As a former band person, I was thrilled to receive a review key for what is the world’s first Guitar-PG. Fretless – The Wrath of Riffson is a pixel-art rhythm RPG by Ritual Studios. You play as Rob Scallon, who I didn’t know was an actual person until after the fact. You use the power of rock to battle the nefarious Rick Riffson and his army of musical-inspired enemies. I fought a spider amplifier, some demonic harp, and a bunch of other wild creatures.
The Power of Rock
The world of Fretless – the Wrath of Riffson is powered by rock. There are all sorts of amplifiers, speaker cabinets, and instruments everywhere. I have to assume they’re magical because you travel into zones like a volcano, an ice mountain, and a couple of forests, and all of those things are no worse for wear. You play as Rob Scallon, the friendly and silent protagonist, as he sets out on a quest to stop Rick Riffson.
Rick Riffson is the boss of the Super Metal Records company and is the epitome of every scummy record label executive. He’s using an annual Battle of the Bands contest as a front to trap the world’s best musicians in deceptive contracts. Super Metal Records also created a bunch of cute monsters, for reasons, and Rick Riffson decided they would be better off as evil minions. There are also a lot of random henchmen doing henchman-like things.
I’m at the Combination Slay the Spire and Undertale
Exploring the world gave me huge Undertale vibes. It’s pretty linear, and there are gigantic signs to point you towards the next objective. That’s by no means a knock on the game; as much as I love RPGs, it was nice not to wander around lost for hours. Similar to Slay the Spire, you get a book of riffs. Riffs are the skills of this game, and you randomly get dealt six of them to use each combat. As soon as you use them up, they go back into the deck unless it’s specifically stated. Doing side quests unlocks additional riffs. Enemies drop materials that allow you to level them up. You’re limited to sixteen riffs; you can have multiple copies of the same riff, though.
The Crescendo Attacks Are Appropriately Epic
The enemies have indicators on what their next move might be and how much damage they will deal if they attack. That means balancing out defensive cards vs just swinging. The combat is rhythm-based, so nailing the timing allows you to add additional damage to attacks or dodge and take half damage. The interesting thing is that the background music changes based on which instrument you’re using. Using items and skills helps build up the Crescendo meter, which is your ultimate attack. There’s a pretty cool cutscene that plays out, and then you’re pressing buttons on the beat to dish it out. Consequently, the bosses can also hit you with a Crescendo, and you have to nail every button press to dodge those attacks. The system is quite forgiving, and there are even options to just automatically do those things.
Instead of traditional armor, you find pickups, strings, and accessories for your instruments. The synthesizer is its own thing, so you just find additional pedals for it. There’s also a collection of guitar pedals that give your character permanent buffs. It was a cool touch that they were all modeled after real-life ones.
No Classes, No Frets
Fretless – The Wrath of Riffson has you wielding musical instruments that take the place of the traditional fighter, wizard, rogue, etc, classes. As a bassist, I naturally gravitated towards that instrument for the majority of the game. I finished the game using the djent guitar, also known as the eight-string guitar.
As an aside, this is one of the only times I’ll get to shout out some djent bands. If you’re unfamiliar with the genre, check out After the Burial, Animals as Leaders, Periphery, Northlane, and Reflections. It was pretty cool to see both Northlane and Cult of Luna pop up on the official soundtrack. Anyway, here’s my take on the instruments and the approximate class they would be in a more traditional RPG.
I’m A Bassist So My Main Is Obvious
- Acoustic Guitar – This is the tank class. The acoustic’s gimmick is that on every sixth hit, you deal double damage. In the meantime, you’re building up shield points to ward off damage. This is the first instrument you get, and while some of the later skills sounded cool, I gravitated towards the other instruments.
- Bass Guitar – This is the berserker class. You have a slap meter, because, of course, someone has to reference “slappin’ da bass.” The slap meter builds up whenever you take damage and when you use specific skills. This instrument helped me navigate a significant portion of the midgame and made most enemy encounters a breeze. With the right skills, I was one-shotting a lot of bosses.
- Synthesizer – This is your bard or necromancer class since the synth is all about debuffs. The synthesizer features a frequency meter, and you can equip effects that trigger when the meter reaches two, four, and six. You hit the enemies with a flurry of different status effects. I used this heavily during one section where the enemies were immune to physical damage.
- Eight-String Guitar – This is the blood mage class. You pretty much cast skills from your hit points. This one had the best battle music, and the ultimate attack, or crescendo, had one of the catchiest riffs. With the right combination of skills and accessories, I one-shot the end game bosses.
The Music
I have mixed feelings about the music part of the game. I listened to a couple of the songs from the game on Spotify, and I was surprised to find that they featured vocals. I’m guessing that adding the tracks with vocals could open a can of worms for those looking to stream or create content. The music for each Crescendo attack is appropriately epic, and Rick Riffson’s theme is a banger. While exploring the world, the music is pretty ambient and enjoyable – it’s a soundtrack I’d have on while I’m editing. The battle music becomes a bit repetitive, but the game is relatively short, so it never reached a point where I was annoyed.
Final Thoughts
Back when I was in bands, I’d occasionally hear the phrase “don’t bore us, get to the chorus.” Fretless – The Wrath of Riffson does a fantastic job of getting to the point. Sure, it’s pretty linear, but as much as I love to sink 70+ hours into an RPG, it’s nice to be able to cruise through one in a couple of sessions. The combat is fun, and the bosses are pretty memorable. The only downsides were that the dialogue boxes are tiny and there’s no option to flee combat. That led to a moment where I was locked into a battle because the enemy was immune to physical damage.
Fretless – The Wrath of Riffson is out now on Steam
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