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Unbeatable just goes to show that with some smart game design, less can really be more – even when it comes to adding something fresh to the rhythm game genre. There was a period of time where each new Guitar Hero or Rock Band either added in a whole new type of instrument or peripheral or added new buttons to a familiar control to add depth. Unbeatable doesn't need any of that noise, making the most of a seemingly simple layout.
Unbeatable comes from developer D-Cell Games, and after playing the excellent Steam Next Fest Demo for a couple of hours I've not only gotten a taste of its punk story, but got to try oodles of songs in the arcade mode at varying levels of difficulty (included the extremely hard titular challenge level). Though the rhythm action takes place across just two buttons, Unbeatable is far from simple, and it feels incredibly satisfying to ace its tracks. And if you want to explore demos for yourself, check out our Steam Next Fest guide for more.
There's more to Unbeatable than just a list of arcade songs to try.
But let me unstrap the guitar for just a moment to do some tuning and get you up to speed with what Unbeatable is – as there's more to this than just a list of arcade songs to try. Unbeatable is set in a world "where music is illegal and you do crimes", essentially. Taking control of Beat, she leads the members of her band against a comically evil megacorp-ruled world where forms of expression like music have been outlawed. It's punk by nature, every time you play an act of rebellion.
Nipping at Beat and friends' heels are security guards and an 'elite' duo who are obviously riffing of Pokemon's Team Rocket. While moments in the story incorporate songs to play like in the Arcade mode, there are also swifter variations that see you timing button presses to battle encroaching foes and so on. Likewise there are rhythm minigames specific to the story mode, from mixing cocktails to listening to the hum of a vending machine on the outskirts of town and allowing it to inspire Beat to come up with a new tune.
The story flows by allowing Beat to run around maps from a side- on perspective, moving in and out of the environment. Across town are people to talk to, activities to help out with, and collectibles to uncover. It definitely takes a lot of cues from similar story-based narrative indie games that have you running around urban environments, but that's no bad thing – it's a slick and easy to get into way of making Beat and the gang feel like they exist in a lived in space.
And action
OK, back to the rhythm game – which has its own progression track entirely separate from the story mode if you want via its arcade mode. How does having only two buttons feel compelling? Each song sees the band take center stage, as enemies fly at them to represent notes from across the left and right side of the screen at the same time, with both an upper line and a lower line across each. One button sees Beat go high, another go low. And those are the fundamentals.
Things get more complicated from there, of course. As well as notes you'll need to hit, there are plenty of ones you need to avoid – a bit like Beat Saber in two-dimensions. Plus there are plenty of notes you need to bash away at, or hold – and, because of the simple set-up, loads of opportunities for those hold notes to supplement more inputs on the other line.
Add in the occasional center note, double note, and enemy notes that when you bash will then be knocked either down or up ready for a followup attack that means switching your line, and you have a whole lot of neat twists to deal with that keep you on your toes while also making the action feel like a thrilling punch-up. So far, whether enemies come from your left or right doesn't affect the required inputs, so I'm a little bit on the fence about how pointless the feature feels – but it does mean when playing for the first song you need to be extra vigilant from where notes will fly next, so in that sense it is adding something.
While I've been enjoying the brief taste of Story Mode the demo brings, what's kept me playing Unbeatable really has been just playing the songs themselves. I love a good rhythm game, and this simple-at-a-glance two-button system is really scratching an itch, and I especially like how much depth lies beneath it – almost a bit like the underrated Rock Band Blitz. Now I'm tuned up, I can't wait to jump back in to attempt to master some more songs.
Unbeatable releases on PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X in 2025.
More toe-tapping needed? Check out our best rhythm games list!
