Instead of high-spec graphics, Hi-Fi Rush has a cartoonish art style and takes place in a world filled with robots
(Picture: Xbox/ Tango Gameworks)Xbox dropped a bombshell during its latest online showcase on Wednesday by announcing and releasing a brand-new game, Hi-Fi Rush, within the space of a few hours.
Created by Japanese-based Tango Gameworks, the same developers behind the hit game franchise The Evil Within (and the more recent, hastily forgotten Ghostwire: Tokyo), Hi-Fi Rush is a departure from the studio’s more recent work.
Instead of high-spec graphics, the game has a cartoonish art style and takes place in a world filled with robots — in fact, the player character, Chai, has a robotic arm.
Chai wants to be a rock star and the game has a heavy musical theme: players are challenged to time their attacks to the beat of the soundtrack, which makes you more likely to hit your enemies (and creates some extra percussion in the background music).
Fortunately, there’s a beat bar to help players to keep time — which you’ll need, as you’ll be battling bosses and testing out your melee skills against a variety of baddies.
The news was announced by Xbox’s partner and subsidiary Bethesda during a 45-minute Xbox Developer_Direct reel: the new equivalent to PlayStation’s State of Play events.
Though news of Hi-Fi Rush’s release had been leaked prior to the showcase, the game has been in the works for at least a few years. Tango Gameworks trademarked the title in 2020, but never released any screenshots or trailers until last night.
Hi-Fi Rush is now available to download on Xbox Game Pass, or to purchase separately for £26.99 on Steam and £29.99 on the Xbox store.
What else did we learn from the showcase?
Trailers galore
This is what we tune into showcases for: the chance to see developers boast about the gorgeous games they have coming up. Xbox delivered in this respect, as viewers were given a tour of one of Bethesda’s most-hyped games of the year, the vampire-shooter Redfall. We now know that the game will be open-world, and it looks pretty exciting: the combat looks fantastic and the visuals lean very much into the “black and blood red” colour palette.
Xbox also delivered a sneak peek of the gameplay of its upcoming action-strategy game, Minecraft Legends. This is being developed with Blackbird Interactive, taking all the building blocks from Minecraft Dungeons (ie. blocks and diamond swords) and creating a story-driven campaign where players can explore the world and go to war with the piglins.
Even better, there’ll be a series-first PvP mode, where teams can go head-to-head to build a fortress and lay waste to their enemies.
Forza win
It wouldn’t be an Xbox showcase without some news about the Forza franchise, and Turn 10 Studios popped into chat about Forza Motorsport. From the sounds of it, they’re throwing the kitchen sink at the latest instalment of the game: it’s been billed as “the most technically advanced racing game ever made". The team have promised that the whole game has essentially been rebuilt “from the ground up.”
It’ll be released some time in 2023, so watch this space.
The release dates
A couple of exciting bits and bobs here: Redfall finally has a release date of May 2, 2023, and can be purchased on Xbox Series X/S and PC, as well as via the GamePass.
A date for Minecraft Legends was also announced: fans, set your alarms for April 18, 2023.
What didn’t get announced?
A Starfield release date – or Starfield anything
This was to be expected: Xbox had already confirmed before the event that its monolithic upcoming game Starfield would be getting its own deep-dive event in the near future. It’ll need it: the game is rumoured to contain more than a million lines of dialogue and promises not just an open world, but an open universe for players to explore.
It’s currently slated for a 2023 release, but frankly, we wouldn’t be surprised if this was pushed back…
