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Music Powered Play

Music has been an important part of video games since specialised sound chips made composing and playing back music possible during the advent of 8-bit home computers in the 80s. This gave many games a unique sound, but it was how the music interacted with gameplay that was really interesting.

We worked on this list of games where music is integral to play with Andreas Zecher. He runs the amazing Polylists resource, a website for those working in games to share lists of recommended games under self-chosen topics. His list, here, features games where music goes further than just providing a great soundtrack. In these games, music is at the core of the player’s experience. Some putting players in a state of flow, and others reacting to the player's every action like an instrument being played.

The sensory experiences of Tetris Effect Connected or Thumper would not be possible without the music that they are based on. Everyday Shooter and Sayonara Wild Hearts let players interactively experience a lo-fi indie rock and frenzy pop music album respectively. Sound Shapes is a clever platformer that doubles as a 16-step sequencer, common in the creation of electronic dance music. These games spark curiosity in how music works as they explore rhythm, harmonies and the joy of performing and actively listening to music.

This list includes 48 games from the last 26 years, with 180 likes. They come from a range of different genres and play-styles and are all good games if you want to .

List Details

PEGI Ratings: PEGI 3 to PEGI 16
ESRB Ratings: ESRB EVERYONE to ESRB MATURE 17+
Australian Ratings: G to MA 15+
Genres: Action, Adventure, Battle, Brain Game, Collecting, Communication, Creative, Dexterity, Fighting, Narrative, Physically Active, Platform, Point-and-Click, Puzzle, Race, Rhythm, Role-Play, Sequencing, Shooting, Simulation, Sports, Stealth, Strategy, Traversal and World Building
Total Likes: 180

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LocoRoco

Release Date: 23/06/2006

Platforms: PS Vita, PS4 and PSP

Skill Rating: 6+ year-olds

Components: 2D Side-On, Cartoon and Hand-Made

This creates a world of plants and creatures to investigate. The novelty, besides the character’s singing and cute aesthetic, is that you control the game with just two buttons, tilting and bumping your characters through each level.

Miska

Release Date: Coming soon

Platforms: PC

Skill Rating: 8+ year-olds

Components: 3D First-Person and Day and Night

Miska is a relaxing narrative adventure game about the flora and fauna of Australia. Rekindle your connection to family and nature through acts of restoration.

Hi-Fi Rush

Release Date: 23/01/2023

Platforms: PC, Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S

Skill Rating: 9+ year-olds

Components: 3D Third-Person and Cartoon

Hi-Fi Rush is a rhythm fighting game where wannabe rockstar Chai uses the beat to fight an evil corporation. You play by exploring the world and fighting enemies. The twist is that everything moves to the beat, and you must attack in time to do the most...

Snufkin: Melody of Moominvalley

Release Date: Coming soon

Platforms: PC, PS4, Switch and Xbox One

Skill Rating: 7+ year-olds

Components: 2D Overhead, Cartoon, Hand-Made and Open World

Snufkin: Melody of Moominvalley is a musical adventure game where you restore the harmony of Moomin Valley from grotesque parks. It's the variety of play and the beloved characters that make this game a great experience for small (and not so small) kids.

Thumper

Release Date: 10/10/2016, updated in 2019

Platforms: Android, PC, PS4, Stadia, Switch, Xbox One and iOS

Skill Rating: 10+ year-olds

Components: 3D Third-Person

Thumper is a rhythm game where you guide a beetle-like creature through music track by pressing buttons in time. Unlike other music games, the focus is on impact and combat rather than soaring tunes. It's described by the developer as a rhythm-violence...

140

PEGI 3 Video Game Age Rating for 140 in UK and Europe

140

Release Date: 16/10/2013, updated in 2020

Platforms: PC, PS4, Switch, Wii U and Xbox One

Skill Rating: 9+ year-olds

Components: 2D Side-On

140 is a sliding, rolling and jumping game where you control a changing geometric shape to traverse a minimalist world. It's challenging for the timed jumps and reactions but keeps distractions to a minimum with its abstract colorful graphics.

Bit Trip

Bit Trip (Series)

Release Date: 28/04/2009, updated in 2018

Platforms: Mac, PC, PS3, PS4, Switch, Wii, Wii U, Xbox 360 and iOS

Skill Rating: 8+ year-olds

Components: 2D Side-On and Pixels

Bit Trip (Bit.Trip) is a series of games with a focus on simple game-play, retro visuals and chip-tune music. The games range from pong to platforming but each one requires you to play in time to the music.

PaRappa the Rapper

Release Date: 31/10/1997

Platforms: PS4 and PSP

Skill Rating: 7+ year-olds

Components: 2D Side-On, Cartoon and Hand-Made

PaRappa the Rapper is a bizarre rhythm game where you play a paper-thin rapping dog trying to win the heart of a flower-faced girl. You do this by pressing buttons to rap in time with the music to impress her. It creates a silly yet endearing game about...

