I’m a sucker for rhythm games. Put a good soundtrack in a game, make me hit things on the beat of the music, and you can bet that I’m interested in checking it out. So when the developer of Disco Samurai reached out with a code, and I was looking for an excuse to use my Steam Deck anyway, this seemed like the perfect game to scratch that rhythm game itch!
NOTE: I played this on Steam Deck before the game was officially Steam Deck Verified, so any remarks on that front won’t be held against the game, and not included in the review. The performance on the PC handheld was great, no complaints. My only remark is that the tutorials always told me to press the start/menu button instead of A, R1, L2 etc. It’s possible this is already fixed when you read this review.
ℹ️ Reviewed on Steam Deck | Review code provided by developer. This review is the personal opinion of the writer.
| Developer | Pixel Fiber Games |
| Publisher | We Dig Games |
Things I liked!
- Rhythm-based blocking & attacks | It feels amazing to parry incoming attacks to the rhythm and then counter a stunned opponent with a gunshots and some timely slashes. It nails the impact from each and it’s super satisfying. I can’t stress enough how important this aspect is. I recorded some gameplay here:
- Neon-coloured pixel art | I like the visual style of the game, although I can’t help but feel the camera distance from the action feels too far off at times. It also doesn’t help that the isometric camera angle and closed-off rooms pretty much mean 50% of your screen space goes unused. But it looks great, and I appreciated how certain elements in each level, like the neon-coloured outlines, speakers, and other objects, all pulsated with the rhythm.
- Soundtrack | Although I’m having trouble recalling a specific tune that stood out as I played Disco Samurai, the chosen tracks fit the vibe of the game, and whenever I parried, dodged or attacked in the game, it came completely natural and just *felt* right. The beats per minute were just the right amount to keep up with the rhythm.
- Optional challenges | Some of the levels will alert you of an optional challenge, like getting to a certain combo count or not getting hit. Often, they will also ask you to master a newly acquired skill, like kicking an enemy into objects, or throwing their own bomb back at them. If you succeed, you’ll get a keychain, and you can equip up to three of them to boost a specific ability.
Mixed & disliked!
- Bike chase | There are a few times you’ll get on your floating bike and need to weave through traffic. This was a fun change of pace, but my god, did I struggle. I’ll admit I’m not the most skilful player, but after 25 attempts, I gave up. This was as difficult as Battletoads sewer racing level for me. Ironically, the first level in the game was a lot more challenging to me than the ones that followed (like this one, where they introduce timed gunshots, which was a lot easier).
Luckily, if you go into the accessibility settings, you can activate God-mode, which will let you get past this challenging portion of the game and still experience the rest of it. I’m thankful for that, or it would have been a hard stop for me in the first chapter.
I think having the colours of the cars change depending on which lane is safe, or having the button input visible, might also have helped there (on Steam Deck, I had to use LEFT, UP or RIGHT on the D-Pad – but I feel I couldn’t physically press them quick enough).
- Overwhelming | I often play my rhythm games on easy, because I easily get overwhelmed by too many different button inputs. Disco Samurai uses almost every button available, and while you’re often free to choose which attack you want to use: default slash (R1), gunshot (X), kick (B) or throw item (Y), you’re not given the same freedom in defence. Each enemy will have a preset (thankfully) attack pattern that requires a specific counter. You can block a regular attack with L1, but if they do an overhead attack, you’ll need to keep L1 pressed until a time-based bar tells you to hit the sweet spot. There are unblockable attacks you need to dash away from (A), and grab attacks you’ll need to hold A for. Towards the end of the game, I found myself overwhelmed by these options, and it was hard to react in time with the required counter.
- Story | The narrative wasn’t very interesting. You play as an expert at the Disco Samurai game who is helping her friends face the yakuza and hack into servers (all the fighting in the game happens on the digital servers). You’re also helping out your dad, who has a bar in his garage. I wasn’t very invested in the story here, but most rhythm games don’t really need one.
- Not that long | There are 7 chapters, each with several levels you can reload (useful when going for the challenges), but an average playthrough should only take you about 2 hours. You then unlock the hardest difficulty, which adds another hour if you’re a glutton for punishment.
How long did I play the review before publishing? 2.5 hours
How long to beat the story? under 2hours
How many Achievements did I earn before publishing? 14/15
How long to complete | ~4 hours (required a 2nd playthrough on harder difficulty)
You’ll love this game if you like these | Hi-Fi Rush, Aaero 2, Crypt of the Necrodancer.
CONCLUSION
Score: 77/100
Disco Samurai swings to the beat in more ways than one! It’s a great rhythm game for fans of the genre. Even though you’ll likely not get more than ~4-5 hours of it in total, it’s still worth a playthrough, and you’ll have fun every step of the way (just don’t forget about God Mode if you’re struggling like I was).
Robby lives and breathes video games. When he’s not playing them, he’s talking about them on social media or convincing other people to pick up a controller themselves. He’s online so often, he could practically list the internet as his legal domicile. Belgian games-industry know-it-all.
