This is a game that exudes charm in every little corner. Also, of note are the character select and song-completion portraits, which seem to be animated using something like the Live2d engine? It’s pretty neat if not unnecessary since the portraits are used in a limited capacity. The backgrounds even have fun details like the cats(?) copulating on the roof in the ‘rainy night’ stage and the coyly posing skeletons in the ‘castle’ stage. Another good comparison would be Gainax’s Panty and Stocking with Garterbelt, except instead of semen ghosts you get to fight smiling candy corn projectiles, flying bowler hats, and distressed sentient vegetables. The colorful, flat 2D design of the game hark back to flash-animated Western cartoons with angular designs and pastel colors, like with My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic. Remember how I really love rhythm game design aesthetics? Another big facet of my love for Muse Dash is rooted in its aesthetics. As of this writing, the game is still receiving on-going updates to add song packs and even more unlockable goodies, so even though I burned through the most up-to-date content in a fit of zero self-control, I’ll check up on this game regularly in the future. Additionally, the gameplay having a more coherent objective for a rhythm game beyond the usual ‘keep the beat correctly’ may also be a factor in my enjoyment. The simple yet fast-paced gameplay, combined with the catchy soundtrack selection and sheer amount of content to unlock kept me glued to the game instead of doing my usual ‘pop into the rhythm game for a bit before doing something else’. I can’t quite pinpoint any singular aspect that makes Muse Dash such a great serotonin dispenser but there are multiple components that make up a great whole. I’ll be perfectly blunt: this game is fun as hell. Lastly, there’re also alternative start screen and loading screen images by some talented artists that are a delight to look at. There are also support characters called ‘Elfins’ that will float alongside the main character and do things like provide healing or greater berth for note timing windows. Aside from additional songs, these unlockables include alternative costumes for the main girls that range from cutesy to saucy and enhance gameplay aspects like increased health or score multipliers. Curiously, the game has a weird item-drop based system where collecting a certain number of items (like baseballs or fish) unlocks something, though thankfully it’s not based on randomized item drops. There are plenty of unlockable things in Muse Dash that are gradually unveiled with the game’s leveling-up system. In general, the highest difficulty levels straddle a fine line between fun challenge and messy difficulty plateau, and honestly it feels more like the latter. The note frequency requires fine-tuned twitchy reflexes on par with brutal platformer indie games. The hardest difficulties, on the other hand, are brutal, with way more enemies spawning on the screen at once (on both lanes at once, to boot), enemies spawning closer from the center of the screen and frequent appearances of spike hazards. The game ranks difficulty on an 1-10 scale, and below 8 things are mostly manageable. While Muse Dash can be played with two buttons (or two keys or two fingers, depending on your console of choice), its simplistic gameplay belies surprising amounts of challenge. Somehow I didn’t break my combo while taking this screencap.
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