Unbeatable Review

A Punk Rock Anime Extravaganza Of Epic Proportions

High The brilliant voice acting and art direction.

Low Poor pacing, especially early on.

WTF Nothing is nothing.

Unbeatable is a vibrant rhythm game where players must match their inputs to the beat of a drum, both literarily and figuratively by pressing either a “low” or “high” button in-tune with the accompanying music. This deceptively simple mechanic escalates into more unique gameplay applications, such as a baseball minigame and combat encounters.

The rhythmic play is well implemented overall, since it strikes a great balance at being both challenging and accessible without becoming too repetitive, as each encounter prioritizes attentiveness from the player in the form of a HP Meter — if the players makes too many mistakes, they have to repeat the encounter until they succeed. This emphasis on focus ensures that players are engaged for the full run time of the narrative while they master challenging tracks, and if players want more, they can hop onto the arcade mode.

Unbeatable’s narrative centers on main protagonist Beat and her plucky friend Quaver, as they form a band and resist the authoritarian might of HARM. I won’t spoil the rest of the script here, but it’s a story about both apathy and regret. It focuses on the misery of the main cast, and how they’ve been consumed by their past — instead of escaping it, they wallow in their shame and this behavior incubates a sense of apathy so potent it has tangible negative effects on the world they exist in.

However, this is by no means a cynical story. Beat and her supporting cast are able to find meaning, even in the midst of uncertainty — and while not everyone moves on from the weight of their regrets, Unbeatable left me hopeful because even when the odds were stacked against them. Beat and Quaver never let their demons overcome them when it mattered most, and that’s a lesson in resilience we should all learn from.

Unfortunately, Unbeatable’s pacing is a bit slow — especially the second episode — and this impacts the finale, which doesn’t wrap itself up as well as it could have, and it all feels a bit rushed.

While the script might not have landed perfectly, there’s no doubt that Unbeatable’s art direction is its greatest achievement. Beat looks like someone straight out of Cyberpunk and the rest of the character designs are lovingly crafted, with Quaver, Rest and Penny as excellent standouts, bursting with personality.

The genius design is also seen in the environment as well. Each setting has a distinct tone and style, but it all comes together into a complete-feeling package, from the seaside town where the band resides for a while to the sweeping HARM skyscraper that towers above the rest of the world. The visuals here are certainly picturesque affairs.

It also helps that the voice acting in Unbeatable feels natural, emotive, and at times, raw. I believe every word the characters said to each other, whether it was an ill-fated flashback between a mother and her daughter or the comedic one-liners that sprung out of minor henchmen. Unfortunately, not every line is recorded, and some info must be read from speech bubbles.

At the end of the day, Unbeatable is a solid rhythm title with great audio-visual presentation and and a heartwarming narrative, though some lackluster pacing and inconsistent voice application make it a trickier recommendation than I would have expected.

7 out of 10

— Fumo Chabalala

Disclosures: This game is developed by D-CELL GAMES and published by Playstack. It is currently available on XBX/S, PS5, and PC. This copy of the game was obtained via publisher and reviewed on PC.

***Approximately (X) hours of play were devoted to the single-player mode, and the game was completed. OR was not completed. (X) hours of play were spent in multiplayer modes OR There are no multiplayer modes.

Parents: According to the ESRB, this game is rated T and contains Fantasy Violence, Suggestive Themes, Use of Alcohol And Tobacco, Language. Needs the official description or your own description here.

Colorblind Modes: There are no colorblind modes available.

Deaf & Hard of Hearing Gamers: This game offers subtitles. The subtitles can be altered and resized. The game is fully playable without sound, and the timing of the rhythm that is required is fully and cleanly telegraphed. As such, Unbeatable is fully accessible, though playing it silently is not the intended experience.