Just Shapes & Beats

Release Date: 21/06/2018

Platforms: PC, PS4, Stadia and Switch

Skill Rating: 10+ year-olds

Components: 2D Side-On and Pixels

Just Shapes & Beats is a two player rhythm game where you dodge bullets in time with the music. As well as this unusual premise, play extends the novelty as you have to both avoid the various shapes and move to the Beats. It’s a new spin on the shoot...

Cadence of Hyrule

Release Date: 13/06/2019

Platforms: Switch

Components: 2D Overhead and Pixels

Cadence of Hyrule is a Zelda-infused version of a popular rhythm-action indie game called Crypt of the NecroDancer. Like the original, you go on an adventure viewed from above and progress by moving, attacking and dodging in time with the music.

Railbound

Release Date: 06/09/2022, updated in 2022

Platforms: Android, Mac, PC, Switch and iOS

Skill Rating: 7+ year-olds

Components: 2D Overhead and Grid

Railbound is a track-bending puzzle game where you lay track, switch points, and use tunnels to get the carriages to the engine in the right order. Although it's the puzzles that keep you playing, there's also a real joy in connecting tracks and seeing...

Melatonin

Release Date: 15/12/2022

Platforms: PC and Switch

Components: 2D Side-On and Cartoon

Melatonin is a rhythm game where you press buttons in time with surreal pastel scenes. You play by deciphering the animations and sound cues to know when to press buttons. It stands out as a rhythm game that manages to keep you in time without any...

A Highland Song

Release Date: Coming soon

Platforms: PC and Switch

Components: 2D Side-On and Cartoon

A Highland Song is a narrative adventure where you explore a maze of crisscrossing routes through the hills of the Highlands. You are 15-year-old Moira who lives with her mum on the edge of the hills and receives a letter inviting her to come to the...

Joust Mania

Release Date: 11/06/2019

Platforms: Mac, PC, PS3 and PS4

Skill Rating: 5+ year-olds

Joust is a movement-sensitive game of tag is played in the real world, holding PlayStation Move motion controllers. First appearing as one of the games in the Sportsfriends pack, and then evolving as Joust Mania with more modes and up to 16 players,...

Project Timi: Sasha's Curse

Release Date: Coming soon

Platforms: PC and Switch

Skill Rating: 10+ year-olds

Components: 2D Overhead and Grid

Project Timi: Sasha's curse is a rhythmic platform game where you lay traps and defeat enemies in time to the beat. Set inside a small child's dream, you need to save Lucity Town from the nightmares and restore peace in a unique combination of puzzles,...

Tetris Effect: Connected

Release Date: 09/11/2018, updated in 2021

Platforms: Oculus, PC, PS4, Switch and Xbox One

Skill Rating: 7+ year-olds

Components: 2D Side-On

Tetris Effect is a tile-matching puzzle game (just like the original Tetris) but with a surprisingly powerful aesthetic twist. The game places each level in a themed area and ties gameplay to the beat of the music across its thirty different stages.

Aaero

Release Date: 11/04/2017, updated in 2018

Platforms: PC, PS4, Switch and Xbox One

Skill Rating: 10+ year-olds

Components: 3D First-Person

Aaero is a rhythm game where you control a spacecraft with one stick and target with the other. At times it's like flying an X-Wing on a trench run while at others it's like soaring high and free targeting enemies in a Starfox game. It's an on-rails...

Rez Infinite

Rez Infinite (Series)

Release Date: 11/01/2002, updated in 2020

Platforms: Android, Oculus, PC, PS2, PS4 and Xbox 360

Skill Rating: 10+ year-olds

Components: 3D First-Person

Rez is a shooting game where you fire musical energy rather than bullets. As you guide a figure through the darkness of space you bring down enemies in time with the music. Rez is novel for its use of music and vibration feedback to create a sense of...

Rhythm Paradise

Release Date: 31/07/2008, updated in 2016

Platforms: 3DS and 2DS, DS, GBA, Wii and Wii U

Skill Rating: 7+ year-olds

Components: 2D Side-On and Cartoon

Rhythm Heaven (also known as Rhythm Paradise, Rhythm World and Rhythm Tengoku) is a Japanese rhythm game where you perform everyday action in time with a musical beat.

Rock Band 4

Rock Band 4 (Series)

Release Date: 06/10/2015, updated in 2017

Platforms: PS4 and Xbox One

Skill Rating: 8+ year-olds

Components: 2D Overhead and Grid

Rock Band 4 is a music rhythm game. Play along with licensed music using specially made plastic controllers acting as guitars, drum kits and microphones. The game comes with 65 songs spanning the 1960's to 2010's. The music appears as coloured blocks...

Supertype

Release Date: 26/03/2018

Platforms: Android and iOS

Skill Rating: 8+ year-olds

Components: 2D Side-On

Supertype is a puzzle game you play with letters, but isn't about making words. You use the peculiar shapes of these most familiar of symbols to cover one or more dots on the level. Each letter has different uses as you try and get them to land where...

Sonority

Release Date: 25/05/2022

Platforms: PC

Skill Rating: 10+ year-olds

Components: 2D Overhead and Blocks

Sonority is a fantasy adventure where you progress by solving musical puzzles. You help Esther explore a lost world to collect musical notes and playing arrangements next to blocks to unlock the way forward. What's clever is the connection between the...

