Unbeatable

Musically, thematically, and mechanically masterful, with some minor jank lightly souring the experience.

Playing UNBEATABLE makes you feel like you’re watching pirated episodes of your favourite show. Its janky narrative structure and limited content make it feel appropriately criminal to grow attached. However, while frustrating at times, these jagged edges are part of the charm. UNBEATABLE feels like an unapologetic guilty pleasure.

There’s a lurch in Unbeatable, the debut work from developer D-Cell Games, finally out after a successful Kickstarter campaign in 2021. Pink-haired and surly protagonist Beat and her soon-to-be bandmates are locked up in a prison, with no choice but to get through the doldrums of inmate life before the inevitable escape. You have to run back and forth across a drab environment, repeat a boring “minigame,” win small combat encounters that don’t do the rhythm gameplay justice, and then get through a sewer maze like you’re playing the worst part of Xenogears reborn. I was worried this would color...

Combining a full narrative adventure with Rhythm-based gameplay is not something most would think about doing. D-Cell Games somehow accomplished this with a fantastic soundtrack, intriguing characters, and an animated flair that’s unlike anything else. The imperfections are certainly there with an over-reliance on exploration, jarring narrative elements, and some of the gameplay issues. But the game as a whole, nails the positives so well that it’s well worth pushing through to experience in its entirety

Unbeatable is an ambitious rhythm game that has a few major flaws. The main one is the camera during rhythm gameplay sometimes ruins what is otherwise a flawless system. The second problem is that the story mode struggles with pacing and features very little rhythm gameplay. And the third major problem is that a lot of the dialogue is going to be a major turn-off for many. Playing Arcade Mode a bit before starting Story Mode will fix some of these issues. And I love that Unbeatable has an extensive Story Mode. But I can’t recommend the game to everyone as it is. Still, Unbeatable’s probably a ...

Unbeatable suffers from an identity crisis, pairing a decent arcade mode with an uneven story mode that buries its rhythm gameplay beneath a bit too much padding.

UNBEATABLE is a frustrating mess. While there's a great gameplay and narrative premise, it's often undermined by frequent glitches, strange writing, and a focus on random minigames, exploration, and platforming instead of the core rhythm sections. Even if all the bugs are fixed, I struggle to recommend this game for other players.

Imagine a world where music was outlawed, where anyone found making or listening to music is thrown in prison. That is the world of UNBEATABLE where a concert that summoned entities that were given the name The Silence led to a pretty sudden change in the law. Since that day, all musical expression, even singing in the shower or whistling while you work, is banned as it draws The Silence. Yet main character Beat is a musician who finds herself on a mission to fill the world with song once again.

Much like the titular band, Unbeatable is a game that doesn’t always hit the right notes but exudes so much heart and enthusiasm that it’s hard not to fall in love. It’s a sincere celebration of the creative spirit that overcomes its own rough edges by getting everything right where it counts. This is a song you’ll want to stick on repeat.