Rhythm Town Review (PC)

An avid listener of metal and punk, you can imagine my surprise when what should’ve been a wholesome farmyard happily hopping and swaying to a melodic beat somehow ended up being a circle pit in a pigsty. I wanted to introduce Rhythm Town to its intended soundtrack—one that, at least from what I gathered before installing it, was hopelessly relying on its user to implement low-decibel harmonies and lo-fi beats. But that didn’t happen. Oh, just as soon as I learned that the “game” was really just a cartoon subwoofer with a few frequenting subjects that I could merrily watch flounder and flap to a synchronous world of music, I knew all too well that I’d create something truly horrific. It didn’t match, for the record — but then, perhaps I wasn’t part of the target demographic.

I’d love to say that Rhythm Town is a game-game, but the simple truth is, it isn’t anything of the sort; on the contrary, it’s a sandbox—a liter box, of sorts, that acts on its own accord as you introduce it to the music in your own library. With all sorts of visual equalizers dotted around a fairly compact world that essentially tailor their movements to the tunes that you introduce to the system, it is, in short, an erratic experience that, while not necessarily mind-boggling to play, allows you the freedom to unleash some pretty interesting ideas. Sure enough, you can add items to the world, and you can create scenarios that reflect your oddest musical tastes.

I’m conflicted, in ways, because I’d like to give credit where it’s due and praise originality. But then, I’m not sure if Rhythm Town does enough to warrant a listen. I need to plug in again and figure it out, I guess.

Good Vibrations

The first thing that I needn’t mention is the story. Alas, there isn’t one. No, what you have here, instead, is a customizable suite in which you can place items—pumpkins, cauldrons, emotes, animals, and a whole bunch of completely random doodads and doohickeys—onto a bite-sized portion of land, and then select a track from your own custom playlist to provide the world with a pulse. Naturally, the music that you choose to install is the beating heart of the world’s atmosphere, with loftier beats creating a more chaotic scene, and subtle sounds prizing a calmer, more intimate mood. And if you’re wondering why on earth you would want to build this world in the first place, then hey, join the club.

Rhythm Town advertises itself as a sandbox that promotes “pure creativity and musical relaxation” — and I’m not disputing that, for it does, in all fairness, accomplish what it initially set out to do. Sure, it’s a little on the lower end of the scale visually, and it doesn’t do a whole lot to make you wane and smile at the fickle sight of a makeshift allotment of moving pieces. But it does, strangely, provide you with the basic tools to create petite but oddly wholesome art installations, with its in-house asset wheel providing a fairly sizable selection of objects and cartoon-like bits and bobs of a childish design. I can’t say that I myself fall into the target demographic, but I can sort of see how it would be a sensory haven for the younger, perhaps more imaginative mind.

…And the Beat Stops

The first issue with sandbox games, and the one thing that a great deal of aspiring creators tend to forget, is that memorable games are often forged out of several different pieces. Call them incentives; The Sims, for example, gives you the opportunity to not only build a house, but experiment with different careers, families, and other aspects of life. But in Rhythm Town, there just isn’t much for you to do after you’ve erected that first bridge. With no goals to achieve, and no ending to pursue, you could quite easily mop up all there is to see and do in the first ten minutes. I suppose, when all’s said and done, it largely depends on how much time you want to spend on it. Honestly, though, with no hidden surprises or play-to-win bonuses to work towards, it just isn’t that easy to stick around for.

Don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed the first ten minutes of playing, mainly due to the fact that I was able to toy around with my own tracks and witness how the world would react to the different beats. But as with most niche games, that novelty soon wore off, which led me to a point where I was mostly just fumbling around with random objects until I realized that there wasn’t a lot left for me to explore. I’m not saying that it was all bad, though I’d also be lying if I said that I was enthralled by it for dozens of hours, too. Perhaps, if I was twenty-five years younger, I’d have thought differently.

Verdict

Rhythm Town isn’t so much of a game as it is a small but whimsical sandbox of musical equalizers and random assets for players to jumble around and enjoy for thirty minutes or so. To that end, I’d say that it’s a great choice for the younger pair of hands, though not necessarily for the more experienced gamer whose tastes gravitate towards heavier, more taxing RPGs. And it’s a fantastic starting point for newcomers to the rhythm-based genre, too, with its inclusion of a simple navigation system, colorful set pieces, and stress-free progression generating a pleasant, albeit somewhat short introduction to the field of indie sandboxes.

The truth here is that Rhythm Town isn’t fantastic; if anything, it’s passable. But then, perhaps I’ve seen one too many sandbox titles to know how to spot a bad or otherwise generic egg in a basket of millions. For the record, Rhythm Town isn’t a bad egg, but without an extra leg for it to stand on, or even a second perk for it to promote outside of its standard “musical relaxation” node, it really is quite difficult to shower it with eternal praise. Like I said, it’s passable, though still a far cry from being worthy of an encore.