People of Note: Everything We Know

A blend of media isn’t entirely a new concept, between games and film, anime, or music. Often, it’s borrowing tidbits here and there, and mixing them up in the cutscenes, artistic themes, and combat styles. But now, People of Note seeks to create entire music videos in story and combat video gaming form. Sounds exciting, doesn’t it? 

The music videos aren’t just entertaining mixtapes and performances by the characters and the villains they fight. It’s not just K-pop Demon Hunters that you can sit back, hand stuffed in a popcorn bucket. It’s a hands-on experience that you’ll not only be engrossed in via story but also in turn-based combat. 

You’re not only a contestant in the famed Noteworthy Song Contest, evolving the performances from purely pop to rock-and-roll and more, but also striving to beat the antagonistic mercenaries looking to destroy your world. Find out more in our People of Note: Everything We Know article below.

What is People of Note?

Combine musicals and gaming, and you’ll have People of Note, roughly. It’s a blend of genres, featuring a musical narrative adventure and turn-based role-playing gameplay elements. In the game, you’ll play as Cadence, a contestant on the Noteworthy Song Contest. It’s the most popular event in the city of Chordia, where the winner achieves coveted stardom. 

You won’t be alone in the contest, though, recruiting other musicians to help you on your quest. And while they’ll be by your side as you put up a fascinating musical performance, they’ll also be in your party group, engaging in turn-based combat. Essentially, every battle is enacted via a musical performance, while all along, you unlock new combat skills and mashup attacks.

Story

Get ready for some comfort musical drama, following Cadence and her rise through the ranks of the Noteworthy Song Contest. Initially, she doesn’t qualify as a solo singer. However, she changes strategies, exploring music genres besides pop, and recruiting band members by her side. It’ll take exploration of the neon punk city, to the EDM, Rock, and more regions of this stunning universe. You’ll meet awesome musicians to join your party, but at the same time, face danger from dark forces. Your bandmates then become not just musicians but also fighters, working to restore the natural harmonies of your home. 

Gameplay

People of Note is described as a musical turn-based RPG. And so, you should expect to play through a story-driven narrative, controlling exciting characters who engage in thrilling turn-based combat. This unique game plans to merge battles with musical performances, syncing your attacks to the beat of the music, while unlocking new “combat conditions” and “genre-bending mashup attacks.”

Key Features

Among the key features you can look forward to are full-length cinematic musical sequences, seen briefly in the trailer, encompassing varied musical genres. Your main characters will perform enthusiastic songs on stage, but also engage in turn-based combat at the same time. It’ll be a rhythm-based combat system, syncing your attacks to the music and amplifying damage output on enemies based on the tempo. 

With the changing of the notes of the music you perform to, you’ll also change combat strategies, making for dynamic battles in real-time. Moreover, your party members will help you in battle, bringing in their unique strategies based on their current musical genres. And as a result, you’ll unlock satisfying musical mashup attacks. 

A key aspect of your playthrough will be the exploration of a massive world run by musical harmonies. With each new region you visit, there’s a new genre of music attached to it, adding uniqueness and culture. Environments look colorful and vibrant from the trailer, with dungeons, too, harboring “offbeat enemies” and “clever environmental puzzles.”

It seems you have it all in People of Note, with additional freedom of choosing how you play. If you don’t like the puzzles, you can switch them off. The same goes for the turn-based combat. Overall, it’ll be a customizable experience that seems to let you pick and choose the gameplay elements you’d like to interact with. I suppose you can choose to watch the musical performances only, like music videos streaming back-to-back on YouTube, or toss it all out in favor of the combat alone. Certainly exciting times ahead.

Development

Shepherding People of Note’s development is Iridium Studios, while Annapurna Interactive handles the publishing. You might not be familiar with Iridium Studios, which is an indie development team operating out of Los Angeles, California. So far, they have put out a real-time strategy game called There Came an Echo in 2015.

Annapurna Interactive, however, may be more known to you, thanks to their widespread involvement in publishing multiple games. Branching off from Annapurna Pictures, they have helped market and launch several innovative indie games, including Stray, Neon White, and Outer Wilds. Alongside People of Note, they have also revealed D-topia and Demi and the Fractured Dream as upcoming games at the Tokyo Game Show 2025 event.

Trailer

Gotta admit, the song featured in the People of Note reveal trailer already has me hooked. Kind of giving Rewrite the Stars from the Greatest Showman vibes, and I’m all here for it. It’s an already high note that Annapurna Interactive is picking up from that’s got gamers hyped. If the songs are good, the turn-based combat is spicy and fun, and toss in some puzzles and story drama, this should be a pretty juicy treat for any low-key fans of musicals and Broadway. 

Release Date, Platforms, & Editions

People of Note is set to arrive in 2026. It’s not clear yet when exactly this might be, but we’re keeping our ears to the ground for any new announcements. Meanwhile, you can add it to your wishlist to be kept in the loop on any updates. The specific stores are Steam and Epic Games for PC platforms, PlayStation for PS5, and Xbox for Xbox Series X/S. Adding the game to your wishlist is also how you’re likely to find out if there’ll be any editions available for preorder.