Charlie Disco is back from the dead! Resurrected 10 years after his death, he’s made a deal with “someone” to do the gig of a lifetime! With only one night on Earth, he must dance and battle through waves of enemies to bring the band back together – even if it kills him – again.
Currently in Early Access, Dead as Disco describes itself as “martial arts meets music video”, which, to be honest, is an apt description. It’s a third-person, 3D, rhythm-based brawler focused on boss arena fights. You decide which band-mate you want to “recruit”, then face them and their fans to get them to rejoin.
While fighting, the member’s original music plays, and you must time your attacks to the beat for maximum effect! This naturally makes each fight feel epic, and the cut-scenes that bookmark the battle’s progression give Dead as Disco a godly presentation.
Murder on the Dance Floor
Combat is slick and responsive, while starting your toolkit feels a bit simple and lacking; each fight gives you resources to use (in Dead as Disco’s case, it’s fans) to upgrade your skills and resilience. Defeating each band member also unlocks their signature “Idol Attack” that you can equip up to four of. The resources can also be used to unlock cosmetics for Charlie and to upgrade “the Encore”, the club used as a mission hub run by your mentor/adoptive father, Stix.
Recruiting band members isn’t as simple as beating them, though; they will start hanging out at the Encore, where you’ll get side missions to earn their full cooperation. Each step will also reveal details about that fateful night ten years ago.
Currently, five of the seven members are available. So the story isn’t complete yet, but that doesn’t mean Dead as Disco is lacking; the infinite disco mode is where the game really shines.
Bring Your Playlist
Infinite Disco is an arcade mode loaded with over 30 songs and over 100 challenges with unique rewards. Early challenges double up as a tutorial of sorts, teaching some of the more advanced moves Charlie has in his repertoire as well as teaching the usefulness of idol moves when unlocked. Challenges can range in difficulty, from simply surviving till the song ends, to taking on two bosses simultaneously, giving Dead as Disco plenty of shelf life.
Infinite Disco also lets you create and share your own challenges with a very in-depth creator that lets you customise everything from the type and amount of enemies to their health, your health, and how much damage is done, etc. But probably best of all is the ability to upload your own music effortlessly through in-game menus. This system has improved a lot since launch: it used to be trial and error to get the tempo right, but now it auto-detects the beat and offset, and through personal testing, I’ve found it extremely accurate.
Open The Doors Early
Even in early access, Dead as Disco feels feature complete, with fully voiced cut-scenes, fleshed-out characters, varied styles of traditional animation, and a killer original soundtrack that the developers regularly update. Dead As Disco’s journey is just beginning and is well worth getting involved with.
Developer: Brain Jar Games, Inc.
Publisher: Brain Jar Games, Inc.
Platforms: PC
Key Provided By PressEngine
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