I’m going to be honest. My only experience with rhythm games has been as a young Sean, dancing his little heart out in Dance Dance Revolution. But for context – I don’t dislike the genre. I just don’t gravitate towards it. However – at this year’s Future Games Showcase at Gamescom, something grabbed me. It was a rhythm game…merged with a store management simulator. A little title called MR. RECORDS.
MR. RECORDS is an upcoming project from the folks over at Glee-Cheese Studio, with publishing being managed by the team at Wired Productions. And I’ll be honest. The moment I saw this trailer, I thought to myself “Tell me/show me more!”. It’s quirky, it’s colorful, and it’s definitely an homage to music itself. Seriously, the opening song of the trailer is very reminiscent of The Beatles.
We here at Gamer Social Club were able to get our little mitts on an early access version of the upcoming demo. And we would love to share our thoughts and our first impressions of this demo preview!
The World & The Story
The World
So…MR. RECORDS is unique in that the world is…just our apartment above the record shop that we own. The only instances where we “leave” and experience other parts of the “world” is via the rhythm component of the game.
There very well may be more to the “world” that we’ll eventually get to see, but for the purposes of this preview, that’s the only taste of the world that we get.
The Story
So, by day, MR. RECORDS focuses around George and the opening of his record shop and building connections with the various customers that we see on a day-to-day basis. The demo of MR. RECORDS provides only a brief taste of what this experience will be, so we sadly cannot dive too much into it.
At night, George focuses on exploring new music to sell at his shop that will find a home with the varied visitors to the shop.
The Gameplay
Record Shop Management
The shop management aspect of MR. RECORDS is actually pretty straightforward. Customers will tell you what kind of music that they are looking for. And George must use his recall and knowledge of his stock to find that perfect vinyl.
I’ll honestly have to imagine that this will get a bit more difficult in the full version of the game, but in the demo, we only interact with two unique customers – not a lot to manage, as you can guess.
Rhythm Sessions
This is where MR. RECORDS really shines, when it comes to its gameplay. In order to be able to sell a record in the shop, George needs to have an understanding of what the album “offers”. And the only way to do that is to listen to it!
Each unique song that we get a chance to listen to (from funk and hip-hop to 80’s pop and progressive rock) has its own very unique “landscape” to groove to. For example, take a look below!
The rhythm game mechanics themselves focus on four (as of right now) mechanics: jumping, kicking, sliding, and picking up/throwing items. If I were to guess, more mechanics will get introduced in the full version of MR. RECORDS. Additionally, once you clear a song on Normal Mode, you’ll unlock a Hard Mode. Because what rhythm game wouldn’t include this feature?
The Good
Music You Just Want to Bop Your Head To
It goes without saying that the music in MR. RECORDS is absolutely amazing and is clearly drawing inspiration from some real-life acts/performers. Overall, the demo had about six (if I counted correctly) songs to sample.
Truly Unique and Captivating Art Style
The artistic style of MR. RECORDS just pops…that’s the simplest way to put it. It is incredibly vibrant and I have to say, I don’t think I have seen a comparable style in another game.
This gets accentuated even more when we find George in the musical levels of the game and the artistic flair can really shine.
The Bad
Input Delays (Possibly…)
The only slight complaint that I have about MR. RECORDS, and it may just be a me issue, was I definitely had a few instances of input lag. And it definitely wasn’t a “Oh, I was just kind of slow on that one”. No – it was “I hit that button and the game just never logged the input”. Again, I really do have to specify that it might have just been me. But if a rhythm game has input issues/lag…that is a problem, especially as timing is a core mechanic in a rhythm game.
The Overall
Overall, MR. RECORDS was an absolute treat. Reaching a groove state with the beats of the songs with such vibrant visuals was definitely an itch that I must have needed scratched because it was very satisfying.
My sincere hope is that we see more development around this title by Glee-Cheese and that we, hopefully, get a tentative launch date in the near future. Because as of right now, we have the placeholder “To Be Announced” on Steam.
MR. RECORDS is eventually slated for a launch to Steam, Epic Games, GOG, and Nintendo Switch 2.
Gamer Social Club was provided an early access copy of this demo for the purposes of this first impression review. This review was played on PC (Steam).
