Dead as Disco might be one of the most anticipated titles for me this quarter, as its combination of action gameplay with rhythm game attributes aligns perfectly with my preferences.
If you're a veteran in the action genre, you'll know that this combination isn't rare in the industry. Whether it's Hi-Fi Rush, Senran Kagura, No Straight Roads, or Metal: Hellsinger, they have all proven that integrating rhythm into action gameplay is far from superfluous.
This gives me reason to believe that even though Dead as Disco is still in "Early Access," it can absolutely present sufficiently mature gameplay and completeness, providing players with a luxurious action feast that excels in visuals, audio, and overall experience.
In my initial impression, I would have unconsciously categorized Dead as Disco under the action genre because previous fusion-type works mostly followed a structure where action was primary and rhythm secondary. For example, using step-on-beat mechanisms to polish player operational space and enhance the dimensional expression of action gameplay.
However, after formally experiencing it, I found that Dead as Disco has subtle differences from the titles mentioned earlier—rather than being an action game fused with rhythmic elements, it feels more like a music rhythm game that retains an action flavor.
From a certain perspective, this is a work that places music in the dominant position. Here, whether you sync perfectly with the beat not only determines your score and combo damage multipliers but is also closely tied to action derivative branches, enemy aggression, and even changes in scene terrain.
This forced me to temporarily set aside my accumulated gaming experience and re-embrace its distinctly different game feel.
It's not that Dead as Disco isn't action-oriented enough, but within its atmosphere that heavily emphasizes rhythmic groove, besides aligning command inputs with the beat, the character's hit feedback sounds are treated as the heavy beats of the music.
In previous fusion-type works, even if players didn't step on the beat at all, they would only lose score or damage multipliers, and the game could still operate fully according to action game logic. However, in Dead as Disco, missing the beat also causes discordance as feedback sound effects clash with scene sound effects in the accompaniment, like a tone-deaf friend screaming in a KTV. This creates a negative perception of lagging or premature HIT judgments and disjointed operations.
Rather than focusing on COMBO completeness, Dead as Disco's progression experience emphasizes aligning with the beat. Therefore, abandoning the full execution of some combos or inserting taunt actions between combos to maintain flow has become its most distinct difference from similar works.
Hearing this, some readers might immediately recall their frustrating times in Crypt of the NecroDancer. But don't worry yet; Dead as Disco's use of rhythm isn't so strict as to be nitpicky. It has optimized controls to a certain degree for self-consistency.
For instance, most combos in the game may require only a single button press, such as auto-generating counter combos via the counter key, finisher combos via the finisher key, or execution combos via combination keys... During these COMBO sequences, players don't need to input subsequent commands; they only need to align the first input with the beat to achieve a perfect performance synchronized with the music's drum beats.
Thanks to this, the game can automatically align the feedback sound effects of moves with the drum beats of the background music by detecting BPM, perfectly blending HIT judgments with the soundtrack.
This means that Dead as Disco completely lacks the inherent barrier to entry typical of action games. Players only need to input commands at the right moments to achieve Everythinggj they imagine. Clearly, this is a double-edged sword.
What I mean is, while this design benefits the game's presentation and lowers the entry barrier, it also shifts the gameplay towards endless QTEs. In this game's levels, players don't need to actively attack; they can idle and taunt with dances, initiating all combat through enemy attacks that trigger counter QTEs.
Compared to pressing attack buttons actively, which can easily trigger discordant sounds, relying on BPM detection for counters and dodges better embodies the game's core theme.
Dead as Disco is undoubtedly a work with superior expressiveness, but its heavy emphasis on rhythm also makes it a "traffic light" game in the eyes of core action audiences. If you've complained about Asura's Wrath, Dead as Disco is quite similar in its underlying logic.
Of course, the game developers couldn't just sit back and let players run rampant, abusing counter commands to degrade the game into a QTE hell. To address this, the developers added extensive terrain and bullet-hell interactions, forcing players to reduce the frequency of automated sequences, encouraging active engagement and maneuvering, and applying a full range of functional commands.
Honestly, I'm not particularly fond of this action game experience where you're constantly driven around by bullet patterns, but it does push players out of their comfort zone of playing defensively.
But there's no need to be too negative, because Dead as Disco's audiovisual expressiveness can completely make up for any regrets.
It must be admitted that Dead as Disco boasts excellent musical quality, worthy even as a title track for a K-POP group debut. Every battle feels like a perfect cinematic music video performance. These elements, which embody the game's core appeal, allow players to clearly feel all the positive feedback they seek from Dead as Disco.
After all, your original intention for coming here wasn't to pursue the flashy, high-speed combat of "Ninja Gaiden" or "Devil May Cry," but rather to discover, by chance, that this rhythm game emphasizing musical groove also carries an action label.
And after players endure countless phase changes through bosses 1, 2, 3, 4... and finally defeat them, they will unlock special skills that can transform their previous perception of the game. For example, after defeating the rapper, players can unlock parry counters; after defeating the guitarist, they can gain ranged attacks and enhanced follow-up derivatives.
After acquiring various special moves, the game finally breaks free from the underlying logic of strictly following QTEs. Players gain a rich dimension of methods to handle enemy moves, elevating the status of action gameplay to a certain extent and balancing the proportion between rhythm attributes and action gameplay.
But just when you've acquired various enhancements and are eager for subsequent challenges, you'll discover that Dead as Disco, as a rhythm game, not only integrates the strengths of action games but also inherits some of their shortcomings—if you merely want to experience the main storyline, the game's volume might only support 90 to 120 minutes of playtime. Even including side content collection, it won't exceed 10 hours in total, which is very typical of action games.
This places all of Dead as Disco's replay motivation into custom songs—the ability to import external music and operate perfectly through BPM detection has become the most valuable replayable content in Dead as Disco currently.
And when you start playing custom content, you'll realize that not every pleasant song is suitable for action gameplay—if the music's BPM is too low, it can even affect character performance, forcing you to reconsider which music is more suitable for exhilarating battles.
This point fully reveals Dead as Disco's tendency towards rhythm game attributes.
However, the shortcomings in volume and game duration can be justified by the "Early Access" stage, while the game's solid quality and superior expressiveness are highlights that its shortcomings cannot overshadow.
This makes Dead as Disco more suitable as a good investment rather than something to watch cautiously. If subsequent updates maintain the current level quality, focus on developing the potential of player workshops, and improve the current guidance content, it can become a masterpiece comparable to any other game in its genre.
So, this reminds you of a cliché phrase, which I'll also use to conclude this article—the future looks promising.