Developer: Wisageni Studio
Publisher: PQube
Platform: PC, PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch, Nintendo Switch 2, Xbox Series X/S
Tested on: PC
K-Pop Idol Stories: Road to Debut – Review
In the last few years, the world has been overwhelmed by the love for Korean Pop music, K-Pop in short. Famous groups such as BTS, Blackpink, Ateez, Girls’ Generation, and so on have conquered the hearts of many fans both inside and outside South Korea. Especially after K-Pop Demon Hunters, it is hard to miss the influence wherever you look, and this is also the case for Wisageni Studio’s new game: K-Pop Idol Stories: Road to Debut. Published by PQube, this game allows you to create and manage your own K-Pop group by scouting trainees and preparing them to release their first single, all the while you navigate through the ups and downs of the industry.
Story
The story in K-Pop Idol Stories: Road to Debut begins with the player already being familiar with the works of the industry. It is your last day at your current entertainment company before it permanently closes. Right when things seem to take a bleak turn, you receive an email saying your application for project manager at WG Entertainment was successful. This is one of, if not the biggest, entertainment companies out there, and you get to manage a new and upcoming K-Pop idol group.
Throughout the gameplay, the player meets NPCs who each share their own story, unveiled when they trust you enough. This makes it so that an otherwise flat story has a bit more depth than at first glance. Whilst the main storyline of the game is very stereotypical, if not unoriginal, the side stories of literally everyone else are much more unique and interesting to explore. What makes the main storyline so 2D-esque is that it all plays out like a typical teen movie. You have the rivals who give you a side-eye at every opportunity, the popular girl, or in this case idol, who wants to help you, and the big deadline that decides everything. Though it is semi-realistic with how the industry tends to broadcast a group for their debut in real life, we feel like it could have been told with less of a dramatic flair.
Meanwhile, side character bonding stories will have twists and events happening that can affect your group’s stats and feel like they matter and have an impact. The events around these characters are far more unique and original, though perhaps inspired by certain K-Dramas (Korean Drama shows); they remain an interesting twist on the otherwise ‘been there, done that’ story.
Graphics
We sincerely hope you like bright colors and animations, because K-Pop Idol Stories: Road to Debut has a lot of them. Presented in an often pink-and-purple theme, the game makes use of drawn backgrounds and 2D sprites to animate its storytelling. Though key points in the main and side stories will have their own unique CGs, it is usually through the same few sprites that the player will talk to NPCs. The art itself is rather beautiful. From the characters’ design to the backgrounds when you’re using your free time to explore and bond with others, it feels very alive. The artists weren’t shy of filling in dead spaces, making every place you visit feel like people actually work there, rather than being a simple dollhouse-like aesthetic for backdrop purposes.
However, what bugged us rather quickly is the number of animations that happen on the screen at any given time. Everything bounces or jumps into view; loading screens flicker in your face with the company logo whenever you click on something, only for everything to start bouncing once again when fully loaded in. Though the purpose for this is most likely to fit the cute and cheerful aesthetic the game goes for, it does more harm than good. After half an hour of playing, we found ourselves having a slight headache just from these animations alone. The bright colors didn’t help with the jumpiness of it all either. To top it all off, there is no option to turn any of this off either, making it something the player just has to endure or shorten their playtime.
Sound
Though the game revolves around the K-Pop genre, there is surprisingly little music to be found. At first, we assumed this to be the case because you are still in the process of creating your group, but once we were past the first hurdle, there was still barely anything music-related going on. Initially, we are granted a gorgeous animation of an idol’s performance, but after that there’s just nothing. Once you get to select your debut song for your group, you get to select one of three options, only to then not hear it ever again past the selection screen. We do have to admit that the songs that are included are catchy, finding ourselves humming the chorus even outside gameplay sessions.
Furthermore, the background music in K-Pop Idol Stories: Road to Debut still does what it needs to do. Often featuring trendy tunes to emphasize the happy working days, or something more intense when ‘battling’ other idols on stage, it really manages to pull the player deeper into the gameplay of managing your group. It is just a shame that there are only so few actual K-Pop songs.
Gameplay
Marketed as a life simulation game, K-Pop Idol Stories: Road to Debut is in reality many genres mashed up into one. It is partially a visual novel, partially a simulation game, and partially various flash games mixed between the former two aspects. Eventually, the game tries to combine so many things at once; it fails to properly utilize any of them altogether.
The game has a promising start, allowing you to select what kind of manager you wish to be: focused on marketing, taking risks, or playing it safe. Then you decide the concept of your idol group: cute, glamour, or fantasy. These choices influence which stats are most important for your trainees to become a successful group.
Everything after these impactful choices falls flat. The game works with a weekly schedule that the player gets to fill with activities. These vary between scouting for talent, training, time off, and work. Every few weeks, the player participates in the company’s evaluation to see if their idols’ stats are good enough. The gameplay in this section becomes rather repetitive. Though initially the player gets encouraged to explore and unlock more activities, it becomes clear that just by progressing each week, the player gets access to more and better options. The only reason you spend your free time bonding with NPCs is to get a passive bonus for your group afterwards.
The game also advertised minigames during activities on your schedule, but after you played them once, they never re-appear again for some reason. The only ‘game’ that pops up is choices you can make when an accident supposedly happened during training.
As mentioned at the start of our gameplay section, the game has some silly Flash player games included as well. Once you reach a certain point in the game, players get to design their debut album cover, and even their group’s own light stick. These ideas certainly are fun and fitting for the K-Pop concept, but they have little to no impact on your game whatsoever. The album cover is a simple click-and-drag game, whereas the light stick allows you to spend money on stat boosts.
Finally, during evaluation, the player gets to ‘battle’ their opponent by selecting one of three options to showcase their idols’ talents. Deal enough damage, and your group is victorious, sending you off to another few weeks of schedule-simulator.
Conclusion
Though the idea of managing your own K-Pop Idol group is definitely a fun and relevant idea, we fear that this game struggles to truly draw players in. Flashy animations and vibrant colors, mixed with an overdone storyline, as well as the fact that there’s almost no K-Pop music present, really cause an underwhelming attempt at the life sim genre, not to mention the lack of advertised minigames. The saving grace is that the game remains cute and offers replayability through the concept feature, though the impact of these choices is almost unnoticeable. What could have been a really unique and fun take on the life-simulation game sadly fails to deliver on its promises, leaving a somewhat decent love letter to the K-Pop lifestyle.
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