ROBOBEAT (PC) Review

Several weeks ago, I had the pleasure of previewing ROBOBEAT, which was in Early Access at the time. Despite being in Early Access, ROBOBEAT felt nearly complete barring some information-presentation issues that I hoped would be corrected for the final release. The few hours I spent in-game were full of high-octane shooting to the beat of the song that was currently playing. Of course, there were some other things not present in that version, being some levels, bug fixes, songs, and more, but the fact remains that the game felt incredibly polished.

On May 14, ROBOBEAT will be shedding its Early Access status and entering full release. I’ve spent several more hours in-game, shooting to the beat and trying to pull off every single flashy trick I could before dying and starting over again. It’s the classic roguelite gameplay loop, folks, but with a rhythm game win condition. The question now remains: How does it fare as a full release?

If you haven’t yet read our initial preview coverage of ROBOBEAT, I recommend you check it out before continuing further. Given that much of the preview was polished to the point of being a pre-release and the core gameplay loop remains consistent, I’ll avoid reiteration as much as possible.

ROBOBEAT had me play as Ace, a bounty hunter who as been trapped in the mansion of his most recent target, a robotic showperson known as Frazzer. Each room in the mansion is procedurally generated and full of blocky enemies that rush me down with melee and ranged weapons. My goal is to wall-run, slide, dash, and shoot guns in sync with the game’s beat. If I die, I’m sent back to the lobby where I have to try again. This ain’t your regular roguelite shooter, folks, this is a mashup of genres that work quite well together.

I remain firm in believing that ROBOBEAT is quite ingenious in mashing up the genres of roguelite, first-person shooting, and rhythm. Shooting to the beat is something that should come naturally to most rhythm players, especially since it’s the same degree of inputs. If you’ve played Guitar Hero, Rock Band, DJ Hero, or even Rhythm Sprout, you’ll settle quite well into the loop of shooting to the beat while attempting to stay alive. As someone who has spent a good amount of time playing Activision/Harmonix’s classics as a teenager, ROBOBEAT implemented its rhythm shooting exceptionally well.

Mastery manifested in the form of how well I was able to execute tricks and flashy attacks beyond simply shooting at the neon-colored blocky enemies. The arcade heavy, high-scoring element of ROBOBEAT rewarded me for switching weapons, killing enemies from afar, from above, when sliding, after parrying, and so much more. ROBOBEAT successfully made me feel like I was cool for maintaining momentum and using every inch of Frazzer’s industrial nightclub-turned-mansion. I could slide down a ramp and onto a jump pad, shooting me upward and giving me other angles to rain bullets (or grenades…or ping-pong-balls!!) onto the enemies.

I was won over on ROBOBEAT’s parkour and shooting. It’s implemented quite well and rewards players who can effectively execute chains of tricks while staying alive. When I was able to land tricks and kill enemies, it felt like I was not only powerful, but an actual bounty hunter/sharpshooter that was Ace. It also encouraged me to experiment and test out how I could kill enemies in more creative fashions.

My main concern with ROBOBEAT’s gameplay loop is its construction of its roguelite loop. It follows the standard roguelite loop in that I begin a run with no powerups, two basic weapons, and a utility ability. I then am sent through procedurally generated rooms of enemies. Upon clearing a room, I am given a reward and then I move on. This goes on until I either die or I reach the end of the current run, which is usually a boss fight.

The first few hours of ROBOBEAT will feel like the game is lacking in additional modes, rooms, and weapons, since very little is unlocked for the player to experience and encounter on their runs. Additional weapons, utilities, and rooms are unlocked after coming across blueprints and depositing them in a workbench in a single run. Then, you have to purchase the weapon, utility, or room at the workbench by spending blips.

It feels weird to get additional content behind so many steps, especially since a healthy amount of variance separates subpar roguelites from stellar ones. If the first few hours feel too similar, it becomes difficult to convince the player to try again after losing time after time. When the sources of variance are tied to success, that only makes it more difficult for the player to have different-feeling runs.

ROBOBEAT also lacks sources of passive power that increases as the player continuously loses. In roguelites, sources of passive power make it so that an unsuccessful run is somewhat successful. Think of how Hades functions with its Mirror of Night; even if Zagreus is unsuccessful in getting out of the underworld, he most likely has persistent currency that carries over and can be spent on a permanent upgrade. ROBOBEAT lacks such a gameplay lever. Instead, unlocking content adds it to the pool of options for players to come across in a run – it doesn’t actually make them stronger.

I wasn’t able to fully appreciate ROBOBEAT’s depth until I had spent a good five hours losing time after time again. At that point, I had spent three hours attempting to clear the third level (unsuccessfully, mind you) and making very little progress in adding upgrades to my currently unlocked pool of options. Things felt like they were dragging on until I somehow managed to get the perfect combination of run-specific upgrades and weapons to get me through to the third level’s boss (where I had accumulated quite a bit of currency and was able to deposit a blueprint to unlock it). Only then did I feel like I was making progress.

Of course, this is a part of the roguelite experience. When the player gets a perfect combination, it feels like kismet. The relief of finally getting past the difficulty hump with a perfect combination of temporary abilities is quite profound. ROBOBEAT has those moments, but they shouldn’t be implemented at the expense of variance and/or for the sake of time-gating content. This quibble aside, I’m still thrilled with playing ROBOBEAT.

The final metric that I consider when evaluating a rhythm title is its soundtrack. ROBOBEAT’s soundtrack is fantastic. The more I played, the more I was able to unlock and add to my library of “songs” I could select when playing the game. It’s not all high-octane EDM tracks, don’t worry. If you’re wanting some deep thumping tracks at a slower BPM, you’ll be pleased to find that the game’s original soundtrack spans several genres and a wide range of BPM for you to find your groove.

If you’re not a fan of the stellar soundtrack, ROBOBEAT also allows you to import your own tracks into the game. It’s becoming increasingly rare for games to allow user-generated content and importing of their own content. I tested several remixes of my favorite songs and imported them into the game. It took very little time at all and the system was pretty accurate in correctly flagging the BPM to ensure that I could shoot to the beat without being penalized for shooting offbeat.

I had quite a good time playing ROBOBEAT. It scratched a rhythm itch that is often left unscratched because of rhythm games being relegated to arcades and virtual/mixed reality. This implementation of rhythm elements is quite novel in that it can help onboard players unfamiliar with rhythm titles as well as offer a degree of challenge for those wanting classic rhythm gameplay in a FPS format. Despite its progression systems and the sharper-than-preferred difficulty curve, I was successfully hooked in trying again, again, and again.

Other than the roguelite gameplay levers that are more punishing and artificially slow in gating variance for the player, ROBOBEAT is a fun rhythm mashup. I highly recommend it for those wanting to show off their FPS and parkour skills while shooting along to the beat of an incredible soundtrack.