Klang 2

Rhythm games have made me dance, they've made me laugh and they've even made me bang my head. The one thing they haven't done before is left me thoroughly confused. That is until now, thanks to a new music-inspired beat 'em up Klang 2. I went into this sequel assuming that it wouldn't matter that I hadn't played the 2016 original, and boy was I wrong. I spent the first half of this game completely baffled by the story, to the point where I wasn't even sure who I was or what was going on. Is that a bad thing? Not at all, because with music this good and rhythm action this much fun, who cares how confusing the story is?

When it was first released in 2016, Klang was sold to gamers as an "innovative take on traditional rhythm games" that mixed music with fighting, platforming and even stealth elements. If you were one of the many fans of that first game, then you might be surprised to see the direction this sequel takes. Instead of mashing up a bunch of genres, Klang 2 is a much more traditional rhythm game that chooses simple button tapping over exploring side-scrolling levels.

You play the masked hero from the first game, who returns with his trusty Tuneblade to complete his unfinished business. This sequel takes place after a great calamity, and it's clear that the fighter at the center of the story is haunted by ghosts of the past. He's being pulled in a number of different directions by the A-Eye he's supposed to trust and the bad guys he's supposed to be vanquishing. Also, the game touches on the Pirate Wars, blind deities and a really nasty demigod named Soundlord Sonus, but it's all nonsense and trying to piece it all together is just going to give you a headache.

What you need to know is that our hero uses his Tuneblade to battle a series of monsters in small, enclosed arenas. In theory, this is a game about a character fighting off attackers to electronic dance music, but in reality it's just a post-apocalyptic version of Elite Beat Agents. The bad guys will create little circles that will have you either tapping the button or holding the note. When the enemy attacks, you'll need to follow the arrow and dash out of the way, something that can be done by either swiping with the cursor or using the keyboard. No matter if you're attacking or dodging, all of the buttons need to be pressed on the exact beat, and yes, the game is going to judge your timing.

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What makes the rhythm action tricky is that the notes you need to hit are randomly placed and can move around. You also don't have a lot of time to get your cursor to the notes, and you're going to lose a little health every time you miss one. In fact, all it takes is a few drops in a row to fail the song and have to start over from the beginning. Thankfully, you can recover from a few misses, as you'll regain health simply by hitting a bunch of notes in a row. A lot of this game comes down to memorizing the tricky parts and healing up in the sections you're most comfortable with.

Klang 2 is split up into a predictable structure that has you playing a few practice songs and then taking on one of the various boss battles. What I like about this arrangement is that each boss introduces a new wrinkle to the gameplay that you'll see reflected in the next batch of songs. You don't need to play every track to continue the story, but you'll want to, because the soundtrack is fantastic. Even as somebody who is a little wishy-washy when it comes to EDM, I fell in love with almost every single song. There's an incredible variety of types of electronic music on display here, from drum and bass to hip hop to dubstep. The soundtrack is easily the best part of Klang 2.

Sadly, I wish I could say the same thing about the level designs. While I like the game's general look and style, I was frustrated by the repeating backgrounds and boring enemies. It's even worse when you look at how endlessly creative the first game was. No matter where you are in the story, the action looks exactly the same. The enemies may change, but that's about it. We don't see crazy new attacks or gain any unique abilities, we just continue to tap the pink notes and hold the blue ones.

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And that brings me to one of my other complaints -- the rhythm gameplay is far too simplistic. I like the idea of mixing fighting and music, but this game doesn't take that concept far enough. If we're fighting, then where are the special moves? Where are the elements that make this more than Elite Beat Agents with action playing in the background? This feels like a throwback to rhythm games that would have come out ten or fifteen years ago, back when some of these ideas were still novel.

Perhaps it would have helped if I was more invested in the story, but I honestly couldn't care less. The game makes no effort to recap what happened in the first game and instead throws you into a confusing world where nothing makes sense. I'll confess that I did eventually figure everything out, but it came after reading a whole bunch of boring conversations where both characters are trying to outdo each other in vagueness. Honestly, you're almost better off skipping all of that and just enjoying the music. In fact, I would recommend this game for the soundtrack alone.