HIGH Petting the dog! Players must pet the dog.

LOW Spending too much time getting Chaz to the sax in “Crouching Bassline, Hidden Saxophone”.

WTF Why do these people take their instruments everywhere?

Music, like games, is an individual taste. Some people love metal, some love jazz. Backbeat,
a game about a woman who finds her muse in funk, comes with its own unique gameplay
concept. I wanted to join in on the jam, but for me this mashup of puzzler and stealth-strategy
struck a discordant note.

Having lived through the mid-’90s and experienced the mainstream ascendance of R&B and
rap during that time myself, I was somewhat nonplussed by the focus on funk, and even
moreso in the context here. Funk music is intricate, but it’s not a natural stylistic fit for a
cerebral puzzle (better suited to baroque, perhaps) and its in-your-face attitude seems poorly
suited to a stealth title.

The story of Backbeat – a “Battle of the Bands” tale that wouldn’t be out of place in a late-
century teen comedy – doesn’t seem to connect to anything it asks the player to do, either.
And, with few exceptions, the “stealth” requirements of the levels don’t even make sense in
the context of the immediate plot.

That’s typical story/game conflict, though, and easily forgiven if the gameplay offers
something compelling. Backbeat’s levels ask the player to route different characters (who
mostly have different stride lengths and special abilities) around ‘alert’ zones within a certain
number of moves. The characters travel different numbers of tiles per move and use up
different amounts of a timeline in doing so, producing a puzzle of geometry and time.

The player also has to manage resources, most of which go up or down based on when the
characters mark the timeline by changing directions or taking actions. There’s “stagger”,
which depletes when multiple characters mark the timeline simultaneously, and “align”, which
requires the characters to mark the timeline at certain points. Obviously these are in tension.
This is even more so with “solo”, which requires that only one character at a time use an interaction point in the level, and “assist”, which needs certain pairs of characters to use interaction points simultaneously.

Managing these meters along with the awkward movement of the characters and the alert
zones and the finite timeline provides Backbeat‘s challenge, which ramps up very fast and
stays high until to the end. The difficulty is amplified by the almost pathological resistance to
providing the explicit numbers behind what it’s asking the player to manage. Everything is
displayed as bars and radar graphs, leading to a lot of trial and error due to the lack of clarity.
It also seems like (though because of the above, I can’t be sure) the various resources max
out, so for example, one can’t stock up stagger at the start of the level to balance out
simultaneous marks at the end.

Unfortunately, the result is that each level is a grind. The player has to figure the routes right,
then adjust the timing so the resources don’t get depleted, then readjust the routes for the
timing of other characters. The reward is that one can then, finally exhausted, look at a
disappointing level score before entering an overlong dialogue scene. There’s no moment of
delight to reward a good solve, and almost never any moment of excitement in the course of
it.

What I want out of a puzzler is the moment of revelation when a solution becomes clear. What
the characters are getting out of their adventure here is the joy of playing music together, but
the sloggy grind of actually playing Backbeat doesn’t provide the first and can’t mirror the
second. Although the game makes a respectable effort to connect the resources it’s asking
the player to manage to the mechanics of a successful funk session, it never finds the joy
inherent to the music. This is the right game for someone, surely, but not for me.

Rating: 4 out of 10

Disclosures: This game is developed and published by Ichigoichie.It is currently available on Linux, Mac, PC, PS4/5, Switch and XBO/X/S. This copy of the game was obtained via publisher and reviewed on a home-built Windows X PC equipped with a AMD Ryzen 2700X processor, an ASRock X470 motherboard, 32 GB RAM , and a single GeForce RTX 3080 graphics card using driver 531.68. Approximately 12 hours of play were devoted to the single-player mode, and the game was not completed. There are no multiplayer modes.

Parents: According to the ESRB, this game is rated E. No content warnings are noted. There are references to violence and alcohol but otherwise I noticed nothing objectionable.

Colorblind Modes: There are no colorblind modes available. Interaction points are linked to their outputs by colored symbols (unfortunately, often green, red, and yellow) and some required interaction points are designated solely by colored symbols and outlines (and not mentioned in the level’s starting information). The timelines are color-coded as well.

