ROBOBEAT, crafted by Simon Fredholm and published by Kwalee, bursts onto the PlayStation 5 as an exhilarating blend of rhythmic chaos and roguelike shooting. Here’s our deep dive into what makes ROBOBEAT tick!
In ROBOBEAT, you’ll step into the boots of the renowned bounty hunter Ace, who finds himself on the tail of the flamboyant robot entertainer, Frazzer. Navigating through Frazzer’s bizarre techno-inspired domain, you’ll be grooving to the beat as you gun down foes and evade danger. Standing still isn’t an option. With randomly generated levels, each playthrough brings new challenges, requiring you to constantly tweak your approach. Choosing a track that gels with your rhythm can turn survival into an art!
Having previously reviewed other rhythm-infused shooters like Metal: Hellsinger for the PS5 and BPM: Bullets Per Minute on the Nintendo Switch, I was keen to see how ROBOBEAT would fare on Sony’s latest console. Intriguingly, this game even includes bonus tunes from BPM: Bullets Per Minute, along with tracks from DUSK and ULTRAKILL, enhancing its musical variety.
You’ll navigate Ace using the left analog stick for movement and the right for aiming. The left stick also lets you dash, while the X button enables jumping and double-jumping. The Circle button is your slide, and pressing the right stick during a jump executes a ground slam. In battle, fire your left weapon with L2 and your right with R2, but remember to sync your shots to the beat to rack up combos! Parry with the Square button, recharge your arms with Triangle, and deploy utilities using R1.
When it comes to weaponry, there’s plenty to experiment with. The Revolver is perfect for quick strikes, offering a one-beat cooldown and headshot crits. The Flux shotgun delivers massive impact up close with a two-beat cooldown. Alternatively, you might opt for the Contact, dealing damage to both your target and nearby adversaries, with just a one-beat cooldown. Or perhaps the Ping Pong, which creates explosive havoc every third hit within a one-beat cooldown!
As you take down foes and clear rooms, you’ll earn Blips—the game’s currency for buying new arms and upgrades, and for unlocking rooms you’ll explore in future runs. These include the shop room to expand your arsenal, the data-chip room for power-ups, the parkour room for a skill challenge, and the target rush room to refine your aim. However, before you can enjoy these perks, you’ll need to fetch the corresponding blueprints and return them to your workbench.
Trophy hunters will be pleased to find a comprehensive list topped with a Platinum trophy. This list includes 24 Bronze, 8 Silver, and 5 Gold trophies. Challenge yourself with tasks like entering new areas, collecting keys, accessing special rooms, vanquishing bosses, executing speed trials in target rooms, accomplishing rapid eliminations, performing successful parries, enduring deaths, achieving combo milestones, amassing fortunes, and destroying surveillance cams. For a leg up, dive into the ROBOBEAT Trophy Guide.
ROBOBEAT is an adrenaline-pumping roguelike that casts you as Ace, hot on the heels of the quirky robot Frazzer inside a rhythmic and chaotic world. Staying still spells doom, so constant movement and strategic adjustments across its procedurally generated stages are key. With 38 songs and special tracks from BPM: Bullets Per Minute, DUSK, and ULTRAKILL, ROBOBEAT promises both challenge and groove. Launching tomorrow on PS5, this rhythmic shooter is priced at $19.99.
This review of ROBOBEAT is based on a PlayStation 5 copy provided by Kwalee. Can you capture the eccentric robot-showman Frazzer?
