Soundfall Review
At the intersection of music and gaming is an emerging genre of rhythm-action games like Crypt of the NecroDancer or BPM: Bullets Per Minute, which tie sound to player actions as a unique approach to game mechanics. Soundfall, developed by Drastic Games, is an ambitious twist on the rhythm game genre, featuring a Diablo-like looter-shooter premise. While Soundfall delivers well on its promise of exciting, toe-tapping rhythm-action gameplay, it’s a mechanic that quickly becomes stagnant, and the game’s looter-shooter mechanics struggle to pick up the pieces. . Soundfall begins with an unforgettable storyline based on the main character, Melody, who finds herself alienated from the real world and the lands of Symphonia, the source of all music. A former struggling barista with unrealized musical talent, Melody now holds the mantle of one of the five Guardians of Harmony, each with a unique musical aesthetic. Using their musical skillsets, Melody and her friends must save Symphonia from the Discordians who threaten to destroy the world’s music. Soundfall’s main questline takes players through a diverse collection of biomes, all featuring a wide range of music genres that will satisfy a wide audience of music listeners. While lively and upbeat, Soundfall’s story is a straightforward premise that’s never particularly engaging. At the end of each level, Soundfall intertwines with kitschy dialogue sequences that, while showing the developer’s love for music thanks to various pop culture references, fail to invest players in the world of Symphonia and its characters. Players shouldn’t go to Soundfall for the story, as it feels like an afterthought and can be completely bypassed using the game’s Free Play mode. Where Soundfall truly sings is in its visual style and fun rhythm-based mechanics.
Artistically, Soundfall is a beautiful game and beautiful to watch in motion. While simple in its character models and enemy designs, what makes it all stand out is its vibrant color palette and living world that moves to the beat of the soundtrack. Palm trees sway to Latin beats, and lava pools tumble to the powerful crash of metal symbols, bringing visual harmony to an auditory feast. With its use of diverse biomes from cloudy Skylands full of pop music to Cityscapes featuring heavy EDM beats, Drastic Games shows its flexibility in audio scapes and art styles across ten levels of each biome. In terms of its gameplay, Soundfall makes a great first impression with its intuitive introduction to its gameplay systems. As Melody adjusts to the world of Symphonia, players will also begin to feel the rhythm-based shooting and dodging mechanics as the metronome clicks away to the beat of the soundtrack. Compared to the stricter grid-based mechanics of Crypto of the NecroDancer, Soundfall gives players more freedom of movement thanks to its twin-stick shooter nature and fast-paced combat.
Gunshots receive a higher amount of damage by timing shots to the game’s metronome, while off-beat shots punish players with misfires and overheated guns. Dodging the beat also gives players a moment of invincibility, which comes in handy as the game gradually descends into bullet-hell frenzy. Melody and her friends also have an arsenal of instrument-based weapons and special attacks, including an ultimate attack that players can charge by defeating Discordians. The difficulty of Soundfall begins to increase as players learn how to fall into the many grooves and riffs of the game’s soundtrack while also encountering better weapons and armor in each biome. Later levels become more frenzied as metal and punk soundtracks blast through each stage, offering more beats, opening the door to more actions, and spawning more enemies. as a consequence. When Soundfall starts to “click”, and players enter a flow-state as movement, combat, and rhythm become one, it’s an exhilarating moment that will have players nodding their heads. and move their trigger fingers to the beat. However, Soundfall’s battle system eventually wears thin, as the game crescendos early on and the repetition begins to set in. RELATED: 8 Best Games Revolving Around Music And Sound By the time players reach the third biome, they’ll see everything Soundfall has to offer. At that point, players will have encountered all ten of the game’s enemy types, and the game’s loot drop system will begin recycling weapons that once seemed new and exotic. Unfortunately, Soundfall is a game that shows its hand too quickly and continues to become both a rhythm-action song and dance in its many repetitive levels. While Soundfall’s biomes vary in art style, the repetitive nature of the shooter begins to set in when playing through each biome level. Frustratingly, each stage progresses as a series of reused battle arenas sprinkled with environmental traps and rudimentary puzzles to reach the end. Fans who go through each biome will not neglect the feeling that some levels are almost exact replicas of the previous ones. Aside from slight variations in item placement and detours for loot chests, Soundfall’s levels mostly go through a repetitive blur that makes up the contents of a biome. The only thing left to help Soundfall is its loot game, which is unfortunately weak.
Unlike other games in the rhythm genre, Soundfall stands out as a looter-shooter, offering better armor, more weapons, and improved weapon cores as the driving force behind the player development. However, these loot-based mechanics are underdeveloped and add little value to the gameplay experience. Aside from some gameplay differences like weapons featuring chain lightning or armor allowing for an extra dodge or two, Soundfall’s weapons mostly play the same way, and armor sets often which does little besides increase damage mitigation. As a looter-shooter, Soundfall struggles because there’s no sense of unique loot, and players can easily bypass most of the optional chests and be fine for most of the game. The drop rate for high-quality items is low, and the loot chests shown to the player at the end of each stage will be enough to progress through the story at a fast pace. As a rhythm game, Soundfall contains a straightforward premise. Internalize the beat, shoot the beat, dodge the beat, lather, rinse and repeat. There’s a solid gameplay loop to build on here, but ultimately the game falls short of creating a good set of mechanics to complement its rhythm-action base. Overall, Soundfall is a foundational title that needs to build on its looter-shooter premise to create a more engaging experience. Aside from the PC version featuring the option to import local tracks and play levels à la carte, Soundfall makes a weak argument for why players should stay hooked on its shoot-dodge-repeat mechanics in long time.
However, it’s worth noting that players with a Nintendo Switch or a Steam Deck may find Soundfall a compelling purchase, thanks to the pick-up-and-play nature of its three-minute-long levels and Free Play mode that’s straightforward brings players to the songs and levels they want to play. Soundfall’s critical fault is that it lacks anything new and exciting past the game’s opening hours and relies too comfortably on rhythm mechanics that, while initially entertaining, grow stale in isolation. Drastic Games’ decision to put a Diablo-like spin on the rhythm game genre has potential, but the core loot-based elements are half-baked, and its level design is sorely lacking. While strong in its wide range of music and beautiful art style, Soundfall is a game that needs more time to develop its gameplay systems before it’s ready for the stage. The soundfall is a feast for the ears, a feast for the eyes, and an exercise in monotony. Soundfall is now available for PC, PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X|S. Today Technology was provided a PC code for this review. MORE: Video Games Should Learn from Remedy and Feature More In-World Original Music