Loot and shoot to the beat

Soundfall’s music-based gameplay adds a fresh groove to an otherwise standard dungeon-crawling adventure.

The best looter-shooters, that oh-so trendy new subset of action-RPGs, put you in the zone. Shoot, loot, watch some numbers go up, repeat. Rhythm games also pull you into a flow state, one where your actions sync to the beat and blur the boundary between body and mind. These two genres work well together in Soundfall, a $30 PC game that tasks you with conquering dungeons by attacking enemies in time with the music. The game is about equal to the sum of its parts, not more and not less. However, blasting monsters to the literal beat of your own drum makes for an earworm of an adventure.  

In the land of Symphonia, discordant evil forces threaten to ruin the good vibes. You control an expanding band of heroes who set out to return harmony to the land. As you can see, music rules everything in Soundfall.

Music creates the world around you. Soundfall dynamically generates levels to match with paired tracks. That means you should expect to finish levels around the same time the song finishes, making each level very digestible. Knock out an entire world in the time it takes to finish an album. If you go off the main path to search for secrets, the song simply repeats. Each level also displays its BPM to give you a sense of the pacing.

Once the level begins, it’s time to stay on beat. Soundfall’s rhythm-based, action-RPG gameplay isn’t as strict as, say, Crypt of the Necrodancer. You can move around the Diablo-esque environments however you like without pressure. Still, everything else should be done on beat. Shooting on beat dramatically increases your attack power. Dodging on beat lets you warp between stage sections. Keeping a combo going rewards you with higher scores and more cash to spend on loot in the store. 

Fortunately, Soundfall has a soundtrack that's worth it's gameplay gimmick. Lush, catchy, well-produced tracks span a variety of genres. Fist-pumping rock songs turn volcano levels into jaunts through hell. Folk songs in the forest make you want to do a jig. Many songs also include vocal performances, adding to the production value. Soundall proudly displays the featured song and artists if you want to offer them support. On PC, you can even import your own music to create new procedurally generated levels to grind through in free play. Consider adding a video game soundtrack for an unofficial crossover. 

Soundfall’s musical elements do a good enough job keeping everything in the groove, so you might not notice how unvaried the rest of the game feels in comparison. The more time I sank into this adventure, the more these repetitive elements stood out.

First, the combat. After the rhythm novelty became second nature, I found myself wanting more weapon variety. Although they’re patterned after musical equipment, such as keyboards and boomboxes, most weapons boil down to guns with slightly different firing speeds. Think Destiny, but as a twin-stick shooter instead of a first-person shooter. Once I memorized how the few enemy types behaved, I went on autopilot, completing levels through fun, somewhat mindless rhythmic button presses. I’m not looking for Hades-style breadth and complexity, but I feel like I saw nearly everything Soundfall has to offer only a few hours into a campaign that can last more than 20 hours.

Different characters at least offer unique, secondary weapons and special attacks. Melody’s sword, Jaxon’s axe, and Lydia’s bow all call for different tactics. Loot may also come with special properties determined by its genre. Minuet weapons heal you, while Requiem weapons do chain damage. Certain enemies may be weak to certain music genres, and wearing the right armor protects you from corresponding damage types. Playing specific songs to farm specific kinds of equipment is a fun musical twist on typical loot grinds. 

An easy way to make things more interesting to play with friends. Like any self-respective looter shooter, Soundfall supports four-player, co-op action. Team up with local bandmates or via online play.  

While music is definitely the focus, Soundfall doesn’t forget to look good, too. The colorful, neon aesthetic blends classic, adventure fantasy with modern, magical pop idol music iconography. It reminds me of games like Sayonara Wild Hearts and Tokyo Mirage Sessions. Despite the 2D overhead perspective, characters and environments are all polygonal, with pleasing lighting and graphical flourishes on attacks. However, as with other aspects of the game, there’s a lack of variety. Since levels are procedurally generated, once you’ve played one level in a biome—from forests to beaches to volcanoes—you’ve basically played them all. 

Since timing is so crucial in Soundall, you should prioritize frame rate while tweaking settings. Your PC needs at least an AMD FX-8350 or Intel Core Intel Core i5-3470 CPU, AMD Radeon R9 390X or Nvidia GeForce GTX 660 GPU, 4GB of RAM, and 10GB of storage. I played Soundfall on Steam Deck. Although the game isn’t Deck Verified, it ran at a stable 60 frames per second with few technical issues (outside of some menu hitches during lavish animated transitions). 

Soundfall is a pop song of a game. Its appeal is fleeting and not particularly groundbreaking, but it’s also a breezy good time that pulls you back in again and again. All loot grinds should strive to be this funky. 

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Soundfall’s music-based gameplay adds a fresh groove to an otherwise standard dungeon-crawling adventure.

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In 2013, I started my Ziff Davis career as an intern on PCMag's Software team. Now, I’m an Analyst on the Apps and Gaming team, and I really just want to use my fancy Northwestern University journalism degree to write about video games. I host The Pop-Off, PCMag's video game show. I was previously the Senior Editor for Geek.com. I’ve also written for The A.V. Club, Kotaku, and Paste Magazine. I’m currently working on a book about the history of video games, and I’m the reason everything you think you know about Street Sharks is a lie.

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