I’m a fan of the concept of rhythm games, but I am usually very much not good at them. So today’s game is AntiRhythm!
It’s a puzzle-action game that takes place in a world where everything is rhythm-based and happens on the beat of the stage's song. When will enemies move or attack? On rhythm. When will the waves come in and wash away platforms? When does lightning strike? When do the temple traps spit their arrows or vent their poison gas? All on rhythm! You, however, are a stranger thrust into this world so you are free from the rhythm and can act as you please. You alone can disobey the beat.
Normal gameplay requires you to complete the objectives given to you or complete some quests and then get to the end of the stage while navigating this rhythm world. You may be free of the beat, but you still have to wait for the geyser bound to the song to send up platforms you can jump across or wait for the townspeople to dance away from blocking your path or for the merchant to just bag the damn items and ring up the sale no matter how smooth and easy listening your shop music is!
Advanced gameplay for those willing to take the challenge requires you to do all that but without ruining anything's rhythm or disrupting the flow of the stage. If you bump into a person rhythmically bopping down the path and cause them to be off the beat, that’s a failure. You can run around unrhythmically on your own, but if anything you interact with loses the beat, you’re done for.
As you get deeper into the game, the music becomes faster or more hectic or your actions in the stage cause songs to change and introduce brand new beats to contend with so the way the world moves or enemies attack suddenly change too.