Our third editor’s choice leading up to GAAD 2024 and the Diamond Award is Hi-Fi RUSH, chosen by Marijn.
Picking my choice was a very close race. But in light of recent events, my choice has to be Hi-Fi RUSH. What an incredible game that is, and what a great demonstration in accessibility. Which makes the closure of developer Tango Gameworks exceptionally baffling, from an organization that used to breathe and bleed accessibility.
An unlikely game for me
Back to the game. A rhythm game with platforming and extensive boss battles? Usually a bad time for me and my reflexes. Not so with Hi-Fi RUSH. For starters, onboarding and guidance is excellent. The levels are heavily signposted, literally, with in-world signs and arrows showing you where to go. The environment also moves with the rhythm, useful when you have difficulty following along. Abilities and combo’s are introduced gradually, often with a chance to practice before continuing, either in a practice stage or with Smidge, a helpful hint robot that delights in repeating the abilities and often giving you a chance to use it on them. Between missions, you have access to the practice stage in the hideout as well.
The game has many controls, which can be remapped. When closing the game and returning, you can start right where you left off, or at least at a checkpoint very close to it. Even in boss battles it saves between stages. This let me take breaks without losing progress. Returning to the game, you will find yourself back at the hideout. Here you can talk to your companions, check out collectibles and purchase upgrades. A nice feature is the dialogue option that lets Peppermint tell you what you were doing last time. It isn’t an extensive recap like we’ve seen in Return to Monkey Island, but it is a nice way to get you back in the story.
The curse of the Quick Time Event
Combat was a mix of excitement and frustration. Linking up combos is satisfying, when it fails it isn’t the end of the world. Unlocking abilities and upgrades in the hideout helped me tailor the combat to better fit my playstyle. I like more tanky builds so spent most upgrades on health expansion and increased health recovery.
Outside of combat, there are unavoidable QTEs with varied press and hold button combinations. To help players out there is a helpful option that limits QTE button prompts to a single button. For me an annoying implementation were companion abilities outside of combat. These clear blocked paths, but have timing and rhythm challenges. This was fine when I had time to retry, but was frustrating on time limited segments.
Another frustration came in when the parry ability was introduced. At times successful parries are necessary to progress. Here players match the rhythm of the attack, which is helpfully conveyed visually, audibly, and through vibration. It requires memorizing the rhythm and pattern of parries and dodges, which adds some cognitive load.
In an update, the developer addressed the accessibility of QTEs in Hi-Fi RUSH. But even before this update the game was engaging, rewarding and accessible enough that I kept trying, progressing, and eventually finished the game. I loved the story, the representation, and would urge anyone who hasn’t played it yet to give it a try.
