Developer: EvilCoGames
Publisher: EvilCoGames
Platform: PC
Tested on: PC
TERRORHYTHM (TRRT) – Preview
Imagine yourself in a city void of laws but one: absolute silence. Memories of a melody surface in the muted world. You take it upon yourself to breach the security systems, destroying the sound isolation. This is TERRORHYTHM, a rhythmic beat ‘em up game set in the 25th century.
When you first start the campaign, the storyline is unleashed upon you. Set in the far future, more specifically the 25th century, the universe is forced to live in complete silence. There are no laws, except this one. The protagonist mentions that the silence is not for them, the silence is suffocating. There are a few who remember long-forgotten melodies but the cutscene does not hint towards the protagonist being one of them. It does mention that they are tired of the mute world and plan on breaking the system. By playing the rhythm.
“Total silence in the city. Total silence is the only law.
But… it’s not for me. This day, I will break the system.”
There is one word to describe the visual aspect of TRRT; stunning. Set in a futuristic cyberpunk world, the 2D beat ‘em up platformer has the illusion of being in motion whilst the character is continuously stationary. Each level shows a different zone of the city, hinting at the cyberpunk setting via seemingly floating tall buildings and billboards in vibrant colors. The user interface is very tech-like but fits perfectly with the entire atmosphere. We did notice that the menu screen could use some polishing and has a bug that turns the background into a solid purple color when hovering over a menu button, but in a fast-paced game you won’t be idling in the menu anyway.
TERRORHYTHM is a music-powered beat ‘em up so there’s a whole lot of action going on that the player must sync with the music. There are four ways to fight off your enemies, and it only requires the traditional keyboard as the game uses the arrow keys. Left and right arrows are self-explanatory, they allow you to attack left and right. By using the up arrow, you charge the blastbeat power whilst the down button expands the reach zone.
As for the modes; there is the campaign mode which currently has 15 levels or arenas, and there’s the custom mode which has endless levels since you play on your own music. Furthermore, there are four difficulty levels, ranging from relaxed to terror.
In the relaxed mode you’ll take no damage, but the points earned will not reflect in the leaderboard either. This difficulty level is a great way to learn the game and get used to the controls and abilities. In the normal difficulty level, you take normal damage and the scores count for the leaderboard. The bar is certainly raised higher in hard as the sequence of enemies is more complex. Terror is where it really hits the fan as the sequence remains complicated whilst the starting signal is halved, and the enemies will not drop signal-up bonusses. There are no first-aid kits available and in combination with lower health, this mode is a nightmare.
At the bottom of the screen, right below your character, is a red bar. This is your connection bar, enemies that “touch” you will harm your connection levels, and once it’s fully depleted you’ll be disconnected. This is a fun way to tell the player it’s game over.
There’s a small variation of enemies, but the variation is enough to keep you on your toes when you’re playing in the hardest modes. Blastbeat is superb to crush large enemy groups, but the powered enemy – which has a yellow force-field around it – will damage your signal if you use blastbeat on it. On the other hand, the armored enemies with a green armor can only be killed with blastbeat. There’s also a shifter enemy which moves like a shadow. Because they change the direction they attack from every so often, they are harder to hit, and it takes them three hits to bring them down. We found out that using blastbeast before attacking them works quite well. Surprisingly enough, there are also bosses with 10 HP. They are the hardest of all enemies to face as they also change direction and have skills, but they’re not impossible to defeat. Unless you’re playing Terror. Everything is nearly impossible in Terror.
In TERRORHYTHM, you’re always dependent on your karate skills. Certain enemies have a weapons icon above their head, signaling that a weapon will drop if you annihilate them. Your character will automatically pick it up and use it immediately. So far there are three types of weapons: the katana, the scythe and the disc. The latter is a ranged weapon. Each weapon is a blast to receive, we just hoped we’d have a larger range of weapons or the ability to equip our character with one. The developers are planning to implement a skill and upgrade system so perhaps this will satisfy our RPG-loving minds.
Conclusion
Although TERRORHYTHM is currently in early access, the game shows an incredible amount of potential and is quite addictive even in its early yet bare state. Aside from two modes, campaign and custom, there is not much to do but the leaderboards give some leeway to replayability. And by giving the player four different difficulty levels, they speak to anyone who enjoys rhythm and fast-paced beat ‘em up games, whether they are a casual or a hardcore player. All-in-all, it is an enjoyable game and we cannot wait to see all the planned features come to life.
TERRORHYTHM (TRRT) – Preview,
No Comments