Headbangers: Rhythm Royale is an interesting blend of simple rhythm and silly battle royale gameplay that’s both fun yet accessible. Its 23 minigames might not be unique, but they’re fun in short bursts. It's great for all kinds of players, too! I’m interested to see how things evolve in the coming months, but in the meantime I’ll be having my pigeon bang his head to the beat.
If you’re a goose expert like me, you’re probably very interested in any game starring anything remotely connected to geese. This can include, but not limited to, blue jays, robins, doves, geese (honk!), swans, peacocks, ducks, and pigeons. Now imagine I told you that a rhythm battle royale was released…and it’s all about pigeons. P I G E O N S. WITH FLOPPY NECKS. AND THEY SAY SILLY THINGS.
That’s Headbangers: Rhythm Royale, and it’s out right this minute.
Last month, I had the opportunity to participate in Headbangers’ beta test. At the time, a handful of its minigames were available along with a brief glimpse as to its cosmetics that would be available at launch. In my Chumps Preview, I liked it! I had some reservations about its future, monetization, and how it would keep players around, but these are all nonunique to the battle royale live service category.
Fast forward to today, there is quite a few more minigames available to headbang to along with additional content that I wasn’t privy to during the private beta. As such, I’ll avoid rehashing much of the content I covered in my Chumps Preview and opt into focusing more on the new content and overall experience. I would recommend that you should read the preview before jumping into this review.
Let’s get this out of the way now: Headbangers: Rhythm Royale is eerily reminiscent of Mediatonic’s Fall Guys. Instead of silly little robots that stumble about, you control a pigeon! Err…you control a pigeon’s floppy neck. And it says very silly things. And you can dress it up however you want.
Like other battle royales, Headbangers: Rhythm Royale puts players through four minigames in a race to become the master headbanging pigeon. The top players continue to advance to the next round while those who underperform are eliminated and sent back to the title screen to play again. Rinse and repeat. Rinse and repeat. Bang your head to the beat. You get the drill.
Crossplay was enabled right from the jump, meaning that I had little issue getting into a lobby and pit against 29 other goofy pigeons. I can recognize that player enthusiasm is peaking at this time, but it was a good sign to jump into a fully lobby within a matter of seconds at nearly 2am.
During my review period, I was thankful to see more minigames added to the game. Back when I previewed the game, around 10 minigames were available. Now? 23. On paper, that sounds like a lot, but once you’ve played multiple rounds in quick succession, you’ll end up repeating a few of the minigames. I see this as a net positive; I find it hard to believe that players will master each of the minigames in a single go. While I personally struggled with one of the sound identification quick draw minigame during my initial preview and this review, I was just fine with the likes of Run Pigeon Run and First Piano Shooter. Run Pigeon Run looks eerily similar to the Chrome Web Browser’s offline dinosaur minigame where you simply tap the correct inputs along to the beat. First Piano Shooter tested my ability to recreate melodies from memory by using a slingshot to strike the correct piano keys in a certain order.
Some of you might assume that these minigames are too simple or too barebones for a battle royale. I wholeheartedly disagree. The nature of this game is meant to be short and simple; its minigames meet those qualifications well. Are they the most unique? Not really, but I would prefer approachability for a rhythm game over all else. You shouldn’t ask for much more if you’re trying to blend the battle royale and rhythm genres together into an approachable title.
One thing to note, though: I wasn’t too compelled to spend too much time grinding away playing its minigames over and over. While the silliness persisted, I felt satisfied after a few runs, even after placing into the top three multiple times in a row! Perhaps this is my rhythm-game speaking, but I needed something greater to master while playing.
The more I played Headbangers, the more I came to the realization that it’s a fantastic rhythm game for non-rhythmic people. This may cause some of you to bristle in response to potentially being called non-rhythmic, but hear me out. Rhythm titles are notoriously inaccessible because they require specialized peripherals, their general gameplay loops are hard to gauge for those unfamiliar, and they require players to invest a lot of time into the game before the “fun” of the higher difficulty content/gameplay emerges. If you’ve gone to a modern arcade and have seen folks play Beatmania, Pop’n, or Dance Dance Revolution, these folks assumedly have fun while playing ridiculously complex note patterns.
Headbangers is not about crazy note patterns or showing off your musical prowess. It’s miles away from that, in fact. Headbangers’ minigames are simple, they’re short, and they are not binary rhythm-checks. You don’t even need a specific controller – just the DualSense! Headbangers’ minigames range from tests of dexterity in the form of sound identification, sound recall, and some accuracy checks in the form of pressing buttons in a certain order. It’s a healthy mix of minigames that can ease unfamiliar players into the genre at an incredibly low price point with very low stakes. If one of the minigames proves challenging, others might help you improve your ability to tap along to the beat or mirror inputs in specific patterns.
There’s a part of me that wonders how well Headbangers could function as a party game in the longer-term future. Because of its accessibility and goofiness, I see a reality where a group of friends are playing couch co-op or even an elevated rhythm-forward version of Jackbox starring Headbangers’ pigeons and featuring a selection of its minigames. Would I want something like this? Absolutely. As someone who plays Discord games, hosts-and-attends parties where Jackbox is present, and understands the appeal of content creators playing games on stream with their community members, it would make sense for an abridged version of Headbangers to make its way toward us. It’s accessible. It’s fast. It doesn’t encourage players to take it seriously. Most importantly, it’s fun!
The use of pigeons makes Headbangers incredibly silly and visually distinct from other titles. Its cosmetics are over-the-top and span multiple aesthetics, including musical elements, sporty outfits, to flat out goofy. If you want to dress your pigeon up as an eggplant, go ahead! You can purchase elements of your costume from the in-game shop with the in-game currency (bread) acquired from simply playing the game.
You don’t just acquire content from the shop, though. There are also cosmetics that are unlocked from completing specific challenges which is a really nice addition. I see this specific element as something that rewards players for their time and mastery of the minigames that have been implemented thus far. Currently, I don’t see too much of a FOMO-driven hook beyond the battle pass, but that’s fine. Hopefully more challenges are added to the future that contain quirky content to show off your pigeon’s silliness.
I remain cautious about the future of Headbangers, especially as it relates to its monetization and player retention. For XBOX players, you can try Headbangers right this minute if you’re a Game Pass subscriber. If you’re a PS+ member…you gotta pay for the game in its entirety. I guess time will tell if the game’s current monetization is successful. I personally would prefer the title to be F2P with cosmetic content and battle passes and such like Fall Guys, but then again, there are quite a few live service games with this model competing for players’ attention and wallets.
All that said, let’s wrap this up.
Headbangers: Rhythm Royale is an interesting blend of simple rhythm and silly battle royale gameplay that’s both fun yet accessible. Its 23 minigames might not be unique, but they’re fun in short bursts. It’s great for all kinds of players, too! I’m interested to see how things evolve in the coming months, but in the meantime I’ll be having my pigeon bang his head to the beat.
A review copy was provided by the publisher for the sole purpose of this review.
