I absolutely loved Hi-Fi Rush. Just finished playing through the main game and they absolutely killed it, especially in the final stage in the lead up to the final boss. I was so amped playing through that final level - the background music was so good, I had mostly masted combat at this point, and the set piece sequences were an amazing culmination of everything that came before it. The very definition of flow state game play.

I also adored their previous game, Tokyo Ghostwire - gave the player interesting combat choices to make, amazing facsimile of Tokyo for someone who’s been there twice, fascinating story and world design, strong power fantasy. The only slightly negative thing you could say about the game is it may have leaned into some open world tropes a bit heavily and padded out the experience, but this is only a slight knock.

I’ve mentioned in a previous post how hilariously on point the writing is in Hi-Fi Rush, but it also makes clear how the team feels about art and creativity, and the effect a corporation can have on it. I mean, the entire game is basically a metaphor for how the game dev cycle is nearly destroyed by corporate overlords. Funny, this game was in development and released at the height of the Microsoft purchase of Bethesda. And with the shut down of the studio, it’s clear how Microsoft felt as well. 🎮