Rhythm Doctor
Groove is in the heart in this quirky rhythm game
ALL THEIR TREATMENTS COME IN THE FORM OF THE SINGLE-BUTTON GAMEPLAY
When I think of rhythm games, I picture inputs chaotically dancing across the screen, each begging for my attention. But Rhythm Doctor only demands only one—just hit the spacebar every seventh beat. Seems simple enough, but this game is not for the faint of heart. Well, unless you’re one of its patients.
RhythmDoctor dropped me right in the heart of Middlesea Hospital, a struggling institute that’s trying out an experimental new type of rhythm-based healthcare. I’m the new intern, a simple disembodied arm and a silent face behind the screen. There’s a whole cast of characters demanding my time, including a poorly samurai who’s suffering from a wi-fi virus. and the hospital’s hapless barista who can’t quite kick that nasty smoking habit.
All their treatments come in the form of the single-button gameplay, which utilizes some clever audio and visual tricks. The screen will pulsate or shudder during the heavier beat tracks, doing its best to throw me off. Each song plays around with tempo and irregular beats, ramping up the intensity when the beat drops, forcing me to stay on my toes. Some songs even introduce several patients, each with different timings. Occasionally one of the doctors will be there to assist, other times I’m left to manage each one alone.
It’s these types of variations that left me wanting to jump straight into the next level, just to see what the game would throw at me. That, and the incredible music. While rhythm games usually have a few duds, every song in RhythmDoctor’s current catalog is a certifiable bop. There’s a genre to suit everybody’s taste—from lo-fi study beats to the incredible vocal tracks peppered across the game.
HEART-BREAKER
Every level in RhythmDoctor has something to offer, but the bosses are where the game’s creativity shines. The visual tricks turn from simple jitters to wild glitches, performing acrobatic flips around my monitor to the beat of the song. It sounds like it should be a nuisance, but it adds so much power and urgency that separates the bosses from the regular levels. Act two’s boss battle is so spectacular that it left me in tears, prompting an immediate replay.
RhythmDoctor plays with your expectations and then ramps that up to the nth degree. Every inch of this game has been designed with a level of creativity that will have you smiling, laughing, or crying. Even the tutorials have been given an insane amount of care—like one scene where a politician angrily interrupts the tutorial prior to his level, shooing the poor tutorial character off the screen before taking his place.
The way the cast interacted with me, and each other, was something I hadn’t expected. I’m not usually a fan of storylines in rhythm games, but it feels so integral to the RhythmDoctor experience. Each character plays a part in each other’s stories, offering a humorous and often heartbreaking look into the world of medicine. The story isn’t finished, but the foundations laid have me eager to return.
7th Beat Games has been working on RhythmDoctor since 2014, and it’s come a long way since the last itch.io demo. The level of refinement is beyond what I’d expect from an Early Access game. RhythmDoctor isn’t just a rhythm game—it’s a beautifully crafted story, and a feast for the eyes and ears. Every flashy pixelated graphic or stutter in the beat plays into the overall narrative, evoking emotions I didn’t know were possible from this genre. If development continues this way, RhythmDoctor will solidify itself as one of the best rhythm games ever.