Hi-Fi Rush preview: Beautiful beginnings to on-the-beat combat

A speedy release seems to have been a good thing

Xbox pulled a fast one on fans by not only announcing a game during its Developer Direct, but releasing it within hours of the show. Hi-Fi Rush is a rhythm-based action game from the studio behind The Evil Within and Ghostwire: Tokyo, and couldn’t be further from its previous projects. Taking place in a brightly colored, futuristic world, you have to platform and fight your way to the exit, with your robot cat friend. The trick here is everything has to be in-time.

Usually, when a game is released without any media fanfare, it is because the team doesn’t have confidence in it. In this case, the quick announcement and release seems to have been a marketing trick of its own. The game runs smoothly, with no obvious bugs or issues in our short playtime. It’s fully polished with a completely unique selling point.

The game feels polished and runs smoothly, with no obvious bugs or issues / Bethesda Softworks

The team was obviously worried that completing combat in time to the beat would be uncomfortable for many action fans. There are a lot of tools here to help you out, from the beat bar displayed at the bottom, to easy fights and tutorials used to ease you in. If you feel you still haven’t grasped it, you can practice on the Hint Robots all around the world.

It feels a bit over-egged, so some might find it slow to get into, but many of the visual clues to keep you on time are exceedingly helpful. If you miss a beat, you still will do an attack, it will just do less damage than if you had made it on time. If you find yourself between notes, there’s space to step back and get back into the rhythm. Many games have worked with rhythm-based combat before, so this certainly isn’t a first, but they are more often indies like Crypt of the Necrodancer, or Artful Escape. It’s far less common in the triple-A space.

The presentation is painfully reminiscent of No More Heroes. Our protagonist Chai is a wannabe rockstar who is going nowhere in life, but he’s cocky, opportunistic, and adaptable. He isn’t spitting out witty one-liners left and right, he comes across more as an idiot, who is not smart enough to be fazed by the problems coming his way. He’s not annoyed me, yet, but I don’t find him particularly likable either. It’s early days though, and I could see things going either way.

There are both 2D and 3D platforming sections, and while the combat benefits beautifully from the rhythm-based design, this form of gameplay somewhat suffers. Platforms come and go with the beat, which is fine if you have your timing right, but Chai’s speed also changes with the song. The first is rather slow, which means Chai’s movement is slow, and he doesn’t have the fluid momentum to make the jumps you might like. This could improve with later songs.

Hi-Fi Rush's world feels alive with the music / Bethesda Softworks

Where Hi-Fi Rush really shines is in the details. When Chai is standing still, he taps his feet to the beat. Parts of the environment vibe to this, too. The world feels alive with the music, and the two harmonize together. When you complete an action, you add beats to the soundtrack making everything work together. The soundtrack features licensed songs, but there is an option to switch to original songs if you want to stream it.

A lot is still left to be seen after my short time with Hi-Fi Rush, but things look promising so far. The combat is what shines over the platforming, but changes in songs also make for changes in gameplay, keeping things fresh. If you are worried you have no musical inclination, then you shouldn’t be. Hi-Fi Rush eases you in, but we’ll have to wait to see if it has staying power.