During today’s Xbox & Bethesda Developer_Direct presentation, Tango Gameworks announced Hi-Fi Rush, a rhythm-action game for Xbox Series X/S and PC. It launches later today and will be included on Xbox Game Pass.
The game follows a young man named Chai who fights with an electric guitar. An electrifying soundtrack plays in the background, and all of Chai’s attacks will add to the rhythm. Everything moves to the game’s beat, including enemy attacks, cutscenes, and dungeon traps. It also has a combat-grading system like in the Devil May Cry franchise. Chai isn’t alone in his fights; he has comrades such as his cat, 808.
An evil corporation wants to get rid of Chai after it mistakenly fuses a music player with his heart. It also seems like the corporation’s top members have something more nefarious in store for Chai. As Chai fights his way through different departments, he’ll eventually come across bosses that are spectacular set pieces. The game is presented in a cel-shaded style similar to a comic book.
This is Tango Gamework’s first project since Ghostwire: Tokyo last year. That game is currently a timed exclusive on PlayStation 5, but it’ll likely come to Xbox Series X sometime around March 2023 or later. With Hi-Fi Rush releasing so soon, Tango Gameworks didn’t provide any details on what its next project would be.
Hi-Fi Rush is definitely a departure from what the studio is typically known for, which are horror and creepy games like The Evil Within, The Evil Within 2, and Ghostwire: Tokyo. If you want to try it, the title should be live on Xbox Game Pass later today (though its not live at the time of writing).
Google Play is borrowing one of the Nintendo Switch’s most useful little tricks. A new Sidekick tool called Playbacks captures a short clip after something interesting has already happened, sparing players from running a screen recorder throughout an entire game.
Playbacks is part of Google Play Store v53.8 and keeps saved clips on the phone. Google first announced it earlier this month, but the new Play Store update marks its arrival for players. Anyone who has watched a perfect win vanish because the record button came too late already understands the appeal.
Imagine tapping a Zelda icon on your iPhone and jumping straight into Hyrule. A new open-source project called nxnative makes that possible by repackaging Switch games you’ve bought into apps for iPhone, iPad, and Mac, with no emulator in the middle.
Why does this run so well on Apple devices?