No beating around the bush, even in Early Access, Dead as Disco is some of the most fun I have had playing a video game in a while. As a debut game from Brain Jar Games, Dead as Disco can be simply described as a beat-em-up mixed with a rhythm game where all your stylish strikes sync to the music. Think Batman Arkham meets Baby Driver. If that premise sounds at all interesting to you, then you should at the very least wishlist Dead as Disco and keep your eye out for the full release. If you need a little more, then I will share what makes this game so special.
Rhythm-Action games have been a growing subgenre in the games industry for several years now, with games like Metal Hellsinger, Hi-Fi Rush, and Cadence of Hyrule each doing innovative work and seeing success. As I mentioned before, at its core, Dead as Disco takes Batman Arkham-style beat-em-up combat and deftly syncs its over-the-top animations to the background music.
Your moveset includes basic attacks, charge attacks, dodges, counters, and special moves that can each be used to dispatch the foes trying to cramp your style. The game will automatically sync the on-screen actions to the beat of the music, regardless of whether you hit the buttons in time with the actual beat. So even if you aren’t the best at rhythm games, the combat remains fun to play. If you are skilled enough to be able to pull off your moves in time with the beat, you are rewarded with instant takedowns, punishing counters, and even higher combo scores.
It’s in this marriage of music and melee combat where Dead as Disco shines. The game is able to dynamically adjust the pace of combat to suit music tracks with different speeds. One drum-heavy metal song may have you swinging at lightning speeds, while a slower electronic dance beat might have you dealing out heavy blows. The Early Access version sports a list of over 25 tracks, and the game feels satisfying at either end of the spectrum. Having songs that cover different genres and tempos adds a nice layer of variety to ensure the game doesn’t get stale.
One amazing feature of Dead as Disco is the ability to import your own music tracks, so you are able to kick ass to your favorite songs. This is an incredible addition that will give the game near-infinite replayability. The official music in-game, as it stands, is pretty varied and great, but being able to add your own music completely transforms the amount of fun you can have. I imported a number of famous disco tracks, high-energy jazz songs, and even music from other video games, and after a little tinkering, I was completely mesmerized by the gameplay unfolding in front of me.
In its current form, the music import functionality could use some further refinement. Importing an actual MP3 is as easy as selecting a file on your desktop, but in order to get the game synced up properly, you need to tweak some additional settings, like inputting the BPM and adding additional input delay. If the settings aren’t set up properly, the whole core concept sort of falls apart, so you may find yourself resetting several times to get the sync just right. Perhaps it’s asking too much, but if the game were able to automatically detect BPM and automatically sync the combat in the background, that would go a long way in smoothing out the user experience.
In Dead as Disco, you play as Charlie Disco, a once-famous musician who has seemingly risen from the dead with the goal of getting the band back together. Charlie’s former band members have all signed deals with Harmony, which serves as the mega evil corporate record label in the game. As the game is in Early Access, the story is still being created and isn’t super prevalent at this stage. But what story is in the current build of the game seems to strike a fun and non-serious tone with some over-the-top characters.
The visual presentation is another highlight that ties these concepts together. Dead as Disco is brimming with visual flair and style, from the animations to the visual effects on screen.
Charlie Disco’s fighting style is as humorous and over-the-top as their personality. Punches and kicks fly out more like dance moves than actual attacks. Dodges have this sort of swagger to them that looks incredibly slick, and performing these various moves and seeing them animate to the music just puts a smile on my face. The devs at Brain Jar seem like they are having a lot of fun, and that love is seeping into the game. Another fun addition is Charlie’s taunts; these are various dance moves that are a hilarious and fun punctuation to the end of a beatdown. Color throughout the game is vibrant and strong, which makes each stage visually pop. Stages often feel like a playable album cover reflecting the music or the boss you may be fighting, which is really cool.
Speaking of bosses, they are pretty awesome in Dead as Disco. The entire game in its current form is structured like a Mega Man game, where you are able to select which band member you would like to take on in any order you choose. Their corresponding “stage” is made up of a number of arenas where you take on groups of enemies before confronting the boss themselves. The boss fights are multi-phase endeavors full of spectacle where you will have to learn attack patterns, figure out openings to exploit, and most importantly, stay alive. Bosses can be pretty challenging, often taking multiple attempts before you get a handle on them. There are limited opportunities to heal during boss fights, and should you fall in battle, you need to retry the fight from phase one.
This introduces a decent level of challenge to the game that feels satisfying to overcome; however, some of the boss fights do feel a little drawn out. It’s a tough thing to get right; you want to make sure a boss fight is impactful in all the right ways, players can’t beat them too fast, otherwise, they will feel like a pushover. Similarly, if they take too long to beat, they can feel like a drag, a sensation that is compounded when you are asked to restart the fight from the beginning when you die. Each phase of a boss fight introduces new mechanics and wrinkles that you need to adapt to, which is awesome, but within the phases themselves, the moves repeat a little too frequently, and seeing as you don’t deal a ton of damage to bosses when pulling off combos, you start to get into a bit of a repetitive feeling before the fight is even over. So there’s definitely some room for improvement here, whether that’s increasing the damage the player can deal, or adding additional attacks for the bosses to utilize to whittle away at that repetition. And maybe adding some sort of way to heal a bit more consistently during gameplay, whether that’s a special move that puts down a healing circle you need to stay within or an unlockable ability, something that’s a bit more in player control might go a long way.
Speaking of unlocks, I should probably mention the progression systems in the game. Completing stages will earn you “fans”, and fans can be converted into new moves, special abilities, and other upgrades for Charlie. The rate at which you gain new abilities feels natural and perfectly paced, as well as feeling like genuine improvements. You might get a move that allows you to teleport to enemies across an arena and then a few levels later, unlock some additional health for Charlie. In addition to abilities and upgrades, you are also able to convert fans into decorations for the game’s hub area, The Encore, cosmetic outfits and accessories for Charlie, as well as purchasing new tracks you can play on the jukebox. It also appears that some items may be used for progressing certain story interactions with characters, which has some interesting gameplay implications; however, these interactions are pretty limited in the current build.
After sinking 9 hours into the Early Access build, I am confident that I will love Dead as Disco once it crosses the finish line. The foundation for the game is strong; the core loop is incredibly fun, and having the ability to import your own music tracks ensures the game has virtually endless replayability potential. Boss fights, while fun and challenging, could use some tweaking; there are several stage transitions, story, and visual elements that need further expansion and smoothing out, and there is some friction with the user interface that could use some sanding. There’s definitely more work to be done to make sure the game sticks the landing, but if Brain Jar Games is able to pull it off, Dead as Disco will be one of the easiest recommendations I could make.
