Dead as Disco

You’ve got to make some of your own fun with Dead As Disco, otherwise your time with this current Early Access version will be over pretty quick compared to the cost of entry. If you’re in it for the long-haul, though, the development roadmap for the game promises a massive amount of new content, including an entire co-op mode. We’ll have to see if the game sticks the landing once it hits 1.0, but for now it’s already off to an incredibly strong start. [Early Access Review]

Dead As Disco has a fantastic soundtrack. Adding to it the option to add your own music turns it from a great game to a game that i will not stop talking about for a long time. [Early Access Score = 95]

Even with those issues, it is hard not to admire what Brain Jar Games has already accomplished. Dead as Disco feels creative, stylish, and surprisingly ambitious. The combat feels fantastic, the soundtrack is excellent, and the game’s identity is unlike anything else currently in the genre. With more refinement and additional content, this could easily become one of the standout rhythm action games in recent years. As it is, Dead As Disco is great for some quick sessions, but needs more content for long-term engagement. Thankfully, Brain Jar Games has already published a roadmap, and players can expect an encore soon. [Early Access Score = 70]

By the time Dead as Disco exits early access, it should be one for the ages. For now, however, it’s an excellent early access offering that masterfully blends 3D beat ’em up combat with some sick beats. [Early Access Review]

Dead as Disco has a distinct vision for what it wants to be and ultimately, it’s a wildly entertaining first step. Early Access is the perfect opportunity for Brain Jar Games to release its rhythm-based beat ’em up into the wild and work with players while they take this concept to its current limits. As engaging as most of its Idol fights are right now, the true gem of Dead as Disco is going to be its custom mode where players fight to the beat of their own music. Ripe for content, I think this one may turn out to be a hit.

It still needs work in some areas. Tutorials need expanding, the collectables need clearer visibility, and a few systems could communicate information better. But those problems feel fixable because the foundation underneath them is already solid. More than anything, my Dead as Disco review comes down to how memorable the game feels. It is stylish without feeling hollow, angry without feeling preachy, and difficult without becoming unfair (most of the time, it needs some tweaks). This isn’t my one perfect 10/10 game for the year, but it gets super close, and I genuinely think the full release could end up being something special. [Early Access Score = 90]

Dead As Disco is built on a solid foundation of beat-based combat that feels responsive and enjoyable, and it's elevated by a truly great soundtrack. However, with run-of-the-mill levels and not much else to engage with aside from said combat, Dead As Disco runs out of steam incredibly quickly and becomes quite repetitive. [Early Access Score = 60]