Developer/ publisher Ichigoichie

Format PC, consoles TBA

Origin Japan, Sweden

Release 2022

From tactical DJs to puzzle-led funk jams: Ichigoichie’s follow-up to 2019’s Hexagroove proves the studio knows a bit about fusion. “I’m into Casiopea and stuff like that, and my partner is a bit more into soul, like American Motown groups,” creative director David Ventura says. The game might be built upon similar musical foundations to its predecessor, but it takes a very different approach: rather than working the crowd on your own, you need to work together as a group. “Not everybody can be doing solos all the time,” Ventura adds, noting that collaboration is crucial when you’re sharing the stage with up to three other people. “You need to not step on their toes.”

Backbeat takes that last point rather literally. Set in the ’90s, it follows Watts, a young woman to whom we’re introduced as she sounds out the opening riff from Pearl Jam’s Jeremy on her bass. Yet she soon has her musical horizons expanded, as she attends a gig by funk band The Mesatones. Before long, she’s roped in keytar player Toshi, and the two find themselves making their way to a rehearsal space in her parents’ house. Your job is to steer them both there, moving step by step across the grid-based environment and turning to avoid bumping into obstacles. Get them there successfully and a four-beat counts them in as their actions are replayed as a sparse but catchy groove.