What does a onion sprout and music have in common? Nothing but if given the chance they'll come ready to rock your world with awesome rhythms in an out-of-this-world atmosphere.

Story And Gameplay

Rhythm Sprout is a fast-paced rhythm game developed by SURT and published by tinyBuild in which you play as Sprout, the chosen onion, who's been tasked by King Brock to help find a missing Count and face the cute, yet evil Sweet Villains. 

Currently, the demo of the game is available to download on Steam and the game is said to come out early 2023.

You start off your adventure with a few words from the King before sending you off. On the way, you encounter sweet enemies you must defeat to keep the inhabitants from Vegetable Kingdom and Fruitopia safe. You move and fight by pressing on the correct notes when prompted. The 3D environment is unique, colorful and blends amazingly well with the music you're currently vibing to in game. 

Talking about the music, this games features a lot of different genres like: Disco, K-pop, Hip-Hop, Lo-fi, EDM, Metal and so much more. For the demo, you get to play 5 different levels with a hilarious story line that seems to have been created precisely to tease you and make you fall in love with Sprout while you both face on enemies to the beat of the drums. 

If awesome beats and a cute atmosphere weren't enough, the game also offers some unique level modifiers that are guaranteed to keep you entertained for hours on end:

• Turbo Mode in which you can speed up any song.
• Shuffle allows you to switch up the notes to create a unique map.
• Mirror Mode refreshes your memory of the notes. In other words, tests how much you actually remember.
• Totally Random Mode in which everything changes constantly and there's not an established pattern.

Controls

When you begin the game, you're able to calibrate the keys you'll use to play based on both sounds and visuals cues. Don't worry, if the keys aren't to your liking, you can change them later in settings. Also, the game features a controller option, which you can also modify if you choose to. 

Basically, there are 3-4 buttons depending how you play. If you chose arrows or controller, it's 3 buttons while if you choose key bindings it's 4. The reason for this is that the blue notes serve as a "dodging" mechanism in the game and every time you encounter them, you either hit it or you lose a life point, this is the only active note that if you miss, affects your health. Later in the game you also encounter "fake notes" which you must avoid at all cost.

Personally, I played with both: key bindings and controller. Playing with the controller felt more enjoyable to me but it really just comes down to personal preference since, if you use the arrow keys, you're able to also play really well. However, I tried binding my keys to the mouse and it wouldn't let me.

Pros and Cons

Pros

• Play however you want. As previously stated, the game offers a variety of customizations to make your experience as personal as possible.
• Customization. Who doesn't want to make their Sprout look epic in a new spiffy outfit? I'm down for it!
• The music is just absolutely wonderful, no matter the track you're listening to, you'll surely be delighted. 
• Humor. It gets me every single time... and this game did it majestically. The puns and the jokes are superb.
• Difficulty options. Found the level too hard? Try it on easy! For the demo, only normal and easy were available but I do imagine the final piece will have hard mode too, maybe even an ultra evil nightmare mode. 

Cons

This is the first time I stumble upon a game I have absolutely nothing negative to say about. So, heads up to other rhythm games out there, Rhythm Sprout is coming for you.

Rating:      

(On a scale of 1-5, being 5 the absolute best)

We've come a long way since the days of DDR, Guitar Hero and Project Diva. I'm a sucker for music and I'm down to try any new music based game I can find. Let me tell you, when I saw this game, I honestly wasn't expecting much of it, another rhythm game with cute graphics where you must press tiles or notes in a timely manner to be able to get the highest combo possible.  I was certainly fooled since as soon as I loaded Rhythm Sprout, I fell in love with the characters, the ambience and the awesome story that follows the demo. The beats are on a whole different level. I would often found myself dancing and headbanging! Yes, that's how good they were. The demo is also packed with jokes that made me chuckle and ugly laugh a good couple of times, especially when you meet Bapples (thank me later). I'm pleasantly impressed and can't wait to play the full release!

Coming soon to:

Steam (Demo out now!)

Switch

Xbox

PlayStation

Find out more about Rhythm Sprout here!