Developer: PeroPeroGames
Publisher: X.D.Network Inc.
Platform: Mac, Android, iOS, Switch, PC
Tested on: PC
Muse Dash – Review
There are quite a lot of rhythm games out there, each with their own special feature; for Muse Dash, it’s the cute girls mixed with beating enemies that sets it apart from the others. Muse Dash has a delightful art style and three adorable characters you can play with. The songs available in the game also have quite a few different genres included with them. Muse Dash was developed by PeroPeroGames and published by X.D. Network Inc. and we had the chance to test the game out. From the start, the game had grabbed our attention and we were surely excited to see more.
Story
There is no story present in Muse Dash, you just immediately hop into the game. The three girls that you can play with in this game could really fit into a story well, however, it certainly isn’t necessary in this kind of game.
Graphics
Muse Dash’s art style looks really good and is similar to an anime style. There are three characters you can play with, each of them having multiple outfits. All characters are already amazing looking and their different styles also look really great. Each character has a different way of attacking and has a few different animations for consistent attacks.
Enemies are also well designed and depending on which genre your song is, different enemies, appear. Light-hearted songs have more cutesy enemies, while jazzy songs have cooler looking enemies. This is a nice touch from the developers to make enemies linked to the genres. Another good choice from the developers was making the enemies on top all a blue tint and on the bottom all a pink tint. When you play the game, it can become quite fast so having the color difference helps you determine where you need to hit.
Sound
Since Muse Dash is a rhythm game, there are a lot of tracks present. There are two packs that are available just from purchasing the base game; the default one and “budget is burning”. There is also a DLC that you can buy, which will unlock a ton more songs. This DLC is quite expensive though but does include a ton of songs and free updates like a sort of Season Pass. It does feel like, a lot of the game is locked in the DLC, maybe a bit too much even.
All the music included in Muse Dash is really nice, there are even a few tracks that are reminiscent of Vocaloid. A lot of Japanese music is included but there are a few tracks that seem to be in another language as well, and some just have no singing at all. The songs with the clearest beat are the easiest to get perfect hits to.
Gameplay
Muse Dash is an action, rhythm game where you will slay enemies to the beat of the music as a cute girl. Your character will run to the side and as in a true side-scrolling fashion, enemies will come up to you for you to beat them. There are actually two buttons you need for the gameplay itself, default these are; F and J. The first one, F, will make you jump up and if you time it right, you will hit an enemy that is passing up top. J will make you regularly attack while on the ground. Each button can be held to be able to complete a long note, if you have two long notes, you can just hold them both at the same time. There are also enemies that are long and will need to be hit from top to bottom or the opposite, you do this by pressing both buttons at the same time. Sometimes enemies will have an exclamation above their heads, once they come in attack range, you’ll have to keep smashing both buttons to be able to fight them off.
As you begin the game you will start off with a tutorial on how to play. After that, you get to pick the songs you play. There aren’t a lot of songs to choose between at the start but once you start to complete tracks, you will gain exp. Leveling unlocks more songs and trinkets. These Trinkets you can use to unlock characters, different outfits, and Elfins. You start out the game with only Rin the bassist unlocked. It isn’t completely obvious if the trinkets are randomized or there is an order behind them. It does seem like the game makes you unlock the base characters first. It also can take a while before you unlock an Elfin since they all start out locked. Elfins are fairy-like beings that will give you a bonus which depends on each Elfin.
There are also trophies which are like challenges that you can set out to complete once you play the game. Often as you play a song, it is easier to start in easy difficulty since then you can figure out the beat. Once you’ve caught up to your unlocked songs, you can then go back to previous songs and do the hard difficulty, so you can gain more exp and level up. If you directly start with hard you will have to farm the same difficulty over and over, since you need enough exp to level up to be able to unlock more songs. Completing a level will often give more exp then re-playing a level. There are also challenges on a level itself which give you exp if you complete them. Some songs have a “master” difficulty, which you will unlock by completing the challenges of that song’s “hard” difficulty.
Conclusion
Muse Dash is a really amusing game, it’s fun to beat more and more songs. It does feel like quite a lot of the game is locked behind the DLC, it might have been nice if some more songs would have been available with the base game. The art style is really cute and nice to look at. Anime fans will certainly also appreciate the designs of the characters. Beating enemies to the beat is also really satisfying. So, if you’re looking for a fun rhythm game where you get to slay enemies while jamming out, then maybe give Muse Dash a try.
Muse Dash - Review,
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