There’s a stillness in the air, isn’t there?
Rhythm games are a picky thing for me. I’m not great at them, admittedly, and while I can certainly appreciate the mechanical complexity and demanding nature of the genre’s toughest outings, I’m usually a little too intimidated to give them a shot. I’m also incredibly lazy and I have other stuff I want to play. Still, whenever they’re included in a miniature form in other games, or when they’re deliberately simple to pick up and play, I do find myself gravitating towards them.
Beat, Heart, Beat, developed and self-published by The Wacy, stuck out to me not only because of its deceptively simple presentation, but also because of its colorful, pointed style and psychological themes. I got a chance to check out the game’s demo during the Steam Next Fest recently, and I have to say, I had a blast during my brief time playing it. It’s a rhythm game that’s just as likely to delight your eyes with psychedelic visuals as it is to fill your ears with grungy music. But let’s talk about why.
Alt-Rock, Aberrations, and Action
The story in a rhythm game is often just a means to ferry you between different musical tracks. But there’s some additional emphasis given to it in Beat, Heart, Beat. You are Peccori, a lanky puppet given life by the Heart, a beating organ that keeps the Psyche in order and free from strange aberrations. However, when the Heart is suddenly whisked away, chaos quickly erupts throughout the Psyche. Peccori, left with little else to do, is thrust into an adventure to not only reclaim the Heart and return it to its rightful place in the Psyche, but to ultimately set things straight within the Psyche as well. It’s hard to get a read on the narrative as a whole with such a small sample of it, but what’s there seems competent enough to keep your interest between songs. Of course, interstitial cutscenes and other narrative bits can be freely skipped at your own leisure, fast-tracking you to the real meat and potatoes here.
At a glance, Beat, Heart, Beat shares some similarities with games like Muse Dash or Geometry Dash. Peccori runs along the screen in a fixed position with a thin bar placed in front of her. This bar acts as your means to help keep the beat of the song. As Peccori runs, she’ll find discordant aberrations in her path, forcing you to slash them into pieces as they touch the bar. As long as you’re a little too late, a little too early, or perfectly timed to the beat, you’ll have successfully defeated an enemy.
Where things get interesting is how this simple act of striking foes to the beat is handled. The game doesn’t use lanes for different enemy positions. Instead, you’ll have to incorporate some light platforming along with your on-tempo attacks. Enemies that are suspended in the air demand that you jump up to attack them, whereas foes below you demand that you descend on them with the might of Zeus. The arrow keys determine what kind of attack you’ll pull off based on their respective direction, and you’ll have to keep that in mind as you’re taking out these colorful masses of unconscious thought. “Cue” aberrations that deviate away from the beat add an extra level of complexity here, too. They’ll often take multiple hits to bring down in a very specific sequence, going on-beat and off-beat several times in quick succession.
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Speaking of which, the game looks absolutely gorgeous. A wonderful mix of hand-drawn animation, scratchy textures, and smooth 3D assets makes for a world that’s really fun to look at as you’re smashing through stuff. Peaks and valleys in the song filling your ears often reflect a change in the level you’re traversing too, darkening the lighting around Peccori or swinging her around through different elevations at the drop of a hat. It’s all wonderful stuff, and I feel like it helps Beat, Heart, Beat stand out in a sea of traditionally glitzy and sugary games.
The same goes for the actual songs you’ll be hearing while playing. They’re. . . certainly an acquired taste, to say the least, though they still maintain that generally peppy pace that make for the best rhythm game songs. At least six musicians contributed songs to the soundtrack, including SCATTERBRAIN CORPORATION and EchoLane, and while the number of tracks featured in the demo are fairly limited in terms of variety, you do get a broad sense of what to expect from the full game. Fans of bands like Car Seat Headrest and Glass Beach will surely find themselves at home here. If you’re not into that kind of sound, though? You might not have too nice of a time.
Thankfully, rhythm game fans of all kinds are welcome. Awards for completing a song with a full combo — i.e. not missing a single note — and doing so without dying are here and accounted for, and you’re generously ranked for your performance on each track. Additional track difficulties, dedicated challenge tracks, and the ability to adjust the game’s offset for said tracks are all currently in the development pipeline, along with a total of five story chapters. You can even find some tracks that are exclusive to the game’s free play mode, which let you revisit any song you’ve already played right from the main menu.
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Should You Play Beat, Heart, Beat?
If you’re down with what the game is trying to accomplish aesthetically — especially with its music — I’d happily say yes. Beat, Heart, Beat looks to be a pretty solid entry in a genre that, admittedly, is hard to get wrong even in the worst of circumstances. It feels fun to play, there’s plenty of incentive to revisit songs you’ve already completed, and the inclusion of a thoughtful narrative will surely draw in those who want a bit more going on in their rhythm games aside from constant button presses and upbeat compositions.
Similar to Zortch 2, there’s currently no release date set for Beat, Heart, Beat, but a brief glance through the game’s pitch deck on Linktree estimates a potential release in 2026. You can check out the demo for Beat, Heart, Beat for yourself on Steam, as well as itch.io.
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