Microsoft held its first Xbox Direct on Wednesday, January 25th. The studio had a handful of games to show off that is coming out in Q1 and Q2 of 2023. But one game was “shadow dropped” (an industry term meaning releasing the day of the reveal) called Hi-Fi Rush from Tango Gameworks. They are known mostly for creating horror games so something as bombastic and upbeat as Hi-Fi Rush wasn’t on anyone’s radar.
Hi-Fi Rush is a rhythm action game where everything in the world is timed to music. Some of the songs are original ones made specifically for the game and other songs are by large studio artists like Nine Inch Nails and The Black Keys. The ending of the first level has you fighting a robot boss to the song 1,000,000 by Nine Inch Nails. Every attack from the robot plays as the beat of the drum and the guitar sing from your speakers. Chorus 4 plays and he spits lasers at you in rhythm, and a cut scene plays as he is blowing up to the coda. The game dedicates itself to this idea by timing even the steps of the character to the music. Everything within HiFi Rush oozes with artistry and unending optimism.
This is something that Hi-Fi Rush could only do within the medium of video games. You couldn’t make this as a TV show, you couldn’t produce this as a podcast or book either. For example, The Last of Us is garnering critical acclaim right now on television by adapting the source material one to one to the small screen. While this may prove that games have engaging stories to tell it doesn’t speak to what the art form of video games is.
Hi-Fi Rush looks beautiful, blending cel shading with a cartoon aesthetic. Characters pop off the screen with expressive animations and next-level voice acting. The video game is a feast for the eyes and plays within the sandbox and constraints of the medium. Gaming could have looked and sounded like this for the last two decades but, the industry decided that realism with a tinge of nihilism was the way to go. How do we make this headshot sound as realistic as possible? How do we make sure the fish AI knows how to swim? Millions of dollars are wasted so you could see Kratos’ beard hair in granular detail. People dedicate four years of their lives to make sure Naughty Dog can produce a game that allows you to kill people in more realistic ways and also make you feel bad about it too. The wheel churns every year.
To me, gaming isn’t about the graphics or the cinematic cutscenes. Gaming IS about the whole of the product coming together from individuals and forming one cohesive interactive piece of art. It’s a special kind of joy playing with something another human made. I know someone spent many hours making sure the footsteps are in rhythm with the music. Another person spent sleepless nights trying to figure out the narrative beats. Multiply these creative struggles by a degree of forty. This could only happen with unspeakable human hours and artistic minds coming together, and this is what makes video games special. Not everything has to be as cheerful as Hi-Fi Rush to be considered good. Personally, I think there has to be enough room within the work that allows players to see the reason why the developers chose video games as the medium instead of TV or film. That distinction is what makes a game stand out and gives it an advantage over everything else on the market.
Xbox Studios have been on an impressive run recently with Pentiment, Grounded, and now Hi-Fi Rush. It’s exciting to see a huge billion-dollar studio like theirs give funding to their smaller creatives who want to do something more off the beaten path. And I think Xbox has proven that the thirst for unique games outside of what the mainstream wants is viable. Their last three games have had tons of praise universally from critics and gamers. The future is bright for Xbox. All of these games are available on GamePass or for purchase at your favorite storefront of choice.
No Comments