Deaf & Hard of Hearing Gamers: All dialogue in the game is in the form of text, although the text cannot be resized. The background of the text can be altered but examples are not shown while choosing. Despite its theme, the game has no essential sound cues, although the level-ending musical overview cannot be skipped.

Remappable Controls: No, this game’s controls are not remappable. On PC, movement and interaction in Backbeat are primarily controlled with the mouse, although sometimes the shift key must be pressed at the same time as a mouse click, and certain hotkeys (space, q, e, c) control actions in the levels. Sometimes button presses are mandatory in the menus as well.

High Pleasing, poignant, and pure. 

Low The narrative pacing isn’t the best, so the ending feels lopsided. 

WTF Why is the drummer in a hellscape?

A 3D narrative puzzler seen from an isometric perspective and developed by Mads & Friends, The Forest Quartet is a somber celebration of jazz, life, and friendship, all set to the heady tune of the forest. 

The player meanders through the woods as the specter of Nina, a jazz singer whose presence serves as a balm for the bandmates who grieve her loss. Nina floats, sings, interacts with various puzzles, and illuminates her way through the forest to bring joy back into her former bandmates lives, and also to ensure that their farewell concert goes off without a hitch. 

The Forest Quartet’s soundtrack is, unsurpisingly, just as lovely as its mechanics. I spent a good fifteen minutes listening to the opening title music before venturing into its moody depths. Mads Vadsholt, the developer behind The Forest Quartet, mentioned that her favorite part of working on the game was recording the soundtrack and music effects, and it absolutely shows. 

The dialogue between Nina and her former bandmates Kirk, JB, and Sebastian (who play the piano, bass, and drums, respectively) is also quite impressive. Every time Nina solves a puzzle, the player uncovers a bit more of her bandmates’ memories, as well as her own. This stream-of-consciousness form of worldbuilding is a nice touch, and forestalls what could have easily become a cacophony of awkward exchanges. 

Although The Forest Quartet is sonically and visually impressive, it does have some pacing problems. The story takes place over the course of three acts, with each act focusing on a different member of the band. Unfortunately, not all acts are created equal.

I spent an exorbitant amount of time on Kirk’s act, and what felt like no time at all on Sebastian and JB’s. Sebastian, the resident drummer, has “anger issues” (his act takes place in the midst of a forest fire that Nina has to navigate by transforming into a kaleidoscope of butterflies) and JB struggles with panic attacks, but the player never gets to fully explore the nuances of their states of mind. 

Further, although the story is about Nina’s friends and their grief, I would have loved to have learned more about who Nina was, her relationship with the forest, and the nature of her relationship with her friends. We are aware that her band members are grieving, but we don’t know which aspects of their relationship with Nina they are grieving. I spent much of my time, two and a half hours to be exact, attempting to exhaust each and every narrative possibility and locate the answers to these questions before I accidentally stumbled into an ending that I honestly was not ready to reach.

At least the journey was a beautiful one?

The Forest Quartet is an experience that wears its heart on its sleeve. Pacing issues and character development aside, it was a joy to witness the unfolding of this jazz quartet’s haunting origin story, and it’s abundantly clear that The Forest Quartet was forged with love and intention. I’d happily stroll through the forest alongside Nina and listen to her crooning voice a second time if she were to request my company again.

Rating: 7.5 out of 10

— Taylor Pryor

Disclosures: This game is developed by Mads & Friends and published by Bedtime Digital Games. It is currently available on PS4/PS5/PC. This copy of the game was obtained via publisher and reviewed on the PS5. Approximately 2 and a half hours of play went into this game, and the game was completed. There are no multiplayer modes.

Parents: According to the ESRB, this game is rated T and contains References to Alcohol and Mild Language. Although the use of foul language and references to alcohol are minimal, parents should be aware that The Forest Quartet is first and foremost about grief and loss. Although the subject matter isn’t too heavy, the portions of the game (specifically acts 2 and 3) that deal directly with neurodiversity and mental health could be potentially triggering for children (and adults!) grappling with these issues.   

