The rhythm game genre has taken many forms over the years. What started as games that asked you to press a button when two shapes lined up to the rhythm of a beat has crossed over with other genres to create something new and fresh. Whether it’s a rhythm-action game or something more traditional, if you’re a fan of both music and video games, there are plenty of options out there for you. One of the most interesting examples recently is People of Note, which fuses mechanics from rhythm games with the RPG genre.
People of Note takes place in a world where music itself governs society, politics, and the fate of the planet itself. It boasts a beautiful art style, unique gameplay systems, and fully animated musical sequences. This all sounds well and good, but how does it balance all of these different concepts without feeling bloated and unfocused? Well, thankfully, I had a fantastic time with People of Note, in spite of a few notable issues here and there.
A Noteworthy Adventure
In People of Note, you primarily play as a young, burgeoning singer named Cadence. She seeks to enter and win a competition that determines who the most prolific singer in the world (aptly named Note) will be. However, there are just two problems: the first is that for the last several years, the winners have exclusively been a boy band known as Smolder, which produces the same pop slop every single year. The second is that Cadence’s sound, by itself, is nowhere near enough to impress the masses of Note.
As such, Cadence must venture out of her home city of Chordia to go to regions around the world to build a band capable of finally dethroning Smolder. What starts as a simple quest to win a music tournament quickly escalates into a battle against dark organizations that seek to collect musical keys capable of destroying the world itself. Soon enough, Cadence must decide what matters to her more: becoming the most loved artist in all of Note, or saving it alongside her new friends and bandmates.
At first, I wasn’t too sure about People of Note‘s story. A lot of its sequences and dialogue feel like an old Disney Channel movie, like High School Musical or Camp Rock, and it took me a while to adjust to it. For the most part, a lot of the plot beats play out exactly as you’d expect, with Cadence first having tension with the people in her band, before the four put aside their differences to save the world with the power of friendship and choreographed musical sequences. After a certain point, though, I found myself enthralled by the absurd charm of the game’s narrative.
Part of that charm comes from the visuals. The art style of People of Note blends a cel-shaded visual direction with something you’d see right out of an old Cartoon Network show. The world itself looks absolutely gorgeous, and each area has its own unique identity. Each major location is based around a central music genre, and its style reflects that core idea. Durandis is one of the game’s earliest locations, and it’s a massive desert with skull-themed structures, which represent its core genre of rock, metal, and grunge. On the other hand, Lumina has an almost Blade Runner-esque look, which portrays its EDM scene clearly to the player.
Further, characters are drawn in very exaggerated proportions, with massive jaws and arms, or clothes that clearly communicate their personality. Take Cadence herself, for instance: her clothes are bright and pink, signaling her talent for pop music. However, one of the game’s other band members, Fret, wears a simple tank top and jeans—the kind you’d see on most rock stars from the early 2000s. Speaking of characters, they’re all written pretty well.
Despite the aforementioned cliches that each character fits into, such as Cadence being the hyperactive pop diva, while Fret has an intimidating presence even though he’s a gentle giant, their dialogue and arcs still feel really well done. The dialogue between each member of the core band feels natural, and their chemistry is what you’d expect from a band comprised of four very different people, each with a unique genre specialty. Synthia, in particular, was a personal favorite of mine, as her arc of coming to terms with her addiction and self-loathing feels very genuine and tastefully done.
Part of what made the writing go down easier, in spite of its similarities to old Disney Channel films, was how witty it was. There are some delightful little references to pop culture, popular music artists, and music as a whole. Even the names of the core band members, Cadence, Fret, Synthia, and Vox, are all nods to musical terms. Some of them made me chuckle, while others made me facepalm and groan in the best way possible.
That is truly one of the best parts of People of Note: even if its story isn’t particularly deep and often feels very predictable, it’s designed to be a love letter to so many different forms of media first and foremost. It was hard not to smile at every reference or during every witty line of dialogue, because there’s something very earnest about the way each is presented. This style of writing may not be for everyone, but if you like tongue-in-cheek dialogue and a charming cast of characters inhabiting a massive world, then People of Note is the game for you. Who knows? Maybe some of the narrative beats will surprise you or even make you emotional.
Let’s be honest, though: no one is playing a rhythm game for its story. What matters most of all in a game that combines RPG battle mechanics with rhythm game systems is the gameplay itself. For the most part, People of Note‘s gameplay is delightfully addicting, even if there are some problems here and there.
Harmonic Convergence
For the most part, People of Note operates like a traditional turn-based RPG, but with a few additions. When you enter a battle, you can pick which of your party members acts first. At the bottom of the screen, you can see all of your enemies’ upcoming attacks, as well as a time signature that indicates how many actions both they and you have in a single turn (or stanza, in this case). Unlike other RPGs, though, there isn’t a defend or parry ability.
To compensate, attacks can deal extra damage to your ability to tap the attack button in time with the beat. You’ll see circles on screen when you pick an attack, and if you hit them with either “Perfect” or “Great” accuracy, it deals extra damage. If you miss the prompts, the attacks deal lower damage than normal. At first, I thought this mechanic was pretty limited, but as it progressed, I found myself enjoying and even mastering it.
The best part about the combat of People of Note is the degree of strategy it forces you to employ. For example, as you gather more members of your band, certain stanzas will prioritize a certain genre. Not only will the battle theme change to suit that genre, but attacks from a character that specializes in it will deal more damage.
