There’s a scene late in Hello-Fi Rush, the rhythm motion recreation by the now-defunct Tango Gameworks, during which protagonist Chai explores a museum devoted to the antagonistic, oppressive megacorp Vandelay Applied sciences. In it, the company tells a sanitized model of its personal historical past, one which glosses over the impression of its founder and the way she was compelled out to guard exploitative company pursuits. To say that Hello-Fi Rush hits a bit tougher a yr after its launch in 2023 is an understatement.
We by no means revealed a assessment of Hello-Fi Rush final yr, although I did write some impressions of the primary few hours. Maybe that was for the very best, as revisiting the sport after the tragic, mindless shuttering of Tango Gameworks has made every thing particular about it shine brighter than ever. The place as soon as we’d reward it as a particularly charming, modern ardour undertaking from an enormous studio, we now admire it simply as a lot for the reality of its themes. Watching a ragtag group of abused staff, estranged members of a household enterprise, and an fool with a coronary heart of gold beat the shit out of a corrupt CEO was cathartic when Hello-Fi Rush launched. Now, although, it seems like one thing extra: the ultimate phrase from a studio that needed to be greater than one other cog within the machine.
Hello-Fi Rush is an distinctive mix of rhythm and motion
On high of changing into a retroactive assertion piece, Hello-Fi Rush nonetheless whips as a online game. I’d forgotten how good Hello-Fi Rush felt to play after being gone for therefore lengthy, however goddamn, I really like how my controller dances once I play it. Tango Gameworks marries character motion with rhythm mechanics in a holistic means whereas remaining accommodating even to those that can’t clap on the beat at a live performance.
Chai is a rockstar wannabe with a disabled arm who goes to Vandelay in quest of a robotic substitute to assist him play guitar. Because of a freak accident, he finally ends up along with his legally distinct not-iPod embedded in his chest and is deemed a “defect” by the corporate. They ship their overworked robots after him, however like every thing else round him, they’re affected by Chai’s new musical heartbeat.
Each swing of your guitar-like sword lands on the beat of the music enjoying within the background of every stage. You get bonus dodges while you sprint on the beat. Your enemies strike in time with the music, so you realize when to dodge, parry, or leap for those who preserve rely. Greater than most character motion video games like Satan Could Cry or Bayonetta, Hello-Fi Rush makes it really easy for me to get misplaced within the motion as a result of my musical sensibilities take over. I ended worrying about timing combos with precision as a result of my fingers obtained into the groove of no matter tune was enjoying.
A few of these rhythm dressings can get irritating. There are segments during which the motion stops as enemies lock you right into a memorization-based parry sample to deal a ultimate blow. The rigidness of those bits feels so antithetical to the expressive play of most of Hello-Fi Rush’s motion that I dreaded each time a strong enemy confirmed up as a result of I knew I’d should take care of the odd, typically imprecise patterns. Paradoxically, when Hello-Fi Rush makes a tougher pivot into being a rhythm recreation over an motion recreation imbued with rhythm parts, it grinds in opposition to its personal pleasure.
When Hello-Fi Rush isn’t limiting you, it’s a chic, instinctual motion recreation during which you lose your self to the rhythm. I’m the type of one who finds myself stepping to the rhythm of the music in my headphones as I stroll; thus, I bear in mind a lot of Chai’s journey as choreographed dances that could possibly be written out, beat for beat, onto a bit of sheet music. It’s like moshing by way of a battlefield, however the individuals within the pit with me are company overlords who solely view their robotic staff, human check topics, and even their colleagues as numbers on a spreadsheet.
Hello-Fi Rush’s anti-corporate themes are stronger than ever
Every stage in Hello-Fi Rush takes place in some a part of an organization campus, however they’re lined in hazards Chai has to leap, sprint, and dance by way of to avoid wasting himself from Vandelay’s brainwashing. However these erupting volcanoes, electrified platforms, and bottomless chasms are simply the working surroundings that Vandelay’s staff should function in to outlive. And people risks are solely half the menace, as an worker’s stability and legacy throughout the firm, regardless of how hardworking or achieved they may be, is just assured for Vandelay’s high brass.
The unforgiving gristmill of working for Vandelay is commonly portrayed by way of tongue-in-cheek textual content logs or banter from robotic staff Chai passes by, and it’s not all the time refined. Bosses are prepared to empty budgets and assets to attempt to detain Chai, their perceived “mistake,” whereas others are greater than prepared to place their staff in our hero’s line of fireplace if it means correcting an issue of their very own making. It’s solely after Chai has walked by way of the deathtrap that’s Vanderlay’s campus that he can take out the supply of all this ache and struggling: the bosses on the helm.
Hello-Fi Rush was in growth lengthy earlier than Bethesda and its studios have been acquired by Microsoft and the Xbox firm began tearing issues down, but it surely has change into prophetic for Tango Gameworks’ destiny. It stars a solid of staff who endure nothing however anguish from company fuckery whereas making an attempt to make a distinction. Their ending is happier than the studio that made their story, however Hello-Fi Rush nonetheless exists as a declaration of its creators’ values because it succumbs to the identical company rot it sought to battle. However one misplaced battle just isn’t a misplaced struggle. Actions just like the one Chai and his associates spearhead take completely different types as time passes. The artists will decide up their pens, the designers will open a brand new doc, and the musicians will compose new songs as soon as extra. If Hello-Fi Rush proves something, it’s that the battle for a greater future, one during which we’re free from company clutches, is just potential once we battle collectively. I hope it’s remembered most for that.