Colorblind Modes: There are no colorblind modes available. 

Deaf & Hard of Hearing Gamers: The Forest Quartet offers subtitles, but they cannot be resized. Audio cues are not necessary for game progression and controller vibrations can be modified to make navigating the landscape more seamless. Therefore, the game is fully accessible. 

Remappable Controls: This game’s controls are not remappable. 

HIGH Getting anything done before the time’s up.

LOW Being beat up by every man in the story.

WTF The sheer amount of bugs and craziness is astounding.

In the last ten years, there have been a few interesting experiments in fusing music and interactivity together in video game medium, but none have reached the level of sheer craziness or the astounding number of inexplicable narrative choices that Of Bird And Cage manages.

On paper, it looks like an interesting proposal — it’s an interactive metal album that plays like a first-person adventure. Apparently, the original idea dates back to 2014, though it is unclear what happened in development between now and then. From what I gather, the music had already been recorded but the game wasn’t being produced. Regardless, one thing is for sure — the last seven years didn’t do it any favors.

I’m not a reviewer that likes to punish games or speak ill of developers, but Of Bird and Cage is really hard to defend. Basically, it’s a retelling of Beauty and the Beast enriched with drug addiction, rape, molestation and shootouts with the police. The player will put on the shoes and apron of waitress Gitta Barbot as she tries to escape the clutches of Bres Lupus (ha!) or… maybe she actually needs his help?

The player has a limited amount of time to explore each location, trying to solve puzzles (like serving coffee to earn money or finding a weapon) before the music stops and they’re transported to the next scene. This does not work. The puzzles soon become complicated enough to require the player to think while constantly under time pressure — it makes this aspect of the game not enjoyable or entertaining at all.

The narrative is terribly disjointed and tonally all over the place. In the first chapter, Gitta (who wears an apron from the first scene until the end, because… she’s a waitress?) gets into a fistfight with her drug dealer, is threatened by her rich boyfriend over 30$ (talk about being petty!) and gets molested by her father — and all of this, in the space of an afternoon.

Gitta apparently needs her drugs to escape a sort of ongoing nightmare that makes the screen distorted and nigh-impossible to decipher — it’s a badly implemented mechanic. The narrative is also supposed to be influenced by player choice but, from what I’ve seen, little changes in what seems like default set of events. For example, it’s not possible to avoid being captured by the beast since Gitta has to discover the sad story behind his heinous acts.

In a perfect case of reach exceeding grasp, the developers also tried to implement a fighting system (!!!) and a first-person shooter sequence (!!!) where Gitta will open fire against a seemingly endless swarm of policemen. Both of these elements control terribly, and the experiences are miserable. Add to these a series of QTEs that use such a terribly complicated system that reacting in time is almost impossible since it’s unclear what the player needs to do — a quick tap? Press a key once? Press two keys at the same time? It’s incredibly confusing.

On the bright side — and really, the only one I can think of — is that the music in Of Bird and Cage is fine, especially if one likes symphonic metal. There are also contributions from musicians like Bumblefoot and Ruud Jolie (Within Temptation). Unfortunately, as much as Of Bird And Cage would make for a nice listen, it’s a visually poor experience with character models that look imported directly from 2014 alongside plenty of graphical bugs and glitches.

In the end, Of Bird and Cage left me with a terrible taste in my mouth, and I wondered how it managed to get released today. In fact, it’s so bad that I would almost recommend it to connoisseurs of terrible games, but frankly, I’m not sure I could live with my conscience.

Disclosures: This game is developed by Capricia Productions and published by All In! Gaming. It is currently available on PC. This copy of the game was obtained via publisher and reviewed on PC. Approximately 3 hours of play were devoted to the single-player mode and the game was completed. There are no multiplayer modes.

Parents: The game is not rated by the ESRB. While it contains no nudity, there’s a lot of everything else — sexual references, violence, blood, horror and plenty of salty language. Not recommended for anyone under the age of 18.

Colorblind Modes: There are no colorblind modes available, and heads up that there are plenty of screen effects that can make things hard to decipher, even for someone with perfect sight.

