UNBEATABLE

UNBEATABLE is a rhythm game featuring a hand-drawn art style, offering hours of story-driven gameplay alongside exhilarating arcade-style action. Players control a charming girl named Beat, pressing buttons in time with the music to navigate her movements and dominate the stage. As you secure victories in arcade mode, you’ll unlock a variety of avatars and music tracks—each with its own distinct style—that you can enjoy at any time. The game also includes a built-in editor, allowing you to craft your own musical creations, share them with the community, and earn likes and plays from other players.

Features of UNBEATABLE:

Two-button rhythm gameplay that ramps up in intensity.

A story-driven adventure mixed with humorous and emotional interactions.

Distinctive anime-inspired art style packed with personality.

Exploration segments that allow you to set your own pace.

Huge concerts that feel explosive and unforgettable.

A full arcade mode separate from story mode.

Customizable profiles, unlockable items, and progression.

A robust challenge board featuring tasks ranging from simple to outrageous.

Dozens of songs, including acoustic versions and remixes.

Smooth controls designed to be easy to grasp and satisfying to master.

Player Comments of UNBEATABLE:

you know how indie punk rock has terrible, distorted audio quality, meant to be played on the cheapest speakers you've ever heard at the loudest volume possible, and feels so raw and real for it?this game is a little bit like that. it has so many little technical issues, so many visible seams, so many moments that don't flow perfectly. weird controls, slightly buggy moments, pacing that can be a little bit off... i can definitely imagine people disliking this game. it is very much a "your mileage may vary" kind of game.but at the same time... it has made me think and feel and consider and look at things that no other game really has. it has been years since a game has made me ugly cry like this, and for very deep reasons. so if i were to give it a negative review for those flaws... it would be like giving a bad review to a romance movie whose action scenes had poor camerawork, or giving a bad review to a story-focused visual novel whose animations often dropped frames.it's... yeah, those might be valid flaws, but i cannot in good conscience hold them against the media in question. yes, it had flaws. but it conveyed the message it wanted to convey, the emotional impact was there and it was not diminished by the flaws. if anything, in some cases might have been amplified.as someone who followed this since just after the kickstarter, my expectations for this game were through the roof, and it still blew them away. just not quite how i expected it to.

Never ever stop making things. Even if the world says it's bad. Even if you think it's messy or imperfect. Whatever feelings you've been holding on to, be it grief or joy or regret, put them into the things that you make and send those feelings into the world. They will inevitably find somebody to resonate with.

 I just DON'T have the motivation to keep playing (maybe I’ll play it someday on a plane, assuming it supports the Steam Deck). It has a lot of strengths: great visuals, UI, voice acting, and music... but if a rhythm game doesn’t make me want to retry songs over and over, then it doesn’t really work as a rhythm game for me. The story mode drags on: why do I spend an entire hour walking around and talking to NPCs, only to get to play literally A TINY BIT of the rhythm game? It feels more like a visual novel. Sure, there are plenty of songs in arcade mode, but I just can’t fall in love with this gameplay. Since this is a very subjective review, I’d still recommend it, even if I personally wouldn’t.

Walkthrough of UNBEATABLE:

Foreword: The game begins with an interactive foreword presented through a CRT television. The player begins by choosing some settings and the starting difficulty (ranging from Beginner to Unbeatable) for story mode. They are then asked a variety of questions about their experience, skill level, and opinions as a primer for the story. This culminates with the tagline "This is a story about losing your way."

Prologue: After answering the last question, the player taps to the rhythm of a shrinking circle, gradually fading out the previous section and fading into the sound of Eve snapping while smoking in a room. Her band's bassist, already on stage, calls her over the intercom to ask when she's coming up. Eve asks her to stall, before control is given to the player. Eve makes her way up to the stage at the stadium to join her band for their final show.

Morning: At the beginning of the game proper, Beat wakes up under a tree in Quaver's backyard on Eve's birthday. Upon noticing her, Quaver grabs Beat, asks if she's a "crazy person", and directs her to follow. They hide Beat's guitar in the backyard. Inside Quaver's house, Beat converses with Crest, a H.A.R.M. officer, concocting a cover story that she is a new maid. After a while, Beat and Quaver head to the gates of Quaver's neighborhood. Beat attempts to distract the gate guard while Quaver sneaks the guitar over the wall. Crest arrives as Beat's distraction falls through, but Quaver finishes tossing the guitar over and convinces him to let the two go downtown.

