In 2021, the Kickstarter campaign began for indie developer D-Cell game’s first title, UNBEATABLE, a narrative-based rhythm/adventure game where music is illegal, yet your band still plays. The project blew up on the internet. Within just 15 hours, the Kickstarter was fully funded, with just under $270,000 being pledged from a total of 5,587 backers by the very end. Thanks to the massive success of the Kickstarter, D-Cell games reached several stretch goals as well, leading D-Cell to release a demo soundtrack to fans, alongside a free-to-play demo in 2021. This demo, titled UNBEATABLE: [White Label], helped to tide fans over until the final release.
As of this past April, a second, updated demo has been released, showing off how far the game has come in terms of implementing its narrative-driven aspects. Fan excitement dropped off for a while within the span of 4 years that the game has been under development; however, with the recent release of a new demo and news of the game’s planned release date being shared, fan excitement is back like never before.
In terms of its base rhythm gameplay, UNBEATABLE shares striking resemblances to a few rhythm games, namely PeroPero Game’s Muse Dash, with its two-lane side-scrolling action style of rhythm combat, which itself is reminiscent of the classic arcade rhythm game from Bandai Namco, Taiko no Tatsujin. The defining factor that sets UNBEATABLE apart from its predecessors, however, is its clever twisting of different rhythm game mechanics with outside-of-the-box gameplay choices that bring multiple kinds of rhythm gameplay together to create a more well-rounded experience. Ramping up the difficulty of its Taiko-esque style of rhythm gameplay, UNBEATABLE sees its main character and her band battle through more than just two lines of notes, as the recent trailer released to YouTube shows two more lines appearing from the left side of the screen as extra band members join in on the music. Not only this, but footage of the game’s arcade mode—described on their Steam page as an entire game by itself—shares resemblance with Nintendo’s Rhythm Heaven series due to the quick time event, contextual reaction time-based rhythm game fun featured in the arcade mode minigame where the main character has to swing her baseball bat, timing her swings to the baseballs being repeatedly lobbed her way.
Fans of all kinds of rhythm games, vibrant anime art styles, and angsty alt-rock are sure to be excited for the imminent release of UNBEATABLE to PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC via Steam on November 6.