The musical action-adventure game “Hi-Fi RUSH” developed by the game team Tango Gameworks founded by Shinji Mikami from “Ghost Wire: Tokyo” was released on January 26 without warning. The game quickly accumulated praise from the player community as soon as it was launched. Word of mouth, and achieved an overwhelming 98% favorable score on Steam.
“Hi-Fi RUSH” is an action role-playing game set in a highly AI-mechanized society. Players take on the role of a teenager named “Acha” who accidentally implanted in his chest due to a suspicious corporate experiment. The music player was labeled as a “defective product” because of this, and was hunted down by the evil prosthetic corporate robot.
Fortunately, Ah Cha’s music player and mechanical right arm allow him to pick up the weapon “guitar” to break through all difficulties. In fact, you will know that “Hi-Fi RUSH” is almost the same as the 3D action you have played in the past The game is different–it’s almost a music game。
In the colorful art style and lively and bright city stage, the battle of “Hi-Fi RUSH” is perfectly combined with the music. When the BGM sounds, the player can follow the beat to attack and make special effects, even in the mobile or QTE of the BOSS level. It’s all about rhythm.
However, this design is not annoying, but it brings out a striking experience different from traditional action-adventure games. With the beautiful and exciting battle music dancing, every key you press has a stronger sense of immersion. The plot performance is also very lively and interesting, and you can even find other game eggs.
Hifi rush is pretty fun #HiFiRush #Theevilwithin pic.twitter.com/URsbt5bub3
— ink (@inkontopaper) January 27, 2023
It is worth mentioning that “Hi-Fi RUSH” has almost no prior media publicity. It only appeared on the “Developer Direct” developer live broadcast program held by Xbox and then rushed to the market. This zero marketing method is not the same as “Apex Heroes” (Apex Legends) is very similar, also known as “Shadow Drop”.
Although the “Shadow Drop” zero-publicity listing method has begun to become the focus of discussions among developers, such low-key game marketing is not suitable for most independent games that do not have the support of publishers. More importantly, the zero publicity listing is not the real point. The real significance is still that the essence of the game is enough to attract and resonate with the player community.
you are not beyonce and you are not xbox, I am praying that you market your game and don’t just drop it and hope it sells
— Alex Rose (@AlexRoseGames) January 29, 2023
In contrast, another Square Enix masterpiece “Forspoken” (Forspoken), which has been widely reported by overseas media, was launched on January 25. The Metacritic PC player score is currently only 1.8 points, and the evaluation on Steam is also 1.8 points. There have been mixed reviews, with complaints mostly coming from the boring and empty storyline and missions, as well as optimization issues.
The success of “Hi-Fi RUSH” once again proves that good players will find good games on their own. Similarly, good games will naturally find their own player community.
#HiFiRush
Nekochan is so cute… pic.twitter.com/VdcEwhB2yK— Barbe Q Aji game dirt (@ 901330121570) January 28, 2023
“Hi-Fi RUSH” was released on Xbox Series X|S and PC Steam on January 26, and the game is also available on Xbox Game Pass simultaneously.