Before we fully jump into the new year of games, I wanted to cover a few games that I played on break at the end of last year, starting with Headbangers: Rhythm Royale from Glee-Cheese Studio. Right around the start of Season 2, they sent us over a code to check out the game and thanks to the game’s availability on Xbox Game Pass, I was able to invite some friends to join me. Here are my brief thoughts.
Headbangers is a rhythm-based battle royale with mechanics designed tightly around its core concept. Right from the splash screens being announced by high-pitched pigeon squeaks to the loading screens between matches feels charmingly committed to its aesthetic. The visuals are clean and vibrant with rules and controls very clearly displayed. There is no point where you’ll start a match unsure of what to do.
That’s all great, but sticking to a theme doesn’t amount to much if that core concept isn’t great. Thankfully, it is. There are four matches per game with the lowest ranked players getting disqualified. These mini-games are selected randomly at the start of each round and they range from a simple rhythm game where you must click the buttons on beat to more abstract ones like First Piano Shooter, where you have to shoot moving piano keys in the correct order.
For each mini-game, you will either be using the face buttons (X,Y,A,B) or the joysticks. While the focus is always on the objective at hand, there are few distractions that add in a wild card element. For example, as you’re playing, a blue box will fly across the screen and the first person to squeeze R2 will either get a power-up (like the one that Auto answers questions for you) or a curse (like the one that covers you screen so you can’t see). There are also collaborative distractions, like the Bonus Round bar at the bottom of the screen that fills when everyone is using the joystick to bang their heads around. Doing so will unlock a Bonus Round where players can unlock additional breadcrumbs.
Speaking of breadcrumbs, these are the currency in Headbangers. You can get them by just playing the game (and winning if you’re so lucky) and you can spend them in the in-game store to unlock new cosmetic items like clothes or dialogue options. The customization options are pretty varied allowing you to mix and match items to create a unique pigeon that suits you. Naturally, mine has a shark mask on.
Of course, there is always the elephant in the room to discuss when talk about these sort of indie games: the player count. Each game has up to 30 players and while the lobbies fill up on the weekends, most of the time, I’ve only managed to find a handful of real players with the rest being pigeon bots. These do the job pretty well, though it’s admittedly not as satisfying as winning against a real players.
With friends as a party game is where Headbangers really shines. Hopping onto Discord and boating up the game, only to tell each other to shut up so you can hear the beat is good fun. And though I haven’t checked out the game on the Switch, I imagine that’s a pretty fun combo too as the game’s visuals are not that intensive. Now keep in mind that the game does not have couch co-op and while I usually do like the option in games like this, it just wouldn’t work with this format as every player needs to listen to the game separately to play.
All in all, Headbangers: Rhythm Royale is a fun game to hop on play when you have a few minutes. For the past month, it’s been installed on my PS5, and whenever I want a nice distraction, I play a game or two. It’s just competitive enough to get me leaning forward without making me want to rage quit. The combination of Xbox Game Pass availability and crossplay will certainly help the game in the long run, but we’ll just have to wait and see how the player count fluctuates in the coming months. Headbangers: Rhythm Royale is available now on PlayStation, Xbox, Nintendo Switch, and PC. A review code was provided by the publisher.
