People of Note

There is now a growing number of games in which music plays a central role without being strictly rhythm-based titles like Guitar Hero and the like. Examples include Unbeatable, The Artful Escape, No Straight Roads, Stray Gods and, of course, the truly brilliant Hi-Fi Rush and Sayonara Wildhearts.

Now there's a new game on the horizon: People of Note, which blends various musical genres with a light-hearted turn-based role-playing game, almost a 'role-playing game light'. If you can accept the simple role-playing mechanics, it actually works quite well.

You take on the role of Cadence, a young woman who dreams of winning a major music competition in her hometown, but after performing her own pop song at an open audition, she is sent home as one of the judges simply doesn't think she's good enough. It turns out, however, that this judge is also the manager of Smolder, the most popular boy band of all time, who are set to win the same music competition for the eighth time in a row, so there may be foul play involved here.

Cadence, however, decides that this is simply not going to happen. She now sets out to assemble a band that can give her a broader musical range, and she does so across various small worlds, each inspired by different musical genres, including Durandis (rock, punk, grunge and metal) and Lumina (electronic music). But as always, unexpected things happen; amongst other things, four magical 'Keys of Note' statuettes come into play right in the middle of it all, and naturally, everything ends up becoming more complicated than Cadence had hoped.

So you set off to explore these small, semi-linear and semi-open themed worlds, where you encounter various (rather good) puzzles to solve, chests to loot and, of course, plenty of turn-based battles against various musical foes. Basically, the battles work just as we're used to in the genre, where you can perform different types of attacks, use various abilities, and heal and boost your party members when it's your turn. When attacking, much like in Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, you must press a series of buttons at the right moment to get the most out of your attack.

In keeping with the game's musical theme, the battles also feature several musical twists along the way. Among other things, each party member has their own musical genre, and when the music playing during battles shifts to one of the genres associated with a party member, that member's stats will be boosted for as long as the music continues in that genre. Another feature is that all members of your party have a mashup gauge, and once this is full, you can perform a mashup attack by combining the different music genres into a single, very powerful musical attack.

It is also worth mentioning that along the way you may encounter so-called "puzzle battles", where, using a set of predefined attributes and weapons, you must defeat enemies in specific ways and within a set number of rounds. There aren't particularly many of them, but they are quite interesting and help you get to know your weapons and abilities really well in this way.

As I said at the start, I'd categorise People of Note as a light role-playing game. In this case, that basically just means it functions like a full-blown RPG, but it's simply not nearly as deep, and there aren't a huge number of stats, attacks or ability upgrades and the like to keep track of but the ones that are there work really well. It is strange, however, that there are virtually no defensive options in the combat system, so you just have to grit your teeth when it's the enemy's turn and they decide to smash you in the head with a guitar.

The story is driven forward through a lot of dialogue between Cadence and the people she meets along the way, and the voice acting is quite good, especially the old rock musician Fret, who is really well cast. Aside from these dialogues, the story is also occasionally told through some rather well-choreographed musical numbers/performances, and these actually give the game an almost musical-like feel at times and they're really good. You can see an example of one of these right here below.

This brings us to the soundtrack, which, along with the combat system, is the very heart of this game. People of Note features a truly excellent soundtrack and, unlike other similar games where music also takes centre stage, there is a wide variety of genres on offer here. The music is of a very high standard, whether it's pop, rock, electronic, rap or country and western. Parts of the soundtrack are, incidentally, already available on Spotify at the time of writing.

Finally, there is the visual aspect, which is colourful and quite attractive, and everything is designed with a musical angle. A good example is that on the outside of a lift there is a large slider, like on a mixing desk, which moves up and down along with the lift. This is just a single example of how well-executed the visual aspect is, and the same can be said of the attractive menus.

People of Note is a well-crafted little role-playing game. Yes, it may seem superficial, and you need to be prepared for that, but the musical theme, which is more than just window dressing, blends seamlessly into the combat system, and that's what makes People of Note interesting. Whilst the regular battles can become a bit monotonous over time, the boss battles are both challenging and exciting, as each boss has different musical abilities.

If you're not exactly a die-hard RPG fan, People of Note can be a nice, accessible and cosy little RPG that tries to do things a bit differently by adding musical abilities to a traditional RPG, and if you buy into the slightly simple premise, it actually works.