Downtown: Once downtown, Beat and Quaver break into the derelict stadium. Quaver asks Beat to help her take photos based on her parents' old photographs for Eve's birthday. After doing so, Quaver gives Beat more of her parents' photographs for safe-keeping. The two then break into the stage room so Quaver can perform a song on her acoustic guitar on stage, during which she performs At the center of it all. While this is happening, a cop finds the two and tells them to put their hands up, threatening to shoot them.Quaver starts performing with her acoustic guitar, but a cop appears and threatens them with a gun. However, Silence appear--despite never appearing for Quaver previously--and startle the cop, causing him to trip and drop his loaded pistol.

Chase Sequence: The cop's gun goes off when it hits the ground, prompting other police officers to go on the attack. Beat fights off a few initial Silence, and, stressed, plays RE-TUNED on her tape player. Beat and Quaver get on the moped and flee the scene. On the freeway, Beat engages in battle against the police. She fights grenade-throwing cops, police drones, and trucks with harpoon attachments. Partway through the song, Beat hits a truck and is thrown on top. She quickly recovers, fights more Silence, and leaps back on to the moped. Beat finally rides a ramp off the highway, crashing the vehicle and escaping the police.

FAQs of UNBEATABLE:

Q: What is the general structure of the story, will it be linear like "Story Section - Song - Story Section" or will it be more dynamic?

RJ: This is sort of the wrong question, because it supposes that the way gameplay works in the story mode is that you play songs and then do a story thing. In the story mode, the songs are story things. It's woven a bit more closely together.

Andrew: This game doesn't have a clear delineation between "songs" and "story sections", though it is pretty clear when it is you Have To Play A Rhythm Game. This isn't a situation where you have to "play songs" to "unlock more story" - we want to infuse a level of diegesis into everything, songs included.

Clara: the music is interwoven with the story in a way, it's gonna be cool!

Jeff: You'll definitely be playing songs at points like a traditional rhythm game, but I'd say the overall ratio of story / music gameplay and the core loop of what you play, and when you play it, is a lot more fluid. 

Vasily: So, yes, there's a core gameplay loop the structure of the game adheres to but our goal is to have everything become glued together into a single cohesive and woven together experience.

Q: Are there any dream collabs you have in mind for Unbeatable?

RJ: We think it's hard to talk about most of the ones that we'd love to do because there's a very real-world possibility that we can do those (life is WEIRD). Some of the ones that I don't think we'd ever get to do that I'd want to look into: Spider-Verse (tons of good music to draw from, obviously, and a great aesthetic basis for doing fun stuff with flipping the look) or NieR (we wouldn't use the music directly but would do some wild rock flips of it)

Andrew: There are so so many dream collabs I would love to do with UNBEATABLE... but, as RJ mentioned, some of these are very real possibilities, so I'll be keeping my lips zipped for now :)

Jeff: I keep trying to think of collabs that would be dreams, but you know what they say about dreams, they can always come true! So might need to keep it close to my chest. although...if anyone has contacts to the BEMANI sound team i am all ears...bunny ears?

Clara: lots... if i can sneak one mention in here... i'd love to work on something with mui zyu. she has SUCH a cool way of writing songs that sounds unlike anything else i've ever heard.'

Q: Will there be another opportunity to back the game or deluxe edition releases of the game? Let me give you money!

Jeff: I appreciate the thought, but at the moment, we have no plans to start a new Slacker Backer campaign. There are still ways to support us (merch at conventions, the PayPal donate button at the front page, and purchasing DEMO TAPES), but save those hard earned dollars for when it's out!

RJ: by definition, this is what a pre-order is, so if/when a pre-order opens for a deluxe edition that may/may not be potentially in the works, then.................yes. but nothing like that exists yet. or does it?

Andrew: rj is being very cute but no we don't have a deluxe edition or a preorder page or anything yet please don't go searching for it (when That Happens we will be sure to let y'all know)

Conclusion:

UNBEATABLE features a double album worth of original songs, complete with acoustic versions and remixes. The music is not just a backdrop but a core component that drives the gameplay and narrative forward. Unlock songs by playing through the story or solely through arcade challenges.