PREVIEW / FIRST IMPRESSIONS
Written byDethyan
MR. RECORDS got me with the art almost immediately.
It looks incredible. Not just “nice art direction” incredible, either. There were moments where it genuinely felt like I had jumped into some weird animated music video. Everything is constantly moving, changing, reacting to the music, and the exaggerated characters fit the whole thing perfectly.
It has a lot of personality.
The music helps a lot with that too. I really liked what was available in the demo, and honestly, hearing more of the soundtrack is already one of the main reasons I want to play the full game.
What I wasn't expecting to enjoy this much was the idea of mixing a rhythm game with running a record store.
During the day you're helping people who come into the shop and trying to figure out what kind of record they're looking for. Then you actually play those records through the rhythm sections. It's a strange combination when you describe it out loud, but while playing it feels completely natural.
And I like that the songs aren't just stages sitting on a level-select screen. You're getting to know the records you're eventually recommending to people in the shop, so the two parts of the game actually have a reason to exist together.
The rhythm side was definitely my favorite part of the demo.
At first it's pretty easy to get into, but Hard is where I started having a lot more fun. It's difficult. I screwed up plenty of times. But it never felt ridiculous or unfair. I always felt like I could do better on the next attempt, which made replaying a song much more enjoyable.
And since I liked the music anyway, retrying wasn't exactly a punishment.
The store itself felt much simpler.
The first customers are pretty easy to understand, and figuring out what they want doesn't require much effort yet. But I also don't think that's something I can really criticize based on this demo.
There just aren't that many records or customers available at this point.
Once the catalogue gets bigger and you're dealing with more people, more genres and more clues about what someone is actually looking for, I can easily see that side becoming much more interesting.
At least, that's what I'm hoping happens.
That's probably the biggest question I have after playing the demo. I already know I like the rhythm game. I already know I love the way it looks and sounds. What I still want to see is how much the record-store side grows once the game opens up.
Because the basic idea is really good.
And more than anything, the demo left me curious.
I want more songs. I want to see how crazy the later stages get. I want more customers walking into the shop with increasingly specific requests. I want to see what happens when my record collection stops being small enough that I immediately know what everyone wants.
MR. RECORDS already feels like it knows exactly what kind of game it wants to be.
The art is fantastic, the music worked for me, Hard mode gave the rhythm sections exactly the challenge I wanted, and the record-store idea gives the whole thing an identity beyond simply being another rhythm game.
I don't know yet how deep that second half of the game will become.
It's a demo. I don't think I'm supposed to know yet.
What I do know is that when it ended, I wanted another record.
That's a pretty good place for a demo to leave me.
About this preview
These are first impressions based on what we have played so far. The opinion may change as we spend more time with the game, and a full review is published separately when there is enough material.
— Dethyan / Noobsnoplay