Review of Rytmos Switch: Music makes the cosmos come to life

Our Verdict

Rytmos is a veritable delight for the music-loving puzzle gamer, with a solid few hours of engaging gameplay, insightful descriptions, and vivid colour. There could be the option of more challenge, and percussion instruments don’t quite live up to their melodious counterparts, but all-in-all, Rytmos is a jam I’m going to have on repeat for a long time.

Games with a strong musical theme often lack substance. Classic games like Guitar Hero and Taiko No Tastujin might be entertaining, but they lack depth and leave you with little more than a few aching fingers from frantically pressing buttons. Then there's Rytmos, a Floppy Club game that makes me look foolish by defying convention and producing a music-focused game that incorporates one of the essential elements of the sonic arts—the abstract concept of "feel"—while also providing a planetary record collection featuring the most brilliant compositions from our own rock.

Since I paid for my degree, I should know that I consider myself something of a musicologist, thus I should begin my review by stating that I am aware that I fall into Rytmos' target market. However, it also allows me more room to evaluate how this game interprets ideas like "world music," which encompasses a wide range of fascinating genres like an ugly big blue tarpaulin. As a result, I can state right away that this game's approach to musical cultures is as thorough as any you'll find outside of dry academic journals and dated NPR documentaries.

Now that's out of the way, let's discuss the fundamental gameplay concepts that underpin Rytmos—or rather, propel it into orbit. Every level starts with you gazing at a six-sided globe that represents a particular musical genre; they include Ethiopian jazz, German electronic music, and Zimbabwean Mbira music. The six riddles are spread out over the earth, and your goal is to solve them all. Each problem you solve will add a new layer to the audio tapestry that is being revealed right before your eyes. When the puzzle is finished, you may send that mother into space and add a stylish record to your collection while jamming out to the rhythm you made with the planet's associated instrument.

The goal of the challenging small puzzles is to link a route from the starting point to include certain markers and then return to the original. The trick is that once you start a line, you can't stop until you reach an edge. As a result, what at first glance seems to be a simple way to link up may rapidly turn into a bother—albeit a creative one. More difficult dynamics appear as you go through the planets, but despite what I've said, they never seem gimmicky, and the range of musical styles linked to the orbiting rocks keeps things interesting again and over.

I claim more difficult planets show up, but the riddles are seldom really difficult. This is somewhat appropriate since Rytmos isn't meant to have you yelling at the same problem for four hours, as you can see from every aspect of the game. If you do, however, start to need a little more of a challenge, it doesn't actually materialize. But you can't always have your cake and eat it, so any day of the week I'll be drawing shapes in Rytmos or choosing between this and a problem that will make my head spin.

The upside of Rytmos' lack of a mind-blowing task is that each planet's trials have a zen-like quality to it, evoking memories of games like Monument Valley, Golf Peaks, or Cuzzle. The puzzles aren't meant to blow your mind; rather, they work in tandem with the music to create what could be described as the ideal diversion. It's almost the opposite of games like Candy Crush, which require a high level of engagement and have consequences for failing, but they manage to trick the brain into unlocking more levels in a similar manner. As someone who devoured Rytmos in two sittings and returned for second and third helpings, I say this.

From the purple and black harshness of Das System, the German electro-inspired zone, to Kame, the brown, green, and blue of the Mbira-inspired planet reflecting the colors of the earth and the plains of Zimbabwe, Rytmos cleverly pairs its musical compositions with mini-worlds that aptly embody them. Despite the stark contrasts between these two genres, Rytmos succeeds in making every planet seem completely at home and a part of the same cosmos.

As I previously said, you may add a few notes to the loop by using the instrument unique to the planet after solving its problems. A melodic instrument having four distinct note possibilities or a randomizer button to enter your sounds works well with this mechanism. Examples of such instruments include the electric guitar and organ. When it comes to percussion instruments, it doesn't sound nearly as well, with just two tones that, try as you may, never exactly suit the background track's rhythm. Nevertheless, you should still experiment with each instrument.

When your loop is perfect, you may launch the planet into orbit to join a chorus of other celestial bodies. Meanwhile, your completed track gets reduced in size and becomes a vinyl record with a cover art of its own, which you can then add to your collection. Completing a planet while seeing the record appear in your expanding record collection gives you a real feeling of fulfillment. What's more, you can listen to that groove whenever you want.

The audio quality of the music you contribute to by completing the puzzles on each planet is clean and clear, and even the neutral level choice hidden screen has pleasant tones that prime the ears for the goodies you'll find when you're on your way to jamming throughout the galaxy. The deliberate selection of color tones and melodic palettes makes Rytmos seem lively and enjoyable to play. I used to spend a minute or so listening to the whole piece after finishing a planet, nodding my head in agreement, and then leaping out of the gravitational sphere to go to the next location.

But there's more to this than simply a few cool songs, riddles, and planets—you can learn something new as well. Each unlocked planetary genre and instrument has some context—a brief account of how it came to be, frequently including the cultural origins that throws some light on both Rytmos' and our own musical universes—attached. Rest assured, Rytmos is by no means pushing this stuff down your throat.

Using captivating puzzles to show players what they're losing out on when they lump many genres under the heading of global music regardless of culture, place of origin, or even sound similarities, Rytmos seems to me like the greatest music museum you've ever visited. Of course, the world of Kraftwerkian synths throws up some instantly recognizable musical tones, but I think the game truly shines on the stages with much less accessible Western music. It's teaching you something while you're having fun—something my physics instructor said me was impossible—and it's teaching you something really significant about music, which is ultimately a remnant of distinct civilizations, or rather their collisions.

It's important to note that the game runs flawlessly on the Switch, as you would anticipate from a title that seems to have been expertly detailed by a passionate development team. The audio and visual synchronization is flawless, the gameplay is seamless, and there are no latency or stutters, which enhances the experience when you solve a problem and everything fits in with the pace. Even now, while I'm writing about it, all I want to do is pounce on Kame and give me some trouble.

Now that Rytmos is available on Switch, I heartily urge you to put on your finest headphones, draw the shades, and allow this painstakingly created game to take you to an interplanetary music museum featuring sounds that exemplify the best of what our own small rock can produce culturally, if only you could peel back the layers of what you thought you knew about sounds from around the globe. I promise it's worth the cost of admission.

If you were interested in learning more about how the game helped shape Ustwo Games into what it is now, be sure to read our Monument Valley interview. You may also check out our selection of the top music games for extra jam-packed fun.