It has been a bit since I played a game like Vampire Survivors. It’s always fun to sit back, relax, and zone out to a game like that. There is just something so attractive to a game that I really don’t have to focus on so much. Just walking around and slaughtering a bunch of baddies to a great soundtrack is all I want, and that is what I got this week.

This week is Kill the Music.

Kill the Music is a rhythmic, action rogue-lite from Nikko Nikko. That’s all I have, and now that’s all you have.

As I mentioned above, Kill the Music is all about vanquishing hordes of spooky music-related baddies from a haunted venue. Play as a normal-looking ghost-hunting musician and choose you favorite musical instrument.

Much like Vampire Survivors, Kill the Music has that auto-attack system. The main mechanical difference is that keeping the beat is important for special attacks (SOLO) that will deal HUGE amounts of damage to enemies. To boot up a run in Kill the Music, all that needs to be done is choose a starting weapon. It might be a guitar that hits on the sides, a bass that does a small AOE attack, or a keyboard that deals damage as it spins around you. Load in, and you are confronted with three challenges that range in difficulty and rewards.

Things like healing, max speed, and health are generally offered, and the player is then given a stipulation. Survive an amount of time or kill a certain number of enemies to complete the level. Levels are short, ranging from 1 to 3 minutes, from what I’ve experienced. The demo offers 8 total levels that ends in a boss fight that rocked my ass twice.

At the end of level, you are given an option of a perk to pick up: Healing, a weapon, attack increase, damage increase.

Kill the Music has a nice balance of challenge and rewards that feels like the character is evolving into an unstoppable ghost-killing machine.

Kill the Music has got me thinking about Cowboy Bebop with its choice of art direction. The flat background colors that mix with the super bright foreground color make everything pop. This translates to the playable levels. Enemies are a flat white and are music-themed. Floating speakers, maybe a spaghetti monster, flying music flyers, the list goes on. All of this combines into a great lookin video game so far.

The soundtrack is good so far. I’m really liking how it fits so well within the gameplay that I want to fully engage myself with the metronome to build up my special attack all the time. I like that every time I complete a level a little melody plays that ends with a nasty guitar sound.

Yeah, I think Kill the Music is super dope so far. It’s got a good premise, a mechanic that sets it apart from other auto-attacker games, and the music is top tier. Kill the Music has some promise and I cannot wait to play more of the demo.