If you perform an attack with Cadence on a hip-hop stanza, it’ll still do sizeable damage, but it won’t compare to the devastation you can cause with her in the pop stanza. You can even forcefully trigger a genre focus by using a mashup attack, which blends the forces of two or more party members to trigger a specific effect, like raising your HP or delivering a devastating attack to all of your opponents.
Throughout the game, the difficulty will ramp up more and more and more. Enemies may have started the game with 100 HP, but by the end, you’ll be fighting boss fights with a whopping 3000 HP. Yet, thanks to the aforementioned strategy, you can find yourself running circles around enemies in your way.
One of my favorite experiences during my time with People of Note was understanding the power of BP. BP is a stat that allows you to deal attacks, and the more BP you have, the more powerful attacks you can perform. As time goes on, you can find an ability that will let you raise your ally’s BP. When you unlock it and upgrade your most powerful attacks, you will quickly find yourself dealing damage that goes into the 200s.
There’s even more strategy you’ll quickly need to wrap your head around. Much like other RPGs, you’ll need to best utilize purchasable items that raise your HP, offense, and defense. Similar to Final Fantasy VII, though, one of the core mechanics in your customization is the soundstones. These take the role of materia, and with each weapon you purchase, you’ll need to adjust the placement of the soundstones in order to make the most out of your toolkit. Maybe you want to lower the BP cost of a higher damage attack, or make it more powerful. It’s up to you to figure out how best to utilize these features.
You’ll often find these soundstones as you explore the world of Note. There are numerous dungeons throughout the game, where you’ll often fight random enemies, challenge boss fights, and solve puzzles. There are no random encounters, though you can trigger one with the push of a button if you just want to grind for more XP. There are a lot of features of People of Note to understand and get used to, and it may get overwhelming at times. Thankfully, though, if you find yourself struggling too much with combat and puzzles, you can lower the difficulty of both.
I definitely appreciated these options, though I never really needed them. The puzzles, in particular, are great brain teasers that managed to strike the right balance in difficulty. Overall, the gameplay loop of People of Note is fun and satisfying, especially if you’re a fan of other role-playing games in the medium. Still, this doesn’t mean it’s perfect. For starters, several glitches almost ruined my entire experience.
There were a few times when my character would go off in a random direction without me controlling them, getting stuck and leaving me unable to move at all. In the late game, there was an odd situation where, during a cutscene, a white square flashed over Cadence’s character sprite. Most alarming of all was in the late game, after a key cutscene, I was locked in an empty environment—unable to move or even see my character at all. Thankfully, while these temporarily softlocked my game, they never broke it completely, thanks to the addition of back-up saves as a lifesaving feature. Still, I hope these are fixed soon.
My biggest issue with People of Note, though, is easily the musical segments. Throughout the game, the dialogue will shift from speech bubbles to fully animated and choreographed sequences, where the characters sing out their thoughts and dance as they explain their motivations and inner thoughts. I really enjoyed these sequences, and it only furthered the game’s similarities to old Disney films. However, they feel remarkably static, in that there is no opportunity for the player to take part in the singing or dancing.
I would’ve loved for there to be minigames during these sequences, where I press buttons in time with the music. Instead, I just put my controller down and watched the scene, which made me feel like an inactive participant in the action. I understand that adding in any gameplay element to these sequences may have distracted from how beautiful they are, and don’t get me wrong, the music and animations are incredible. Even still, the last thing I want to do in a rhythm game is watch other characters perform while I am simply watching the screen.
Still, despite these issues being somewhat distracting, they weren’t enough to ruin my enjoyment of People of Note. This is a fantastic experience from beginning to end, that manages to balance elements from both rhythm games and RPGs without losing any aspect of what makes the two genres special on their own.
A Sound Mashup
For a band to succeed, they need more than just the right sound, the right instruments, and the right audience. They need a proper sense of cohesion and chemistry between the sum of all of its parts. The same can be said for any video game, especially one of the rhythmic variety. If one stray element is off, whether it’s the story, the gameplay, or the visuals, then the rest falls apart. As such, despite the new renaissance of rhythm games, not all of them have landed for the general public. I am glad to say that People of Note doesn’t fit into this category.
The story is delightfully charming, even if it falls into some predictable territory, thanks to a great cast of characters and visual direction. The gameplay may be simple on the surface, but thanks to a wide variety of unique mechanics, it’s deeply fun to master. Further, while there are a few glitches here and there, they don’t affect the overall gameplay systems and prevent it from being anything other than fun.
Sure, there are still some key issues. While the musical sequences are a visual treat, they feel frustratingly limited from a gameplay standpoint. The aforementioned glitches, despite not ruining my enjoyment of the experience, did sometimes pull me out of it. Plus, the writing’s emphasis on witty quips and simple character arcs may not click for everyone. Yet, these problems are somewhat minor in the grand scheme of things.
If you’re a fan of just rhythm games or RPGs, then maybe People of Note isn’t for you. However, if you grew up watching campy musicals from the early 2000s and like both the rhythm and RPG genres, then this is absolutely a must-play. It’s a delightful time from beginning to end, and I treasured my time with it. I can’t wait to see what the developers come up with next.
Disclaimer: Annapurna Interactive provided a PlayStation 5 copy of People of Note for review purposes.
