People of Note review

Sometimes, the universe simply places a game in front of you that fits perfectly into your wheelhouse and passions. That is the case for People of Note, a RPG Musical with rhythm based combat, musical puns galore, and catchy original music spanning Pop, Rock, RDM, Rap, Classical, and so many more! Joe Morgan did a wonderful preview a while back, but we teamed up to do this review together! Let's see how People of Note hits the right pitch on every occasion.

STORY

Cadence is a young pop star wanting to make it to the top by winning Noteworthy, a musical contest which has been won the last few years by the boy band Smolder. Her producer/mixer friend Cerrin supports her with all the love a friend can give, even offering to camp outside the event to be first in line. After she doesn't make it through the first phase of the competition due to Councilman Sharp's stake in the Smolder Empire, she tries to find a workaround to getting a special item from Yuna-Verse to continue her dream, and is told to bring something new. So Cadence leaves Chordia to find a new sound. She makes her way through multiple areas, meeting people, picking fights with local law enforcement or bouncers, and finding a scheme to steal the Keys that were given to each of the four main kingdoms representing Pop, Rock, EDM, and Rap. Her journey is to save the People of Note from eradication, but she won't be alone.

Along the way, you meet a group of plucky characters all with different reasons to join the fray. Fret is an older rocker with a reputation as an amazing guitarist, but also a loner. Synth is the top DJ in the city, but keeps a big secret about themselves. Vox is a Prince, but just wants to make music and see the world. These four are our playable characters, and you'll meet a bunch of lovely side characters along the way, making up our heroes.

As we don't want to spoil anything, we'll use the term "villains" to represent those trying to use the Keys to "remake the world". These villains have no boundaries, willing to attack anyone and everyone to get what they want. Queens, kids, friends, anyone. In a lot of ways, I appreciate villains who will do anything they can to make their "dream of a better world" into reality. It makes the journey of the heroes vs villains even more meaningful, especially at the end.

People of Note's story is chock full of musical puns spanning countless genres, quirky and heartfelt characters, and a race to the end to stop the end of Note. The story's focus on "blending styles" makes for interesting collaborations and some great musical moments. While some notes felt a bit cheesy, it is so stylized that everything was met with a laugh. We fell in love quickly with the cast, and both of us pushed really hard all the way through, even with a very kind deadline. That says something in a day full of a thousand games coming out trying to take your attention away. A game you can finish within 30 hours and have a full story told is a joy.

MUSIC

As a musical nerd, every choice Iridium Studios made was pitch perfect. We start with the five main genres used: Pop, Rock, EDM, Rap, and Classical. Each of these has a full world associated with them as well as characters, clothing, shops, and puzzles that relate to them. You'll hear the music style associated with the genre move around depending on the sub-genre of the district. For instance, in Durandis you'll have Grunge, Punk, Metal areas, each with their take on the themes of the area. While this is great for representation of different types of rock, it also keeps things feeling fresh everywhere you go.

Our article on the cast for People of Note does a great job of showcasing the amazing talent this game brings in for a musical super-cast!

Take note of People of Note’s full voice cast

Announced alongside a Nintendo Switch 2 Edition

GAMINGTRENDDavid Flynn

The story is very focused on collaboration and mixing genres. That is also shown throughout the music through the characters themselves and the combat (which we will get to in a moment). These mash-ups are a lot of fun and feel justified after doing a boss fight or a big emotional moment with the cast involved. The bases of Pop adding in each other element makes the song build more and more each time until Cadence is in a band, not just doing a solo Pop career.

Another glorious part of this journey are the music video moments you'll have along the way. Each main character gets at least one music video about their own lives in their style alongside some music videos collaborating between main characters. Some of my favorite were the villain songs, and there are plenty. (Again, we won't spoil the game, but there is a music video inside a puzzle house near the end of the game that had me on the floor laughing.)

If you're a fan of music, you'll get the references made throughout the game in the world, in combat, and more. From stores named 3 Doors Down, to an attack called "Ring of Fire," to Weird Owls, and even an Ac-corgian (yes, you can pet the dogs); there is something for any music fan to get a chuckle.

