Hades meets Hi-Fi Rush in an exhilarating rhythm-based roguelite - City of Beats Quick Review

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PLAY IT OR SKIP IT?

Play it especially if you like games like Hades or Hi-Fi Rush. City of Beats is an exhilarating, rhythmic looter-shooter roguelite where you beat up robots to the sound of music while dodging barrages of gunfire. If you can get over a few balance issues, it offers an action-packed (if short) experience.

TIME PLAYED

I played City of Beats for four hours. I struggled a lot in the first three hours, but after unlocking an overpowered weapon and changing the difficulty level, I managed to beat the main expedition and all three bosses in thirty minutes. This led me to unlock the challenge mode where I played for another forty-some minutes.

WHAT’S AWESOME

• Music. If there’s one reason why you should play City of Beats, it’s to relish all of its techno music because it’s literally everywhere. From weapons to robots to even the environment itself, everything rides the flow of music which is really cool. The game plays different music at each level so I never heard the same beat twice in a row. Even for someone who’s not a massive fan of techno music, I was bobbing my head while I was playing City of Beats.

• Runnin’ and gunnin’. Nothing beats the feeling of blasting robots into the sky. City of Beats’s roguelite elements allowed me to experiment with all sorts of upgrades that were rewarded at the end of each level. It was refreshing to play different builds each run and exciting to see what I could do with what I acquired.

• Dialogue. Even though City of Beats doesn’t have a deep story, the witty writing made me chuckle. It also clearly explains the context and mechanics for the game without any issues.

• Difficulty setting. This is minor praise, but since I had such a hard time getting through City of Beats, I really appreciated that I could modify the difficulty. Blame my poor reflexes or the fact that I can’t aim, but giving me some control really helped make this experience more comfortable.

• Visuals. City of Beats features a gorgeous, gloomy low-poly art style that’s seen across the battlefield, background, and characters.

WHAT SUCKS

• Unbalanced weapons. There are only two weapons in City of Beats: the rifle and the lightning bow. The rifle is unlocked at the beginning, while the lightning bow becomes accessible after beating the first boss. I struggled to get far in the game with the rifle because it didn’t dish out a lot of damage, even with a full collection of augments and power-ups. It was only when I switched to the lightning bow, which unleashes electric volts and balls of lightning, that I actually made progress and beat the game in a single run.

• Enemy speed. Even with the difficulty setting reducing the amount of damage I received, I still had a rough time dodging enemy attacks. Enemies would fire volleys of lasers and bullets with mere seconds between them, and I had to react quickly or preemptively dash away. The number of enemies increased the further I got too, which made it even harder to survive.

💬 Will you play City of Beats or are you going to skip it? Let me know in the comments!