“A fun, musical RPG with a rocking soundtrack”
Developed by Ritual Studios and published by Playdigious Originals, Fretless: The Wrath of Riffson is a pixel art RPG that is fun and, at times absurd, and hits most of the right notes.
We follow Rob, a young musician from the town of Harmony Heights who’s aim is to win the battle of the bands that is being presented by Super Metal Records. Along the way he discovers that Super Metal Records’ vile boss, Rick Riffson, is using the competition to enslave artists and release musical monstrosities into the world, which Rob must do battle with.
To do battle you must utilise the games turn-based RPG mechanics, deck-building, and rhythm-based Quick Time Events. Rob can wield one of four instruments, an acoustic guitar, bass guitar, synthesizer, or electric guitar. Each of these has unique “Riffs” that represent attacks, buffs, debuffs, or shields. When it is your turn, you draw six Riffs and can select up to three to play, with Quick Time Events tied to the beat of the music, these amplify damage or reduce the effect of incoming hits if you get your timing right. There is a great deal of satisfaction when you nail the beat and land a critical hit.
There is a mechanic called the Crescendo which functions as an ultimate attack that triggers a mini-game that involves hitting notes in sequence and delivering massive damage. Each instrument’s Crescendo has its own visual flair, my favourite being the synthesizer, which delivers a distinctly 80’s feel. The Boss fights are fun and introduce a unique set mechanics that test timing and strategy.
Your instruments can be modified by upgrading them with mods that you gather along the way, like pickups or strings, and you can equip pedals for passive bonuses. The monsters that you do battle with on your journey are interesting and take various forms, each with a musical slant, like spiders that are amps, or a crab with a tuning fork. Weird, but fun.
Away from the combat the exploration aspect of the game is simple and linear, as you enter different biomes with musical names such as Songwood Forest or the Tunedra. And there are some light puzzles to solve to open up certain areas, nothing to complicated just block-pushing or colour sequences, which do add something a bit different but I feel were not really necessary. You just want to get on with the battles which are the real highlight of the game.
The story itself is simple but fun, and offers up plenty of music themed gags. A host of NPCs offer some light relief along your journey, and are there to either help or hinder you, but don’t expect any depth to the story or the characters, but then it’s not really needed, the musical battles are what keep you moving forward.
Visually, the pixel art world is well designed with each biome being unique, and the afore mentioned instrument inspired monsters are wonderfully creative, a lizard with a xylophone for a back being a particular favourite.
The sound design is a stand out, with a soundtrack that features contributions from Rob Scallon (on whom our lead character is roughly based), Northlane, Cult of Luna, and Davie504. The musical genres shift between folk, rock, and 80s synth nicely, and the sounds that inhabit the environment, like flowers that chime as you walk through them add to the immersive nature of the world.
I’ve seen some reviewers say that the combat tracks felt a little repetitive and that the absence of vocals was a missed opportunity, but I didn’t find that to be the case at all. The game is not overly long, running at about the 7-8 hour mark, and there aren’t different difficulty levels to chose from which could limit replayability, although the soundtrack alone makes me want to take another run at it.
All in all Fretless: The Wrath of Riffson is a fun little indie game which combines RPG and deck-building mechanics and delivers a solid musical love letter to, well, music. Whether you’re an old rocker, or like me, can’t play a lick, Fretless will put a smile on your face, and for brief moment you can pretend that you’re a rock God.
Fretless: The Wrath of Riffson is available on Steam for PC at £12.79, or if you fancy, a bundle is available which includes the OST and is currently 15% off at £15.88.