COMBAT

Here's where this game before is even more interesting. It is rhythm based, with the attacks being based on how well you stay on beat with the music in combat. You can get Perfect, Great, etc. with each lowering down the attack power by a little bit. Something that was helpful early on was to start counting from the start of battle. Most all of the music is in 4/4 time signatures, or "common time." Meaning you can count with the beat, 1-2-3-4-1-2-3-4. No matter where in that pattern you are, hit the button on that next beat. So some attacks you'll have 1-2-3-4-1-2-3-4 while some you'll have  1-2-3-4-1-2-3-4 and so on. Keeping this counting going will get you Perfect's more than not.

Each ability has a different timing, with them becoming more complicated the further in the game you go. Vox (Rap) especially has some really interesting timing moves with his Beatbox move and more. Meanwhile, you can do a regular attack that does a little damage, but the timing is super easy each use.

These abilities happen in Stanzas, which is the battlefield flow. Most of the time, the heroes will act first. They generally each have a measure to do an ability, with some combat providing less or more depending on the fight itself. This creates a unique chance to combine abilities to boost the characters.

You also have the chance that a specific genre will be the focus of a stanza which will boost abilities for that character. So if Pop was the current genre, Cadance's abilities would do even more damage.

For example, say that it was a Pop Stanza. I had Cadance's "Opening Act" allowing her to do additional damage at the start of a Stanza with power-ups that lowered the cost associated with that ability from 3 to 2. Followed by Vox's Beatbox with the additional ability to do more damage if he's fully healthy and the power-up that lowered the cost associated with that ability from 3 to 2. I followed that up by resting Fret so he had plenty of BP (ability points) to heal for the next three turns and used Synth to add BP to Cadance. This was all just the first Stanza, and I've done between 200-250 damage all while setting myself up for success in the next Stanza.

There are so many combos and connections to be made, and it's all based on what you like and don't like from a character. The Songstones (the abilities you can equip) have so many options throughout the game that you can get through a store, finding them in-world, or gifts from other main characters or townspeople. Joe and myself had very different builds, but both beat the game and had fun with our way of playing while still giving ourselves a chance to explore different options as we went along the journey.

Don't like combat or feel you don't have rhythm? Don't worry. You can lower the difficulty or fully turn off combat completely. While having rhythm will make your journey easier, the point of the game is to showcase all of the ways to enjoy music, so it's amazing they have an opportunity to simply play the game as an interactive story.

PUZZLES

I am a big puzzle person in gaming. So when I saw just so many puzzles throughout the world of Note, I had a great time. You'll have a few different main styles with some one-off puzzles, especially near the end. My favorite puzzle type was the flute creation. Your goal is to get the flute on the ground to a state that it can play a nice note to interact with the environment. Sometimes it'll simply open an area, while others provide nice gear.

Another really fun puzzle area is near the end, where you break into a villain's house in order to get documents and some spoiler things I won't get into. This puzzle house had enemies to beat, two different music videos, and puzzles galore that all interact with each other. Solve this puzzle to get this piece to open this area to get to this character and so on.

These puzzles can also just be turned off completely if you don't want to deal with them, even though I would recommend trying them first before moving on to the next area! You can also toggle the puzzles off and on at your discretion. So enjoy the puzzles, or not!

GRAPHICS AND VISUALS

Joe Morgan: People of Note has a fantastic visual aesthetic to match the phenomenal audio design. The characters are all stylized in a way that draws attention both to them as cultural caricatures and to their music and nations. The art style itself is, at times, reminiscent of DoubleFine's Brütal Legend, where certain features are sized or styled in a way to draw attention. Environments range from 3D models with a hand-painted vibe a la Arcane to clever use of light and reflection to draw the eye.

Instead of boring old rats, goblins, and so on you'd see in a traditional fantasy RPG, People of Note leans heavily into musical puns both in their in-world items and their monster design. Where else are you going to be able to fight an aptly named orcarina (killer flute design) or a kangaroo-like banjoey? The visual design is every bit as great as the name sounds.