Deaf & Hard of Hearing Gamers: This game features subtitles for both the spoken dialogue and the musical parts. Text cannot be altered or resized. (See examples above.) The game is fully accessible.

Remappable Controls: The game is controlled via keyboard and mouse to move around, with specific keys to cycle the inventory and interact with the environment. The controls are remappable.

HIGH A diverse cast of characters and great visuals

LOW Not much challenge to the game.

WTF Why couldn’t I get the dapper robot sooner?

Everyone’s had a day that just doesn’t go their way. Not a bad day necessarily, but one where nothing seems to work out quite right. Viola is having a day like this when practicing her violin. After struggling for hours, she gives up and starts to doubt her ability to ever learn. Then her violin starts to shudder, and sends her into a magical world. Stuck in a strange land, Viola will explore, make new friends, and learn life lessons along the way.

Viola: A Heroine’s Melody is a 2D platformer/RPG wrapped in a cozy musical aesthetic. Players will explore the world with triple jumps, wall jumps, springs and cannons. As the story progresses, players will learn new abilities that can unlock secret areas in each level. These abilities normally come in the form of songs – one song may cause plants to rapidly grow, creating platforms for players to get to a new area of the world. Another may part waterfalls, revealing secret caves filled with items.

Dangerous monsters also populate these levels, and that’s where the RPG flair comes in. Combat is turn-based, and each attack has a rhythm to it — players will have to hit buttons at the right time to complete the attacks. Basic attacks need a single tap of a button, while spells may require players to mash, hold, or do presses in a pattern. Along with that, spells normally have some type of elemental quality, so it gives combat a bit more depth when fighting.

Viola was a remarkably comfortable game to play, which is both a boon and a bane. Exploring and platforming take inspiration from other platformers like Mario with Viola being able to wall jump, and double or triple jump. Planning these jumps and pairing them with wall jumps or other level elements gives the player a lot of freedom for exploration and even in avoiding combat, if they so desire.

While this is all strong, there are couple of rough edges. For instance, Viola has specific points in the game where it will save, normally at the end of the level. If the player quits before completing a world, they will have to restart the entire area. This is made worse by the occasional times when Viola ended up getting stuck in the level geometry, requiring me to quit to the main menu. These bugs didn’t happen often, but often enough to where it became annoying.

On the combat side, there’s no good way to check out character skills outside of combat, and in combat, players can only look at a skill if they have enough mana to cast it. While the skills don’t get too crazy in terms of what they all do, it would be nice to learn about them at some point other than when I’m just about to use them.

Despite those hiccups, there’s a lot to enjoy about Viola, and one of the biggest things were the characters and story. The cast is wide and diverse – all different races, with different backgrounds and different ideas of love. Each one also has something to teach Viola. Niko, a budding young wizard, brings her to meet his family of mixed race and touches on the fact that there’s nothing wrong with having parents who are different. Fenyrs, a warrior wolf, helps Viola learn that it’s ok to make mistakes ,as long as you can learn from them and be better in the future. Sybil, a lonesome scholar, helps her learn that she’s allowed to grieve. With a lot of representation on display, each character reminded me of a friend I knew growing up, and I would guess that a lot of people would be able to connect with the characters here.

Viola: The Heroine’s Melody is a simple story about Viola exploring a fantastical world, meeting new friends, defeating foes, and growing up, but when our real-life pandemic casts a lingering air of dread and gloom over everything, spending time with a game like this is a relaxing, calming escape. There’s value in that.

Disclosures: This game is developed and published by Jelle Van Doorne.  It is currently available on PC. This copy of the game was obtained via publisher and reviewed on the PC. Approximately 8 hours of play were devoted to the single-player mode, and the game was completed. There is no multiplayer.

Parents: According to the ESRB, there is no current rating for the game. Overall, I didn’t find anything that would stick out as problematic. Players will fight monsters, but there’s no blood or gore. There were no instances of any strong language in the game. Approved for all ages.

Colorblind Modes: There are no colorblind modes.

Deaf & Hard of Hearing Gamers: Text and voiceover are in the game, but the text is not resizable. Playing with no sound doesn’t hinder gameplay since each note has an indicator on when the note needs to be hit. This game is fully accessible.

