Hyperbeat is a new retro-inspired rhythm game from developers Alice Bottino and Chancellor Wallin alongside publisher Dreamware Media. It’s out now on Steam and has been receiving some very positive feedback from the rhythm game community. We’ve spent a couple of hours with this intriguing title and bring you our thoughts on it for this first impressions post. The basics of Hyperbeat are easy to pick up. Move your character around a tunnel and hit the corresponding note in time with the beat. The best way we could think to describe the core gameplay was Tempest or Rez meets Guitar Hero.
That being said, this doesn’t begin to describe the more nuanced aspects of Hyperbeat, where rhythm game meets visual novel. Perhaps a better description would be to say Hyperbeat is Coffe Talk meets Guitar Hero, and they both had a baby with Rez. We hope that you’re starting to get an understanding of just how unique this hyperstylised game really is. The core gameplay aside, to see everything in the game requires you to search around a hub world where the bizarre meets the confused and anything is possible. Some of the interactions are cryptic, while others are just completely off the wall. There is some humour mixed in, but it’s very subjective as to its level of comedy.
When we started playing Hyperbeat, we were mostly confused, but once we got our bearings and spoke to a few of the locals who also appeared to be stuck in some strange dreamworld, we started to gain an understanding. After each run on one of the courses or tracks, you’ll receive rewards depending on how well you performed in keeping in time and your accuracy. The better you do, the quicker the game story will develop, and your interactions with the other characters will progress.
You could simply keep playing the main game and not bother with the hub world, but doing so would mean there is no context, and you’d miss another fun part of Hyperbeat. After a while, you collect enough rewards to visit a reflective pool that allows you to mix up your appearance. There are some really cool items to dress up in and lots of color to splash about. Seeing the rewards after each level is complete is actually one of the best features of this game.
The actual songs that you play along to all fall into a synthwave genre, with some great beats and tempos that really chime with the rhythm gameplay. The music won’t be to every gamer’s taste, but it feels neutral enough that a majority will enjoy it. The graphics are full of neon and retro-inspired imagery; this could easily have been released in the late 90s for the PlayStation or Dreamcast. Hyperbeat also controls very well, although some parts of the hub world can be jarring to move around in, but this feels intentional and in style with the overall game.
Anyone who enjoys a challenging rhythm title and genuinely unique storytelling and presentation will fall in love with Hyperbeat. We say this with caution, however, as some of the gameplay elements are intentionally bizarre and the humour may not resonate with everyone. The game also gets incredibly tough trying to master the later stages, and will take even the most hardened of rhythm game experts some time to master it. We recommend Hyperbeat, but it comes with a warning label that it may be a bit far out for some.
