Beatblock – 7 minutes completed a few levels. This one is a pretty trippy looking and is about moving around a paddle to block notes and little black outlined ones also requires a button press. It’s simple in concept and has good music and pretty good graphics. This is pretty cool although I’m not sure I’d get it other than bundled or pretty cheap. 7/10
Beats of Betrayal – 24 minutes died twice and completed tutorial. This is a minimalistic looking and sounding action RPG game that is very tough, but also very fun. The music is a bit loud even on lower sound settings. Overall, I thought this was very tough on Expert controls with the Series X controller, and I hated that it didn’t explain any pickups at all. It’s still a solid game and one to likely get bundled. 6.5/10
Beat Slayer – 36 minutes completed demo beating the first act. This one is a really good action RPG rhythm game similar to Hades except with kind of a like a weird run-down place with robots running amok. The soundtrack is decent electronic music that is easy to keep a beat too although a bit repetitive. The graphics are all serviceable enough, but still pretty nice. It’s relatively easy to read tells from opponents which help for stunning, dodging and attacking them. This one controls excellently with the Series X controller and will likely be a buy on release unless it’s really expensive. 8/10
Bits & Bops – 15 minutes tried all three demo stages. This one is a Warioware like mini game collection of rhythm games, more like Elite beat Agents. This one I didn’t always feel the queues. The music and graphics are really cute, but at least the second stage I didn’t always have great queues to start nailing nails, and the bird one is just very confusing. Overall, it’s a really cute game and fills a decent niche that isn’t touched as often, but it can be very confusing and stuff not flow as well. 7/10
Candlelight: Lament – 34 minutes completed demo. This one is a moody weird horror adventure game thing where you seem to be being transported all over the place and must follow a story and solve puzzles adventure style. Most of these aren’t too bad, but one I almost brute forced not getting the solution. Overall, the art is interesting, but the story is nonsensical. I would likely only get it bundled. 6/10
Devil Can Beat – 5 minutes. This was a small arena rhythm action game with a little devil guy with prompts that didn’t match the Series X controller all the time. I didn’t enjoy this one as the enemies had way too much health and it just felt early and unpolished. I also wasn’t really into the music or the graphics. 4.5/10
Disco Samurai – 15 minutes completed tutorial which is the demo. The graphics are decent enough but maybe too basic. This requires a controller and requires a lot of parrying as if you attack an enemy during its attack, you will get hit and die quickly. You parry and can shoot and dodge as well. When the enemies’ shield value is gone, they become stunned and take 100% more damage from the first attack they take, and the gun deals a lot of damage. It has a decent electronic beat that’s easy enough to follow. My fingers hurt after the demo as most of the moves are done using left button and right button on the Series X controller. Overall, I liked it enough, but I can see it being a bit repetitive. I would still like it bundled. 7/10
Dungeon Exiles – 90 minutes completed demo. This one is an auto attacking game where you have a class, abilities that auto execute lots of keyword abilities that can have synergy for different lifestyles, such as a juggernaut ability when you have 2 giving more block. The music, sound, and graphics are all very simple. Equipment I think you can have as much of and you should if the abilities go with your build. All builds will want some health, mana regen and some survivability ability as well such as blocking/evading/regen. Overall, this one was really simple, but decent no nonsense turn your brain off auto battling fun. Nothing crazy, but not bad. 6.5/10
Freaked Fleapit – 30 minutes completed demo. This one is a rhythm action game similar to Candence of Hyrule. In it you play as some new guy in hell or purgatory who has a soul and must fight and do missions for different girls here. They are all kind of quirky and if set to NSFW have some interesting but solid art. The music is very good and the gameplay isn’t that bad either. The story and characters are nonsensical, but that may change later. The graphics have nice pixel art overall. All I know is it was pretty good and these styles of games are pretty rare. 7/10