Remappable Controls: This game has fully remappable controls.

HIGH Numerous musical and visual tributes to classic games.

LOW At times, the glitch animation is a little too harsh on the eyes.

WTF The Game Over screen. Seriously, what the…

Retrogaming tributes have been popular so long that the best from this genre are themselves close to becoming classics. However, I hadn’t seen a retro tribute that focused on the music of classic games. Old School Musical (OSM) does just that – it’s a rhythm-based homage to the titles of yesteryear, and it rarely misses a beat!

OSM begins with the heroes, brothers Tib and Rob, being trained by their mother. Mom can be quite tough on her boys, but through her players quickly learn the basics of rhythm-based retro gaming. As a song plays, hit the corresponding face or trigger button as it approaches the on-screen icon — standard protocol in most rhythm titles. Sadly, there are no musical instrument controllers, but the experience is good enough without unique input devices.

Players soon discover that glitches have been causing havoc in Tib and Rob’s homeland, and across numerous worlds. Their mother has been readying them for just such a day and sends the boys out to stop the plague sweeping through their pixelated universe. Tib and Rob then enter a mysterious orb that sends them to faraway worlds, all of which are tributes to classics — things like Mega Man, Metal Gear, Outrun, Metal Slug, and even the NES version of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles are all lovingly celebrated. The levels resemble their source materials, both visually and musically, and it’s obvious the developers appreciate the IPs they used as inspiration.

There are 50 chiptune songs within OSM and all of them sound like they could believably appear as remixes in the original games they reference. The Mega Man inspired tunes reminded me of the classic 8-bit robotic soundtracks, the TMNT songs took me back to the NES sewers, and the Outrun songs would be right at home cruising along the digital beaches of the original arcade cabinet. Even in the Metal Gear stages (where I wasn’t overly familiar with the source) the music felt era-appropriate. Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, and the music in OSM is quite flattering.

As well-designed as OSM is, it does have a couple issues. One involves the main conflict – the glitches. They flash and mix up the pixels onscreen as a distraction. Early on, the glitches appear as small graphical errors, but as Tib and Rob progress, these malfunctions become larger and more noticeable. The idea is okay, but the glitching is similar to a strobe effect and can be quite painful to watch. After levels where the glitches happened in large quantities, I had to take a break to let my eyes readjust.

Another small issue occurred around mid-game. Here, the story requires the player to roam around a small town and interact with the inhabitants. Up until this point, I had progressed solely at the discretion of the songs. Then, this town section stops being linear and guided, and even throws in a jump button out of the blue. I’m still confused why this section was included, as it’s completely incongruous compared to the rest of the experience.

Fortunately, both these issues are easy to look past. Old School Musical is a wonderful audio tribute that keeps the beat of classic games going on and on and on. Rating: 8 out of 10

Disclosures: This game is developed by La Moutarde and published by Plug In Digital. is currently available on Steam and Nintendo Switch. This copy of the game was obtained via publisher and reviewed on the Switch. Approximately 5 hours of play were devoted to the single-player mode, and the game was completed. No time was spent in multiplayer modes. 

Parents: According to the ESRB, this game is rated E10+ and contains Fantasy Violence and Mild Blood. The violence and blood are very similar to what would have been present in many 8- and 16-bit games, however there are times were blood splats are larger than just a few pixels. One other item parents should be aware of is that dialogue is occasionally sarcastic and snarky, often when talking about why the main characters killed an enemy.

Colorblind Modes: There no colorblind modes.

Deaf & Hard of Hearing Gamers: All musical notes the player must hit are shown on screen. Other than music, no other sound cues are provided. Story and dialogue are delivered solely through text. When a character speaks, their name and a small picture identify who is speaking. Text size is not adjustable. The game is fully accessible.

Remappable Controls: No, this game’s controls are not remappable. On screen cues tell players what buttons to hit, though a color quadrant with arrows is used instead of A, B, X, or Y. Each on screen note is represented in the same placement as it is on the controller. Players will also use the trigger buttons for some notes. These appear as gray bars on the screen.