The best rhythm games are Combo Mad. They let you express yourself, alter your play, match the beat to your tools and show off. They’re not all this way, of course. But the good ones – the ones that get that music isn’t just playing the right notes in the right order – have more in common with Devil May Cry and your favorite fighting game than you might think. Dead as Disco, a literal beat ‘em up from developer Brain Jar Games, is as comfortable in that space as a well-worn leather jacket. Even at its Early Access launch, it’s got the sick licks, fancy footwork, and consummate style to be a real contender. There are a couple parts of this album that I don’t love, but it’s about as close to being all killer no filler as an in-progress release can get.
Charlie Disco was dead to begin with. You must remember that, otherwise nothing that follows will seem wondrous or maintain any sense of mystery. But it turns out you can’t keep a good man down, as Charlie has risen from the grave to put the band back together: one soul for one night and one last show as Dead as Disco. According to Vice, the floating German skull-as-disco-ball who’s there to enforce your contract “to ze letter,” Charlie got snuffed on the world tour, after which the rest of his band sold their souls to Harmony and became mega Idols. Your job is to convince them that they were better as a quintet and figure out who killed Disco.
Dead as Disco isn’t heavy on plot, but what’s here kept me interested and the performances are good. Charlie doesn’t really remember what happened (or who offed him), and all he has to go on is Vice’s word and the state of the world as it is now, ten years after he bought the farm. When you confront Prophet about selling out to Harmony, he tells Charlie that he sold out long before the rest of them did. Disco doesn’t believe it, of course, but then what does he have to go on? Vice’s word? Would you trust a bedazzled floating skull? You won’t see the end of Disco’s story here; this Early Access, after all. But there’s enough intrigue that I wanted to learn more about the characters and see what would happen next.
The real power behind Dead as Disco’s chords is the moment-to-moment joy of beating up enemies to the, um… beat. If you’ve ever played Hi-Fi Rush, you’re gonna be right at home here. Combat marches to the tempo of the tune you’re jamming to, so if you’ve got rhythm, timing your attacks, dodges, and counters will feel like headbangin’ to a joint you know by heart. Now, every attack always lands on the beat, so combat feels good even if Charlie’s doing his best Steven Adler impression. You don’t gotta be right on time to succeed, but if you can sync your moves up with the song, you’ll hit harder, dodge better, and build more Fever Meter you can cash in for special moves like Fever Rush, which allows you to play Charlie’s drumsticks on his foe’s heads.
When you’re movin’ and groovin’, Dead as Disco’s fights are remarkable. Hit a combo, pause long enough to pull off a counter, spend one of your takedown tokens to yank a guy out of the fight before he gets to swing, exit the animation early with a well-timed dodge, and then hit the guy who’s recovering from his swing with a finisher. Regular enemies aren’t super challenging, but some are so fast you can only counter them. Others require you to break a shield or keep an eye out for leaping attacks and lasers. Fortunately, Disco can cancel just about any action into any other, so you’ve always got an answer, and playing around these requirements is fun. Combat is quite simple, but it feels so, so good, and when you’ve mastered the beat of a song and know how to handle the variety of enemies you’re facing, it’s pretty amazing. And damn if it doesn’t look stylish as hell no matter what you do.
That’s good, because as strong as Dead as Disco’s combat is, there’s not a ton of stuff outside of it. You’ve essentially got three ways to jam in the Early Access build: Challenges, which will both teach you how to play and then task you to do so under modified conditions or while accomplishing specific tasks; Free Play, where you can take on any of the 30 currently available tracks – some licensed, some original – at your leisure, and even upload your own; and the main story levels, where you face off against your former bandmates.
These are Dead as Disco’s most impressive moments. They’re multi-stage fights against each Idol, complete with some absolutely bonkers stage transitions, unique mechanics, and plenty of minions to break up the action. Each one feels pretty unique, and the songs you’ll battle to the beat of are absolute bangers. I mean, come on. Punk-rock-skull-in-a-vat Hemlock fighting you to a sick version of Maniac? Yeah, buddy. Of course Aurora, the human AI-designed-just-for-you-turned-near-deity fights you to a pop song. What else would it be?
By far my favorite of these fights is the one against Prophet: a slickly produced hip-hop track guides you from the streets where everything started to a sold-out arena. And when you transition from the small frys to the head honcho via one of those rad-as-hell animated sequences? Cinema, baby. Sure as hell better than some sanitized musical biopic, you know?
If I have one issue with these fights, it’s that they can be a bit unforgiving until you have some upgrades under your belt, which can be painful when they’re several minutes long. By the end, you’ve seen everything a boss has to offer and are just going through the motions of the fight in a way that dulls the best parts of Dead as Disco’s focus on player expression. It’s not enough to ruin any of them – I think they’re all good – but I was always ready for them to end before they actually did.
Speaking of upgrades, every song you play will reward you with fans that you can use to upgrade Disco’s Beat Kune Do. Knock off a boss, and you’ll unlock a special move to spend Fever on, as well as a new, smaller upgrade tree. Dead as Disco’s skill trees aren’t huge, but they’re meaningful. Every time you unlock a health upgrade, or even something as simple as the ability to follow up a drumstick after you throw it, you’ll feel it, which is exactly how it should be.
The Challenges and Free Play are more limited because they lack the sheer star power and production of the boss fights, but the former is an excellent way to learn Charlie’s moves while challenging yourself and the latter is a chill way to explore the setlist or chase high scores. I particularly love the ability to upload your own tracks and play around with them. I’ve never been much of a “make your own fun” guy, but it’s hard not to admire the moxie and tools on display. Was it ambitious of me to make my first uploaded track Meat Loaf’s “Bat Out of Hell?” Absolutely. It’s mad long. But I loved that I could. And if all your music’s on Spotify or you’re just not into that, there’s plenty of rockin’ tunes preloaded for you to jam to. Putting Novul’s “Big and Rich” in here is a hell of a choice, is what I’m saying. Save a horse, ride a cowboy.
Between gigs, you’ll head to a dive bar called The Encore where you can spend fans (which is kinda weird when you think about it) to fix up the joint, buy memorabilia, find collectibles, and use all of that stuff to learn more about what happened to Charlie – and what’s gone down in the 10 years he’s been away. Beat an Idol and they’ll be in The Encore for a chat, too. It’s a fun way to learn about the members of Dead as Disco, and you’ll usually have to find items in the bar (or their levels) for them to keep the conversations going. Guitarist Deckard “The Machine” Voltair took his nickname a little too seriously, and now that he’s replaced just about every part of himself in the pursuit of mechanical perfection. Before, he just needed a cane. If you want to keep him talking, you’ll need to get him some juice. It’s good encouragement to play more challenges and tackle their fights again after you’ve cleared them once, because otherwise you’re just playing for the love of the game. Dead as Disco has more than enough to do, but like any great musician will tell you, the motivation for playing ultimately has to come from within.
