Overview

**GameOctane received Fretless for free to provide a non-bias review**

At first glance, Fretless – The Wrath of Riffson, looks just like any normal, pixelated RPG game. When you look deeper, though, you find something truly incredible. Fretless, at its base, is a fun RPG, with its turn-based battles and really fun journey to travel along. With that being said, it’s about Fretless’ core, the music. I will try my damndest to make this all make sense, but trust me, it will be worth it. Check the trailer out before we go further…please.

Audio

For those of you who have been following the website here for a bit, you may already be taken aback by me starting with audio. But with a game like Fretless – The Wrath of Riffson, I don’t see any other way. As I mentioned above, the core of this game, the TRUE core of this game, is about the music. From the story, the soundtrack, your weapons, attacks, NPC, casual creatures, the enemies, and random plants throughout your travels, all just harmonious. Everything is incredible, and that is a tremendous feat to accomplish. There is a track that plays when you start a battle, depending on your instrument and the riffs you play, and the enemies you face will also be on beat. The background music while you cruise around the world, and you bump into the bell flowers, will bounce and chime away as you pass through them. The boss battles are intense and heavy-hitting metal tracks, yet as you strum your acoustic guitar to send your attacks, it feels like it belongs. I cannot think of a game that sets forth and captures this theme so beautifully. It is truly something you need to experience for yourself.

Gameplay

Now onto the gameplay. The gameplay features many elements that you would expect from an RPG. Wander around, kill things, get better equipment, save the day. But in Fretless – Wrath of Riffson, is you (Rob) VS the man. That man is Rick Riffson, the big boss of Super Metal Records. Rick, like the jerk he is, holds ‘Battle of the Bands’ competitions and captures the winners in soul-binding contracts. Taking control of Rob, you grab your trusty acoustic guitar and head out to the Battle of the Bands.

You don’t technically level in the normal sense, but you can gather items to craft or find ways to upgrade your instruments. You can pick up…well, pickups, strings, pedals, and new riffs to make the ultimate music powerhouse. You can also level up your riffs for more damage or larger buffs/debuffs. Overall, it’s really a slick system focusing on each instrument. You start off with your acoustic guitar, and as you travel through the game, you will also pick up a bass guitar, a synthesizer, and even an 8-string. Choose the one you like best. I personally had a lot of luck with the bass guitar mechanics, where you can build up slaps, then have riffs that can do more damage the more slaps you have.

Again, returning to the music of the game, each instrument plays in its own way and its own sound. Each riff matches the battle music as well as the enemies’ attack, and in a way, it feels like each battle is your own orchestrated song. To score some extra damage or attempt to block the attack, you also have to hit the button when you light up green to score an extra boost to either attack or defense, and yes, it is also timed perfectly to the music.

Once you get into the big battles, you can perform some devastating damage using “crescendos”. Both you and the bosses can use them as well. These are EPIC and consist of you needing to hit every note as it passes by on the screen, somewhat like a horizontal Guitar Hero, and if you nail each one, you can do some wicked damage. The gameplay is intense, beautiful, rocking, and charming all at once.

Graphics

The graphics were very eye-pleasing. Yes, I’m 40, and pixelated graphics just do something for me. I enjoyed all of it, the animations, the battles, the NPCs, and the areas. Everything was fantastic, and with the addition of the music playing in time with everything going on is just beyond anything I have felt or have been immersed with in a game in a very long time. It is obvious that Fretless – The Wrath of Riffson is about the music and the journey, but the visual team also deserves some love.

The Bottom Line

I absolutely adored my time with Fretless – The Wrath of Riffson. It is an experience I feel everyone should experience. You could be completely into music, an RPG lover, or a casual gamer, and you will find some beauty in this game. Is it absolutely perfect? No, but it is absolutely worth your time. I lost myself running through the bellflowers and listening to the waves’ own tune at times, and that to me is worth more than 90 hours of gameplay.

I lost myself running through the bellflowers and listening to the waves’ own tune at times, and that to me is worth more than 90 hours of gameplay.