer mode off, which I absolutely recommend you do, a perfectly fitting and touching copyrighted song will play in sync with the story. Throughout that whole scene, you can just feel the game barely containing the music and emotion, and once you reach the first combat encounter, it just explodes in delight. The lyrics kick in, and each attack you perform creates a guitar riff that immaculately matches the beat of the song; in other words, you’re playing the game and the music at the same time, pushing the sensory harmony you’re experiencing to its limit. At that moment, at that moment, you’ll know this game will stick with you for a long, long time. The best part? That’s only the start of the level.

Hi-Fi Rush isn’t the best game ever made, far from it. There are many games I played that I know are “better” than this, either in terms of scale, depth, storytelling prowess, or mechanical complexity. But no game has ever made me feel the way I did when I was playing that level. I’m not even ashamed to admit that I was so moved that I almost shed a tear.

I’m not claiming everyone will love it as I did. I’d even go so far as to say that a lot of people will probably be confused as to why I’m praising this game so highly, and that’s fine. I’m not writing this review to validate or argue against anyone’s thoughts on the game. It’s merely because a part of me will never allow myself to not share my adoration for a game that’s filled with so much love and care that I spent a month writing this.

At the beginning of this article, I asked you, my dear readers, what is the first thing that comes to your mind when you see the words “video game.” Well, to me, it’s “fun,” and Hi-Fi Rush is the embodiment of the delight that I will forever hold close to my heart. Thank you for reading.

Addendum: Goodbye, Tango Gameworks

During the editing of this article, on May 7th, 2024, Tango Gameworks, along with Arkane Austin and Alpha Dog Games, was shut down by Microsoft [16]. One day after Microsoft announced this decision, the head of Xbox games studio, said they need “smaller games that give us prestige and awards.” [17] Hi-Fi Rush has a $40 price tag compared to AAA’s $60, has won five awards, and is regarded by many as one of the best games Microsoft has published in years.

I didn’t want to include this in the review above because I still want it to be about how much I appreciate this game. The last thing I want is to have the expression of my love for Hi-Fi Rush to be tainted by the ugly reality the game made fun of in its story.

Many people, both developers and players alike, mourned for the loss of Tango Gameworks. Everyone was in disbelief about how sudden it was and at the fact that Microsoft couldn’t even provide a half-decent explanation for their decision. Perhaps they don’t even see a need for it anymore, considering how callous corporations have become when it comes to video games, as seen in the points I made in the review. “It’s just business,” I expect them to say.

No tears were shed when I first saw the news, but it still devastated me for days. My new favorite game ever, once a shining beacon of potential for what may come next, now another reminder of this abhorrent trend in the modern gaming landscape. Though many others and I are saddened by this cruel twist of fate, what about the developers who poured their hearts and souls into this? What about the developers in the other shuttered studios?

It’s sinister how unremarkable these sorts of news are now. Thousands of people lose their jobs, lose their ability to devote their lives to their passion, yet the corporations merely sweep it all away with hollow justifications and plastic phrases. Eventually, everyone moves on, thinking nothing of it, treating it not as the atrocity that it rightly is. One day, as the company executives scramble to appease their abominable god of fortune to have their precious line go up by one pixel, they’ll realize only they are left to be sacrificed to the altar.

Many people will say, “Oh, those developers can just go indie,” as though that isn’t a herculean task with unimaginable risk. I won’t claim to understand the intricacies of how that all works, but the Steam store page is enough of an indication. You can see how many indies were known to people compared to how many indies were actually made. The indie scene is an option, not a solution.

I wish screaming about it at the top of my lungs could change things. I wish there were anything, anything at all, that we could do to change things, but there aren’t. Even if Hi-Fi Rush had sold five million copies and won ten awards, it still wouldn’t change anything. Why? Because it’s not Call of Duty. It’s not Candy Crush. It’s not Fortnite, Roblox, or any gacha game that can make all the money in the world.

What I mourn most is the circumstances that led to the creation of Hi-Fi Rush. Now, developers at any medium-to-large game companies are more concerned with ensuring they have backups for their livelihood than making a good, creative game. Sure, there will be many more good games coming out in the future, but the steady decline is tangible. The development cycles of video games have become so long that the repercussions of these corporation decisions won’t be visible until at least half a decade down the line. The suits’ desire for quarterly growth is simply no longer compatible with the reality of game-making anymore.

I love Hi-Fi Rush. I always will, and I will continue to love new games until my eyes close for the final time. I just wish Tango Gameworks had a more dignified death, and that I could give a better eulogy for them. This game means so much to me, and I hope the people who brought it to life will land on their feet and continue making great games, one way or another.

Thank you, Tango Gameworks. And thank you, my dear audience, for reading.

This article was brought to you by Rayleigh (@rayleighdkaiser) of Sundry Scribes, a Malaysian writing collective. Interested? Our Discord is open to writers and readers alike.