Fretless – The Wrath of Riffson Review

There’s something undeniably catchy about Fretless – The Wrath of Riffson, the newly released musical RPG from Ritual Studios, and it’s not just the tunes that it puts front and center. From the strikingly beautiful pixel art, to the heavy metal font of its splash screens, and the charmingly unassuming character design of our protagonist Rob, every corner and edge of this game oozes personality. Fretless was born out of a collaboration between designer and developer Jeff Linville and YouTube music personality Rob Scallon. Over the course of eight years they brought the world of Fretless to life, and chronicled the process in an accompanying documentary, airing today on YouTube.

Fretless tells the tale of a young man named Rob (no, that’s not a coincidence), as he journeys across land and sea to participate in the most epic Battle of the Bands known to man and take down the evil record company exec, Rick Riffson. Fretless takes place in a world very much like our own, but a little more magical, and a lot more musical. Strange and aggressive creatures have begun mysteriously cropping up and causing mayhem. Luckily, Rob has just the musical skills and totally rad guitar needed to combat these jabronis!

Fretless – The Wrath of Riffson in Action

Rob’s instrument is the central element of the RPG and turn-based battle systems. The acoustic guitar that you start off with, as well as the three other instruments you unlock as you progress, comes with several “Riffs” that perform powerful actions during combat. They shuffle together in a deck from which six cards are drawn per round. You choose up to three Riffs to play per turn, each one triggering a Quick Time Event in sync with the music. Over time, you’ll unlock more Riffs to swap in and out of your deck (you’re limited to 16 at a time), and will discover crafting materials to level them up to their most powerful form. This is not only a really genius way to set up a battle system for a musical RPG, it’s also not even the whole story.

In addition to the Riffs, there are a variety of other extremely on-brand customization options that let you both rock the hardest and rock in the way that feels true to you. Exploring the nooks and crannies of this pixel art world will uncover a variety of instrument-specific mods, which enable a whole suite of synergies and combo strategies. You’ll also find effect pedals that you can equip for additional passive effects, regardless of which instrument you’re using. I had such a blast playing around with these synergies, and just loved how true they felt to the core experience of the game and to Rob’s character.

Music hitting all the right notes

It’s no surprise that a deep passion for music resonates throughout this game from start to finish. It was extremely clear to me, even back when I played the demo in Steam Next Fest, how much care and attention was put into every single song and musical moment. Fretless boasts an extensive soundtrack, but also contains many different formats through which the devs serve up this feast for the ears. In addition to the gorgeous soundtrack and the bumping battle themes, every turn-based action for each instrument and each enemy adds its own special sauce. Even the environments are imbued with small but impactful melodic moments. Cattails chime as you walk through them, and boardwalk planks ring out like a xylophone as you pass over them. Ritual Studios brought a rare level of thoughtfulness to making all of these musical elements shine and play together cohesively.

Fretless shines as a prime example of how to orient your game and the combat system around rhythm and melodies in a way that is approachable to a wide range of players.

Game design hitting all the right beats

On a high level, the creators’ love of creating music obviously shines through. But what I found honestly very moving was to discover on a game design level that they show an equal passion for enabling others to engage with that music. Rhythm-based combat is on the rise these days, and I’ve experienced a lot of what’s out there. Fretless shines as a prime example of how to orient your game and the combat system around rhythm and melodies in a way that is approachable to a wide range of players.

Firstly, your moves (called “Riffs”) are crafted in such a way that they both fit fluidly into the battle themes and support the player’s need to hit the mark during the corresponding Quick Time Event. I always find it surprising when rhythm game QTEs don’t feel entirely aligned with the beat, but it happens more than you would expect. Fretless understood the assignment. I eventually felt myself able to fully trust the battle theme and the tempo of the riff to guide me to the correct timing.

In addition, the game provides visual cues to support the timing of the beat, displaying yellow outlines around characters just a split second before you need to engage with the QTE. The outlines then turn green on success. By the end of the game, though, I was able to trust the beat so completely that I could rely on the rhythm alone to know when to act. I got into a flow state in a very literal way.

Approachability in musical-centered gameplay

I could probably go on forever about the polish that went into this music-based battle system, but one last element I have to applaud is the interface for the Crescendo move. The Crescendo is Rob’s ultimate attack and triggers a Guitar Hero style rhythm mini game. These moments were some of my favorites during battle, for a few reasons. For one, the move entirely takes over the screen with beautiful, vibrant visuals that pair with the accompanying song. Each of the four equipable instruments have their own Crescendo track that plays, which are some of the best, most blood-pumping tunes in the game.

Now, this may seem like a small detail in the grand scheme of everything, but what most made me want to scream and shout (in a good way) was the visual interface for playing through the Crescendo mini game. The game presents you with a horizontal fretboard that your notes travel along, heading towards your mark. But rather than an absolute, single point that you’re trying to hit, you see a small segment during which you need to hit the notes. So often in gameplay moments like this, I find myself struggling to figure out how much leeway I have to hit my mark, and whether I should be hitting the note right as it reaches the target, or while it’s in the middle of the target, or… you get the idea.

Fretless – The Wrath of Riffson Trailer

Again, this may seem like a minor consideration, but for someone like me who isn’t naturally musically skilled and isn’t always the best with keeping tempo, removing the ambiguity of this timing is huge. It’s details like these, throughout Fretless, that tell me how much care the Ritual Studios team put into not only making this a musically beautiful game, but also one that is seamless to play and approachable to all kinds of players.

Fretless is a charming game that fundamentally understands itself and its players in really impactful ways. I came for the beautiful pixel art and enrapturing soundtrack, but stayed for one of the most fun turn-based battle systems I’ve experienced in a long time. It’s rare for me to look forward to every opportunity for another turn-based encounter in a game like this, but I just couldn’t get enough of the Riffs, trying to nail the QTEs, and seeing what wild moves the next enemy had up their sleeves. It’s been a long eight year process for Ritual Studios to reach this moment, but I hope that the launch of Fretless – The Wrath of Riffson propels them on to create more clever and engaging gaming experiences.

Emily was provided with a review key of Fretless – The Wrath of Riffson by XOGO Consulting

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