JohnCurtin Fresh Tracks Review

Can a video game also be my favorite music album of the year? If that game is Fresh Tracks, then the answer just might be a resounding, fervent “Yes!” Fresh Tracks is a challenging and engaging rhythm game that puts players in the place of Skaii, a brave warrior who straps on skis, grabs a sword, and sets off on a musical journey through the beautiful snow-covered forests and mountains of Norwyn. Players duck and dodge incoming obstacles while destroying enemies and scenery with their swords. Gameplay is tight, and it takes a wealth of skill, luck, and level-ups to survive the journey through Norwyn’s punishing boss songs and defeat Mar, Queen of Terror. Even without having the reflexes to complete the game yet, I bought the game's soundtrack to look eagerly ahead to tracks that my flailing fingers have yet to unlock. The music was composed by Berkeley College Of Music professors and ranges wildly, from speed metal to musical theater pastiches to dance-pop and hip-hop. While the game comes with only 28 total tracks to discover, the quality of the music and the varied track difficulties (static levels of assorted difficulty, randomly presented and chosen in-game) help mitigate track fatigue and extend the replayability well past the total two hours of unique music. The white-knuckle gameplay and dance-worthy soundtrack have filled my head with earworms and my thoughts with when I can next hit the slopes. I play the songs in my car and send them to friends. This masterpiece, a love letter to music and rogue-like games in equal measure, is an absolute gem and deserves AAA attention for the artistry and craftsmanship that makes this game a must-play. I, for one, can't wait to see how this and future Buffalo Buffalo projects continue to develop - if this is their freshman launch offering, even just continuing to make more of the same excellent music game will be sweet music to my ears. Fresh Tracks (and it's banger soundtrack) can be found on Steam, but if you want to check it out before you buy it I enjoyed the sponsored Impulse SV2 stream where he tried out the game.