Soundfall surprised me with its combination of action and rhythm | hands-on preview

I just can’t get enough of rhythm games. Whether it’s the relative simplicity of hitting buttons in time to the music of Guitar Hero or freestyle rapping in Parappa the Rapper, I just love that feeling of connecting to music through gameplay. Anytime a developer is looking to do something interesting in the rhythm game space it’s certain to grab my attention, and Soundfall has done just that.

While having a minor bout of performance anxiety, musical main character Melody is transported to Symphonia. This magical, colourful world is powered by music and also overrun by evil monsters known as Discord. As she tries to make her way home, Melody is more than happy to help the citizens of Symphonia with their problem using her newfound rhythm based powers and weapons.

Soundfall is a twin-stick rhythm looter shooter, which turns out is the genre mashup I never knew I needed. Each stage is accompanied by a banger of a tune, and all of your actions should be timed to the beat of the music to be used effectively. Shots fired on the beat will be significantly more powerful (and potentially launch more bullets) and dashes on the beat will give you a brief second of invincibility. It took me a little while to get used to only acting when the beat came around, but once it clicked I was in love.

That covers the shooting, but the looting is just as important. Every so often a fallen enemy will drop some new gear for Melody, and in between levels you can kit her out with the gear that suits your playstyle best. I got to test out a great variety of machine guns, rocket launchers and scatter guns in the opening world of Soundfall, all of which completely changed how I dealt with enemies. There’s also armour, swords and ultimate ability upgrades to collect, all with interesting effects to set them apart. After a few sessions with my new armour, I couldn’t live without the ability to chain dashes.

A couple of stages into the Soundfall preview build the sword and ultimate ability unlocked, which flipped the gameplay on its head. When timed to the beat the sword can perform a three hit combo, and is perfect for dispatching smaller enemies or for when you’re surrounded. The ultimate ability I got to use was a massive spin attack, which makes Melody invincible and is also the only ability that doesn’t require to be activated on the beat. It’s the perfect way to get out of a bad situation, and when I upgraded mine to drain health from enemies I felt unstoppable.

Alongside the waves of enemies found in Soundfall, stages also have plenty of other obstacles to overcome. There are crystals you can teleport between with a well timed dash, patterns of lasers to dodge and volcanic boulders that rain down. Each stage has a different theme full of potential hazards, and the variety of vibrant landscapes to loot and shoot in was great even in the first world.

None of this would be important if the music didn’t absolutely slap, but Soundfall has a fantastic soundtrack with a hell of a lot of variety. From catchy pop music that’ll get you singing along to an instrumental medieval village jaunt, there wasn’t a single song from the ten or so level I played that I didn’t enjoy.

When Soundfall releases there are some fantastic features coming that I didn’t get to experience. Perhaps the most intriguing of these is the fact the game can create custom levels for any music you have downloaded on your PC. Based on the genre of music the environment and enemies will be different, and I can’t wait to see what every single S Club 7 song is like as a Soundfall level.

Alongside this mode, there will also be four player co-op available at launch. With each player taking the role of a different character and progress carried across from single player, it seems like a fantastic way to enjoy the game.

Soundfall completely surprised me with its unique blend of twin stick action and rhythm game timing. It’s a game that has really stuck with me since the preview, and if I could play one game at this moment it would be Soundfall. I cannot wait to try it with a few friends when it releases.