Each character represents a different nation, which owns a different style of music. Iridium embraced that idea with their visuals, as well. Cadence, the pop musician, features a bit of a modern vibe with a blue-and-pink motif with thigh-high stockings, hoop earrings, and a wild blue streak in her hair that matches the accents of her outfit. Like Cadence, the nation of Chordia feels like a modern city with a railway, clean, bougie Uptone, bustling Studio City, and commerce-focused Downtone. Like Cadence herself, the city offers a two-tone motif heavily reliant on blues and pinks. The citizens of Chordia feel like they'd be right at home on Vine Street near Hollywood.

Fret, the group's resident rocker, hails from the nation of Durandis. The elder statesman sports tattoos, a beard, dark jeans, a white tank top, and heavy leather boots and gloves full of buckles, not unlike the members of K.I.S.S. His home nation, situated a desert canyon reminiscent of the American Southwest, is only accessible by a wind-blown road littered with buried guitars and amps and guarded by a giant stone eagle. Durandis is divided, both by a sky-bridge and two factions of rockers: metal and punk. The browns and reds give Durandis a thirsty, barren feeling but the nation is alive and well.

Synthia, the greatest DJ in Lumina, packs visual hallmarks of EDM greats like deadmau5 or Daft Punk. She's adorned in a heavy tech jacket with over-the-ear cans around her neck and digital goggles that change to reflect her emotions. Her outfit is full of blue shades with yellow and orange accents for some pop. The nation of Lumina is essentially a big rave. Perpetually raining, the city is rain soaked, drenched in neon that reflects off the puddles in the street.

Finally, Vox is royalty from the nation of oceanside nation of Pyre, where the beats are fire. He sports a jacket reminiscent of a marching band or revolutionary soldier with sunglasses, marching boots, and a belt that matches the lining of his jacket. His black, gold, and green motif set him apart from his bandmates in an impressive, striking way. Pyre, which clearly takes great pride in its lineage and history, is a tremendous, walled city reminiscent of the Emerald City from Wizard of Oz. Buildings stand tall, but the people inside enjoy block parties amidst the buzz of life. 

While we're discussing visuals, I want to point out one small detail I've always loved in RPGs. While character models don't change throughout the adventure, each musical instrument (weapon) has its own unique visual design. On top of added power and a new skill layout, you'll get a sweet little kick of dopamine checking out your new instruments in battle.

People of Note isn't just an excellent aural experience - you'll have fun with all the game's visuals, too. Attention was put into every character design and environment. Nothing was done without thought, and it shows. You'll want to keep your eyes peeled as you play through the adventure.

ENCORE

There are so many aspects of this game that aren't story, combat, or puzzles. You'll have moments of seeing bands make or break it in the World of Note. Countless types of townspeople to see and get items from for answering questions or providing materials. You'll also find characters that are impacted by the main character's absence from their lands. So be sure to talk to anyone with a bubble over their head; you might get some amazing gear from it.

The only negative I had with the entire game was a lack of a map, which the characters even made a joke about at one point. While this led to my brain wanting to find every single area I could, this world is big, and I'm not as young as I used to be. Therefore, a map with a Fog of War system might have been nice for when you do need to backtrack.

On the flip-side. The game does a great job of not making you backtrack too often, and when you do, it's usually so you can make sure to pick up any gear you couldn't afford earlier in the game. A quick example is during the finale act, we went back to Pyre (Rap World) and walked to the castle and then to the party, but were able to transition from the party to the Reef and then Reef back to the party quickly. Even when I did backtrack though, I snagged a microphone update for Vox that I had missed.

This game doesn't waste your time. You can play with no combat or puzzles and be done in 8-10 hours, or play with everything on and do extra battles to level up fully and play for 25+ hours! The choice is yours.

CONCLUSION

People of Note is note only a perfectly tuned musical RPG, it's a Madison Square Garden, Tiny Desk, or Red Rocks level of an RPG. The combat is as easy or hard as you want it to be, with musical influence there to make sure you're doing the most damage possible. The puzzles are as easy or hard as you want them to be with multiple puzzle types and one-off puzzles to keep you invested. The characters are plucky, lovable, and filled with musical joy that everyone can find someone to love. Finally, the music is so thought-out and original with such a focus on blending styles and exploring music outside your favorites. If you're a music theory student, a musical theater nerd, an old-school metal head, or just love all music equally--there is something magical about this game, and with the length being 20-30 hours it'll keep your attention from the top of the song to the finale!