There’s a certain irony to the fact that Brain Jar Games is a group of industry veterans launching their debut game.
This is because Dead as Disco is a story about musicians who are a decade past their prime but are back for one night, looking to be at their prime again after years of soulless existence. And while they gain, we are the real winners, because Dead as Disco is a truly fantastic rhythmic beat-’em-up that focuses on tightly crafted replayability and a DIY spirit that makes it so you can’t help but cheer for this motley crew of a band…settle down, Nikki Sixx…I said they are a motley crew; your IP is safe.
As Console Creatures’ resident four-out-of-ten rated bassist and former music journalist, I had to jump on Dead as Disco, and I’m so glad I did.
Dead As Disco’s Lost Its Mind
Dead as Disco is held together by a very loosely structured disco-skulled [I’ll get to that] skeleton of a story, but it works the way a great bass riff does, by keeping time and bringing all the various elements together.
You play as Charlie Disco, a man who looks like he was supposed to be in Jet Set Radio [watch his opening scene and tell me I am wrong], but ended up here, and dead.
Disco led Dead as Disco, perhaps the world’s most famous band. By mastering hip-hop, punk, alt-rock, and even K-pop, Dead as Disco was at the top of their game. And then, Disco seemingly bit the dust at an afterparty, and the world moved on without him.
Waking up 10 years after his demise, Disco learns he may just have made a deal with the devil: his soul for one more night with the band. But first he’s got to beat the hell out of his former bandmates!
Why? Well, in the time that Disco has been gone, he learns from his new floating, likely German-house-venue-owning disco skull companion, Vice, that the rest of the band has joined Harmony, which is an evil multinational stand-in for Big Music.
In exchange for god-like idol status, they’ve all been forced to go, go, go in the perpetual industry cycle.
From there, the story evolves as you complete runs of the same story mode levels in order to uncover what truly happened to Charlie Disco.
Come on and slam!
What you get in terms of combat is a series of story missions, “Infinite Disco” — an endless wave mode where you can play a collection of songs with various challenges, as well as your own imported songs for fun!
The story missions play out much like the grand boss battles in Hi-Fi Rush or No Straight Roads, yet without world traversal serving as an opening act. Instead, you get a little pit of back-and-forth with the other member of the band, three or four stages of an arena beat-’em-up, and then the main act comes at you.
Harmony will throw a handful of stock enemies at you, like a baton-wielding Judge Dread cosplayer and hard-hitting fans from the pit. And then it masterfully elevates upon this much in the way a great cover band does, by giving each big boss a unique minion to add some personal flair. British punk rocker Hemlock gets himself a maniac who double-jumps at you as an attack, forcing you to land a triplite-like combo of dodge, dodge, attack.
Skrillex’s stand-in Dex has himself an electric dasher who’ll try to hit you off beat. Mountain of a hip-hop mogul Prophet will call his tank of a bouncer to eat your beats. And finally, K-pop diva Aurora will snipe you back into death with her dolls if you don’t dodge right on the beat. It’s such a simple addition, but one that I love immensely, and it keeps me coming back.
Those of you who also play music know that music = masochism.
Sure, you can play the same easy songs you’ve mastered 100 times over, but you’ll never improve as a musician by doing that. Becoming a better musician is about taking time to learn your instrument’s scales and theory, finding out what you excel at on it, and learning all the songs you can while you compose your own.
This is seemingly exactly the process Dead as Disco asks you to partake in.
There are five skill trees to unlock that give you the unique special move from each boss, as well as a handful of general skill buffs and an extra heart. However, you’ll only be able to use four out of the five special skills at any time, so you’ll have to choose what works best for you!
Gaining the necessary balance of fans needed to unlock skills and upgrades across the trees means that it’ll likely make the most sense to start on “Easy,” and then move to “Normal” difficulties, unless you are one of those people who likes dying a lot.
Musicians are a key group to the principle that everyone starts somewhere, and starting with what’s easy really makes sense here.
Being a rhythm-based beat-’em-up, Dead as Disco prioritizes you reigning fists on foes on the beats; however, unlike, say, Hi-Fi Rush, the name of the game here is more QTE that turns into keeping the beat.
Notifiers above foes’ heads will tell you what input you’ll need to make, and help you keep time with a shrinking circle. You’ll be awarded more points, fans, and even the chance at an instant knockout the closer you are to the beat.
Those of us used to keeping things locked down will thrive, but it is almost more enjoyable just to follow the reticle.
Just as there is a joy to playing songs over and over as a musician, getting that much more confident and better with each playing, Dead as Disco has an extremely satisfying run loop. I’ve found myself really feeling fulfilled by dodging that line of six sniper dolls shot at me, and even finding the right moment to launch off Disco’s signature heart-shaped dance boost, which hilariously does nothing aside from netting you more points, and thus, fans.
I’ll stop the world and melt with you
Where I feel conflicted with Dead as Disco is in its world-building.
On the one hand, the presentation of the game during missions is incredible, nailing the bright, neon-soaked, high-BPM aesthetic that seems to be the norm for rhythm-based beat-’em-ups.
On the other hand, the setting — Music City — otherwise feels like a scene band or pop idol: great when performing, but otherwise kind of flat and short on details.
In between runs, Disco and the rest of the band that you’ve managed to best in combat will chill with Stix, the proprietor of The Encore — a once legendary bar and music venue which has fallen on some hard times.
There is a certain satisfaction in using your banked-up fans to restore the place back to its former glory. Doing so will advance the story and offer brief snippets of world-building through photos, records, and other mementos personal to the band and their fans. You also get a very Corpo Plaza and Arasaka Tower-like view of Harmony’s headquarters from The Encore’s outdoor patio, but that’s just it.
The rest of Music City just exists to loosely tie the bosses in.
Hemlock is fought in a subway station and on a crazy train, despite his song being a cover of Michael Sembello’s 1983 classic one-hit wonder track Maniac. And look, perhaps it’s just that I reside in Hamilton, and feel that song as a Steel Town anthem, I would think a factory district or steel mill would scream punk more.
Prophet is first encountered tagging the name of his track, Disco’s Dead, in a random alleyway. When Disco rides up, Prophet quips about remembering coming up through the streets. It’s a great moment for some world-building. And it will come, but once again, it comes through small glimmers of history told at The Encore.
Aurora gets a whole world called Paradise [think of every Vocaloid’s background in history] that seems to be just her happy place.
It’s… fine, but it all leaves me wanting more.
Verdict
Dead as Disco is not, in fact, dead. In fact, it launches into at least a year of Early Access today. What you have here is a legend of one epic night that aims to invite you back, and back, and back.
The musical elements are there, even though combat begins as more of a QTE affair, and it is not wanting in that department at all. The story elements here are serviceable. Disco and his band are cool cats. However, I wish they and the world around them were a little more built out.
[The publisher provided an early access copy of the game for review purposes.]
Reviewed on: PC
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Author: 360 Technology Group