Home – 11 minutes game crashed on me when I tried to search a trash can. This is an alright RPG feeling game where battles take place and you can attack on yellow bars in rhythm and must block red bars. You earn up SP to use a special attack and can use items as well in rhythm. It seemed okay even though it had somewhat unclear graphics, although decent ones, at times. I wasn’t super excited, but it had potential before it crashed. The yard area seemed too big with not enough interactables. 6.5/10
Infinity Girl – 10 minutes. This is kind of an endless runner with a girl who is running with relatively decent electronic music and pretty basic graphics. It controls okay enough with the Series X controller. It’s mainly just a don’t crash into obstacles get the best time type of game. I would likely only get it bundled. 6/10
Killbeat – 27 minutes completed demo. This one is an alright shooter action rhythm game that controls alright with the Series X controller. The music was kind of generic electronic music and the graphics were alright although a bit basic. Nothing was wrong here, but it just felt a bit unpolished and pretty repetitive as well. Still wouldn’t mind it in a bundle. 6.5/10
Last Moon – 59 minutes I believe I beat the demo. This one is Zelda like exploring kind of souls like fighting game. The graphics are pretty decent, the stuff is a little floaty, but you get used to it. The story is not so much there in the demo, and the sound and music are good. This one is just decently solid, but nothing special. The bosses aren’t super challenging either. 6.5/10
Love’s Crescendo – 12 minutes completed demo. This one is a visual novel about a girl playing piano and maybe not feeling it as much. There is a rhythm part for playing the piano and the music is actually pretty nice. It kind of reminds me of those Piano Collections from Final Fantasy 6 IMHO. The graphics are relatively nice. The controls with the 4 keys on the keyboard are okay, but sometimes the rhythm doesn’t seem to match what the music is. It’s a decent feeling visual novel and I think has some LGBTQ relationships as well, but that’s coming as the girl figures out things. 6.5/10
Mariachi Undead – 3 minutes. I couldn’t control this one well where you play an undead Mariachi and have to shoot, go behind cover (not easy with these floaty controls), melee back rockets and survive. I didn’t like this at all other than the okay graphics with okay music (not really mariachi like though). This just felt unpolished. 5.5/10
Moncon – 25 minutes. This is an interesting game about a guy who shuts down during social interactions and envisions everyone as monsters. He meets a guy and they become friends and the guy helps him in battles where any person is a black blob at this con and you face them in rhythm action. The rhythm action is a little hard to control with the Series X controller. It is a good idea for a game and you do get do stuff at a con, but it felt kind of repetitive already and the main guy just can’t take damage well. Also, the backpack is kind of small and you have to play equipment/item arranging to get stuff in there. A bit unpolished and I think according to others it’s buggy as well. 6/10
Nebula Flow – 12 minutes completed three levels of demo. This one is a very chill rhythm game about moving up and down and jumping and holding buttons rhythm with the music where you are chasing a dog. I don’t really get the boost mechanic, but it’s fun and the third song was pretty hard. The graphics are really good as well. It’s a simple concept, but it’s just done very well. 7.5/10
NOISZ – 15 minutes completed a few levels. This one is a bullet hell rhythm game where you shoot and cast shield (stops blue bullets) on rhythm and get graded after defeating enemies. This one has visual novel segments between battles and has some cute art. I liked the electronic music in this and it played very well on a Series X controller. It was a little repetitive, but nothing too bad. Would get this one bundled or a lot cheaper. 7/10
Rhythm Quest – 33 minutes completed demo worlds and replayed 2 levels. This was an awesome rhythm action game very similar to the Beat Trip series. The graphics are decent enough with everything being able to be told apart, the music and sounds are very catchy and good and the action gets challenging but isn’t impossible. This requires a controller with how precise everything is. I used the Series X controller and it performed well. If this is cheap on release, I’ll support it for sure. 8.5/10
Rhythm Rabbit – 3 minutes. This one is a strange rhythm game with kind of repetitive music where you have tiles on a board and a rabbit with notes above it. It moves automatically in time to the music and your goal is to get to a carrot at the end. The number of moves each turn is randomly determined. I thought this played OK, but was maybe a bit too simple for my liking. In those 3 minutes I went through about 6 levels. Just not my type of game at all although it was polished enough. 6/10
