ROCKBEASTS is a hybrid RPG, band manager, rhythm game, and interactive story set during the MTV heyday of the mid-nineties. You play as a faceless manager who has had to leave the big city to start again with a garage band in a backwater town. Your goal is to try to climb back to the top of the music scene, literally going from rags to riches.
I was lucky enough to be invited to sample an early test build of ROCKBEASTS from Team17, and I’ve got to say I had a blast playing it.
The Opening Show
The first thing you notice is the presentation; each character is fluid and has an extraordinary number of animation frames, although it looks like a standard visual novel from static screenshots. I cannot stress enough that this game moves beautifully, almost like an animated TV show or Live2D. You may also notice that the character designs are anthropomorphic creatures that invoke comparisons to shows like Bojack Horseman or similar. Although they do seem like they could slip seamlessly into these universes, there is no official connection outside of our head canon.
Being a dialogue-heavy game, ROCKBEASTS is thankfully fully voice-acted, boasting talent from Baldur’s Gate 3, Cyberpunk 2077, and more. The boat has been pushed fully out in this regard. Being a music-based game, you get some original tracks which are banging, and I found myself bopping along too, and popping back into my head out of the blue.
Although the characters are 2D animated, their personalities are anything but. Each person is a fully fleshed-out personality with their own backstories and flaws. You have Paz on the main guitar, a sceptical, weary sort who hates compromising. Carlton, who is timid but can be the voice of reason, plays bass. The drummer is Keith, a little unhinged, and hides some deep addiction issues. Finally, Vernon is the lead vocalist and songwriter whose ego shadows the rest of the band put together. The band is so dysfunctional that by the time you arrive, they haven’t even decided on a name.
The Headlining Act
After deciding on a name (don’t worry if you’re stuck, ROCKBEASTS provides a lot of comical suggestions) and your managerial rate, it’s up to you to manage the ins and outs of the band’s day life.
Each day is split into four time zones, and you must decide how to best utilise the time. This is split between booking studio time, talking to venues, repairing equipment, arranging interviews, and just trying to keep your talent under control. The band has four stats for you to manage: health, hype, mood, and money. These can be managed in different ways, take the band out for breakfast to increase health, hang out at the music store to increase mood and a little hype, busk on the corner for money, you get the idea.
You need these stats to fulfil opportunities the game throws at you, and trade the points in your stats for another stat focus. Focus is a currency used for stage shows and can be traded for extra flair. This is presented via a collectable card system and is used to plan the stage shows. Want to use that expensive amp? Trade your focus. Want your lead guitarist to play a sick solo? Better have the focus for it.
Each stage show moves the band higher in credibility and opens higher-class gigs from the starting basement show, to niche record shops and avant-garde clubs. The music show itself is an interactive rhythm game with the result depending on how well you, the player, do.
You don’t control the band 24/7. There are plenty of timeskips bookended by a radio interview of the band in the future. You take control of the week before every major gig, so there’s no real downtime in the story. At the beginning of every week, you get a call from an old acquaintance who gives you advice on what the band’s next step is, acting like a meta quest giver and propelling the story forward.
That Solo Performance
You have to make some tough choices as the manager as well. Do you book the swanky club, which will get you more eyes, but you have to shill products in between sets, or the underground cafe, which is where the “in crowd” congregate? A rival band has booked the recording studio for a week and won’t listen to reason. You could pay them off, but there is a guy you know who is handy with a baseball bat… Vernon is being a diva again, do you dress him down or capitulate to his ego for the umpteenth time??
Not every decision that is good for the band is going to win over people, but as the manager, that’s the decision you’re going to have to make, and I found myself really tussling with some of these. I think that goes to show the quality of the writing, as I started caring what the band thought of me and found it kinda heartbreaking when I had to do something that went against their morals to make sure they did the best show. This reminded of my experience with The Alters, another game where I had to chose between two equally awful situations.
ROCKBEASTS is also packed with mini-games to simulate certain tasks. There’s a jigsaw for reassembling broken equipment, a matching game for tuning said equipment, and a stacking game for inventory storage. There was even one point I had to look up (in real life) how a whiskey sour was made.
The Encore
The preview build ended with me having to decide on a music label and planning a farewell tour of the town we started in, but the story doesn’t end there. Although I could play further, it was certainly less refined than this opening chapter. But what I did play was certainly fun with plenty of nods to famous music, musicians, and albums of the time, and I can’t wait to dive back into the era of grunge, rock, and MTV again.
ROCKBEASTS is still in development and is set to release in 2026, but the build I played was so feature-complete I was tempted to give it my final score as is. I highly recommend you stick this in your wishlists and look forward to the full release. I certainly am.
Developer: Lichthund SA
Publisher: Team17
Platforms: PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch, Xbox Series X and Series S, Microsoft Windows
Release: 2026