Art's Dream

Art's Dream (Dreams)

Release Date: 11/02/2020, updated in 2021

Platforms: PS4 and PS5

Skill Rating: 10+ year-olds

Components: 3D Third-Person

Art's Dream is an adventure game featuring different game styles, including running and jumping, combat and puzzle solving. It's particularly unusual as it has music threading through it like a musical. You play as Art, a depressed double bass player,...

Conga Master

Release Date: 14/09/2016, updated in 2019

Platforms: PC, PS Vita, PS4, Switch and Xbox One

Skill Rating: 6+ year-olds

Components: 2D Overhead and Pixels

Conga Master is an action dancing game about getting the most people to join your conga line. It's like the classic Nokia game Snake with an unusual dancing twist. Play involves using two buttons to steer left or right. You dance your way around a club,...

Heartbeat: Regret

Release Date: 23/08/2021

Platforms: PC

Skill Rating: 12+ year-olds

Components: 2D Side-On and Pixels

Heartbeat: Regret is a horror rhythm-typing game. It's a tough game where you are hunted in a mansion by a dark monster. Unusually, you need to press buttons in time with the audible heart beat to move around and then type directions to take specific...

Sound Shapes

Release Date: 07/08/2012, updated in 2013

Platforms: PS Vita, PS3 and PS4

Skill Rating: 8+ year-olds

Components: 2D Side-On and Cartoon

Sound Shapes is simple rolling and jumping game where you make music by completing the levels. It features music from artists such as Beck and visual elements from other games and game makers. Originally on the Vita, it uses that systems touch screens...

Super Sports Beat

Release Date: 28/10/2015, updated in 2017

Platforms: Switch and iOS

Skill Rating: 5+ year-olds

Components: 2D Side-On and Cartoon

Super Bear Sports is a sports rhythm game where you move your character in time with the music to swing, volley, and score points in different events.

Triangle Strategy

Release Date: 04/03/2022, updated in 2022

Platforms: PC and Switch

Skill Rating: 10+ year-olds

Components: 2D Overhead, Blocks and Grid

Triangle Strategy is an action role-playing game that combines a complex branching plot with grid-based battles like Fire Emblem or Advance Wars. It stands out not only for its unusual diorama visuals, but by creating an intertwining story of many...

Guitar Hero

Guitar Hero (Series)

Release Date: 08/11/2005, updated in 2015

Platforms: Apple TV, DS, Mac, PC, PS2, PS3, PS4, Wii, Wii U, Xbox 360, Xbox One and iOS

Skill Rating: 7+ year-olds

Components: 2D Overhead and Grid

Guitar Hero is a series of rhythm games where you tap buttons in time to all sorts of songs using plastic instrument-shaped controllers. In the latest game, Guitar Hero Live, you play along to real-life recorded performances filmed from the lead...

Melodyssey

Release Date: Coming soon

Platforms: PC

Skill Rating: 8+ year-olds

Components: 2D Overhead, Blocks and Grid

Melodyssey is a music puzzle game in a calm stress free exploration adventure. You play a young child journeying through a musical landscape looking for musical inspiration. It stands out for the pastel presentation, simple block moving thinky puzzles...

Oddada

Release Date: Coming soon

Platforms: PC

Skill Rating: 5+ year-olds

Components: 2D Overhead, Blocks and Grid

Oddada is a game where you make music with toys in a miniature blocky world. You set-up your little world and then take your train through different landscapes, machines and buildings to collect melodies and rhythms.

Onde

Release Date: 17/03/2022

Platforms: PC

Skill Rating: 3+ year-olds

Components: 2D Side-On and Pixels

Onde is an ethereal movement and exploration game where you dive into a fluid world full of sounds. As you move through the abstract landscapes they respond with notes and music. It's an unusual experience because the interactions invite you not only to...

Soundfall

Release Date: 11/05/2022

Platforms: PS4, Switch and Xbox One

Components: 3D Third-Person

Soundfall is a dungeon exploration, collection and brawling game where you use rhythm and timing with the music to land the perfect attacks. You are a Guardian of Harmony and must battle the forces of discord with up to four friends to restore harmony...

The Forest Quartet

Release Date: 08/12/2022

Platforms: PC, PS4 and PS5

Skill Rating: 10+ year-olds

Components: 2D Overhead

The Forest Quartet is a puzzle adventure about the band's lead singer who passed away in an ancient forest. You play her spirit travelling through the forest to create three final acts unique to the members of her band for a final concert. It's an...

The Lullaby of Life

Release Date: 24/07/2020

Platforms: Apple TV, Mac and iOS

Skill Rating: 10+ year-olds

Components: 2D Side-On and Cartoon

The Lullaby of Life is a rhythm puzzle game where you use music as the catalyst to trigger new lifeforms. You float around to explore a music-driven world. To progress through different areas you need to use the three notes you have on your creature,...

Theatrhythm Final Bar Line

Theatrhythm Final Bar Line (Series)

Release Date: 16/02/2012, updated in 2023

Platforms: 3DS and 2DS, PS4, