Look at that font. 70s poster font. Gig font. A font with flares. Lurid and a bit goofy, it tells you so much about the game. More, even, than the title: A Musical Story.
No, that’s probably not fair. A Musical Story is a musical story. A musician lies in a hospital bed with no memories. So you use music to recreate them. It’s a narrative rhythm action game and it’s already pretty special.
A Musical StoryDeveloper: Glee-Cheese StudioProducer: DigeratiAvailability: Out summer on PC, iOS, Xbox One and Switch, Steam demo on 19th March
The heart-rate monitor is the ultimate baseline. When it appears on screen at first, I find myself pushing buttons in time to it before I’ve even been told to, before there are prompts. From there, a game builds: a piece of music plays and you match the button presses that appear on screen, using just the right and left bumpers. Right, left, both, sustain. It’s simple but you get a lot out of it.
A Musical Story | Announce Trailer | PC, IOS, XB1, Switch, PS4 Watch on YouTube
And a story starts to emerge, one drop at a time. A dream of being in a band. A soul-sapping job at a bean canning factory. Nights in front of the dead TV with a joint and angry dreams of the bean company mascot intruding. Match the music – drums one second, distorted guitar the next. Pink Floyd vibes, a touch of Santana, lumpy, looping prog.