Rhythm Story – 5 minutes. This one is another visual novel X rhythm game. I don’t really care about the story but some girl with rabbit ears says it’s her last one (drugs who knows) and she works at a club and then dances for some reason and then there is a little kids birthday party. The music and everything are OK at best, and the graphics are the best part. Nothing amazing, but also nothing terrible here either. I think it is supposed to lead to a murder mystery, but I was pretty bored already. 6/10
Rhythm Witch: Beat Death – 2 minutes completed one level. The gimmick of this one is tiny arenas and hitting the button on beats to attack. This has pretty basic graphics and music, of which the first area music I’m sure is a rip off of one of the levels in HoloCure. Just really didn’t enjoy this much and it felt unpolished just probably a bit too simple overall. There is a leveling system for skills, but I just wasn’t enjoying the gameplay. 5.5/10
Rift of the Necrodancer – 80 minutes couldn’t finish the advanced stage. This is one of the simplest in concept rhythm games with only 3 buttons (left, up and right) with down being used to push all 3 at the same time. In this one you beat down monsters to the beat and they all act different like certain skeletons requiring different hits, some running away, bats going a certain way and other things. It is very difficult for the advanced stage IMHO and likely requires a good keyboard or maybe a good controller (not sure it works with one). The graphics and music were excellent, but this may be a bit too much for me for advanced games. The songs are quite long as well. It is a well-polished game, but I will likely wait for a sale on this one. 7.5/10
Sunset Hills – 20 minutes completed demo. This is a fine-looking charming adventure game about a guy trying to meet with his friend again. The puzzles are not crazy hard and everything is well animated/drawn. I wish it had some voice acting. The main issue is with the full release is that it is short and incomplete (2 chapters with the rest future DLC maybe). Supposedly the translation isn’t as good either. I thought the translation was solid enough for what I played. I would only get it when it’s completed and likely cheap/bundled, but it had a charming demo. 6/10
The Star Named Eos – 48 minutes completed demo. This one is a narrative puzzle game about a daughter and her longing to meet her mother again. Her mother gifts her a camera (which you have to do a very easy puzzle to get). The other puzzles are not too bad (I brute forced one of the locked ones). This game looks beautiful and is excellently voice acted. The puzzles were not always to my liking, but nothing was game breaking hard. It controls pretty well with the Series X controller which is not what I expected. It seems like a journey worth taking and feels more like an escape room at times because the first scene doesn’t have a whole lot of varying scenery (it’s just her room). I did like this one enough and would get it bundled or pretty cheap. It’s supposedly short though about 3 hours and is published by Playism, which those games never get bundled. 7/10
Taka Taka – 8 minutes. This is a pretty difficult game with 4 lanes and a red samurai and blue samurai. The top has 2 lanes and the bottom 2. One of the characters can be in either of the top 2 or bottom 2 lanes. You can switch them and the red samurai defeats red enemies and blue defeats blue and you need to avoid grey ones. This has traditional sounding Japanese music and gets very hard very quickly. The controls are simple but it’s confusing to keep track of both lanes and character especially when you have to defeat 2 enemies quickly and need to switch them right after another. This has a lot of potential and is polished, but just not for me. It’s a worthy bundle game though. 7/10
Tako no Himitsu: Ocean of Secrets – 24 minutes completed likely half of the demo. This one is an action RPG game that looks a lot like a GBA game. It doesn’t control very well with the Series X controller with the action just feeling floaty and the running with a button or double taps doesn’t feel very good. I was not interested at all in the story and the game itself was alright. It’s good enough to play, but I just wasn’t feeling it at all. It is cool to get GBA inspired games nowadays at least. 6/10
Yoiyami Dancers: Twilight Danmaku Dancers – 5 minutes. This is a rhythm bullet hell Touhou fan game. I was not getting the rhythm well for glancing bullets, but I see a lot of potential. I believe it’s a pretty old game, but it seems polished enough and has decent enough graphics and music. 6/10
