30) Hi-Fi Rush (2023)

Beginning development in 2018, director John Johanas described Hi-Fi Rush as a dream game, an idea that he'd had in mind for a very long time. The game was partially inspired by the films of Edgar Wright, and served as a way for Tango Gameworks to branch out from the survival horror genre. As the game was wildly different from the studio's prior work, the team decided to keep quiet about development to avoid skepticism. After Bethesda was purchased by Microsoft, marketing suggested that Game Pass might offer a solution by allowing the game to generate interest via word of mouth. It was formally announced on January 25, 2023, and was available to play later that day.

Hi-Fi Rush puts us in the role of Chai, a dimwitted slacker that volunteers for Project Armstrong, a cybernetic limb replacement procedure. After some wacky happenstance, he ends up with his music player embedded in his chest. This causes the music and his heartbeat to form a musical connection with the world around him. He's labeled as a defect, and thus is chased by security robots. As the story proceeds, Chai meets up with a handful of people (and a robot cat) who are working to expose the corruption of Vandelay Technologies and ultimately bring down the evil mega corporation.

Gameplay consists of standard platforming and weapon based combat with the unique twist of being a rhythm game. Due to the aforementioned accident, Chai and the world around him move to a steady beat. Chai will snap his fingers while idle, and the environment will also display the timing. While it's not required to press buttons in time to the beat, it's very much encouraged, as you'll get bonuses such as doing more damage and moving faster. It's an incredibly brilliant twist on standard gameplay that helps the game stand out.

Every facet of the game's presentation is flawlessly executed. The visuals give it a real comic book come to life feel, the voice acting and writing are superb, and the soundtrack is suitably amazing. Outside of the tracks made for the game, which are all good, the game also utilizes licensed tracks for big moments. The licensed tracks include songs by Nine Inch Nails, The Flaming Lips, Fiona Apple, and The Prodigy to name a few. It also offers a streamer friendly mode that replaces the licensed music with similar original tracks. The game is truly an audio delight.

The writing is fairly straightforward, if a bit tongue in cheek. There were times that the self aware comedy fell a bit flat, but those moments were few and far between. The plot doesn't go anywhere you wouldn't expect it to, but the characters are fun and the game knows when to enjoy the big set pieces it sets up. The boss fights, with one notable exception, all feel incredibly satisfying and larger than life. If I had any real complaints, it would be the tremendous amount of hand holding injected into the level design. I didn't mind much at first, but the fact that this is present in the latter part of the game as well is mildly insulting.

I feel it's at this point that I have to address the giant, multinational corporation in the room. While the game was released to glowing critical reviews and performed well as a Game Pass release, it wasn't too long afterwards that Microsoft announced "organizational changes" which led to the closure of four studios under the Bethesda umbrella, with Tango Gameworks being among them. While a lot can be said about Microsoft's approach to the gaming ecosystem, this is not the first or last time that corporate decisions have shut down promising studios that deliver fun, innovative titles.

Indeed, this situation specifically came off as incredibly tone deaf, and it adds a whole new layer of meaning to the plot of the game. The plot focuses on a giant monopoly tech company that is entirely dictated by the bottom line. The bosses you face are the higher ups of the company, and come off as vain, greedy, and shortsighted in their goals. Thus, Chai and his cadre of misfits forming a small team that battles the monolithic company with heart and soul are very much the plucky underdogs, which makes it all the more satisfying to seem them succeed. Playing it now, it's hard to view Microsoft as anything other than the bad guys.

There is, however, a silver lining to this story. In August 2024, South Korean publisher Krafton announced they had reached an agreement to revive and aquire Tango Gameworks from Microsoft and Bethesda. As part of this deal, Tango will retain the full rights to Hi-Fi Rush, though the other IP's they worked on, including The Evil Within series and Ghostwire: Tokyo, will remain with Microsoft, as will the publishing rights for the original Hi-Fi Rush. So, as much as what Microsoft did absolutely sucks, at least the team behind this gem will remain, and the likelihood of a sequel or franchise may even be greater.

Hi-Fi Rush is a refreshing take on classic gameplay, While it plays it safe in terms of level design, the areas in which it swings big are deeply rewarding. It's impossible for me to separate the game from the insanity of what happened post release, especially given Microsoft's most recent round of corporate meddling. While I don't think the plot was intended to mirror real world events, there's no denying the correlations. Life truly does imitate art in the dumbest, most infuriating ways possible.