No Straight Roads, an upcoming game for PlayStation 4 and PC, was playable at Gamescom 2019 and turned out to be one of the biggest surprises. The game combines rhythm with action-adventure gameplay and it’s certainly shaping up to become a very unique experience.
Welcome to Vinyl City
No Straight Roads is set in Vinyl City, a city where EDM has taken over. Playing as MayDay and Zuke, it’s your mission to bring back Rock music to the city. Of course, it’s far more than just a battle of EDM versus Rock, it goes way deeper than just that. During my hands-on session, it was clear that the plot goes beyond the simplistic battle of genres but also features more meaningful subjects like different visions and different philosophies on what’s going on in the world. It’s a unique concept and thanks to the visual style, it’s really something that easily stands out of the crowd. Besides a fully voiced story, the game excels both visually as gameplay-wise.
Visually speaking, it’s all created in a gorgeous cel-shaded style by the hand of Daim Dziauddin, Street Fighter V’s concept artist. The result is simply put breathtaking. Right from the start, I fell in love with the art direction, especially the character design and craziness of the bosses. The style of the game is extremely unique and it reminded me of games like No More Heroes, where the crazy visuals really added something to the overall gameplay. Since the visuals are totally wack, you can expect the same from the boss battles. I faced off with an intergalactic DJ who threw planets at my face in order to stop me. The more the battle progressed, the crazier it all got, including the stellar soundtrack.
Fight on the rhythm of the music
As if the visual style and soundtrack weren’t enough to convince you, the gameplay of No Straight Roads raises the bar even more. At its core, this is a rhythm-based action game where you’ll constantly switch between the playable characters. It reminded me of The Legend of Zelda: Cadence of Hyrule but set in a 3D world. Everything happens on the beat of the music, so you’ll have to keep a close eye (or ear) on that. In order to know when the enemies will attack, you’ll just have to listen to the beat. It’s a bit difficult at first but once you found the right rhythm, it’s an incredible experience. Attacking on the beat, dodging on the beat, and delivering special attacks on the beat, it puts you in a sort of momentum that’s just extremely addictive. I easily got lost in the flow of the music while playing and this alone resulted in an unforgettable experience. The soundtrack of the level I got to play combined Rock with EDM music, offering one of the best tunes I ever encountered in a game.
At these points, where the music just clicks with the action, the game reminded me a lot of Nier: Automata. The developers really put their heart and soul into this project, which reflected on the quality of the game. This isn’t something that’s been done hundreds of times, it’s a unique game with its own unique mechanics. Switching between the characters enables you to heal up, deliver different special attacks, and overall adds an extra layer of strategy to the game. It’s not just a gimmick since the two characters play a lot differently from each other, really giving you an extra edge during the fast-paced combat.
Early conclusion:
No Straight Roads was one of the biggest surprises of Gamescom 2019, offering a unique concept and combining it with stellar graphics and a catchy soundtrack. It’s a high-paced rhythm-based game that’s easy to pick up but hard to put back down. I simply can’t wait to discover all the crazy ideas and boss fights when this game launches next year.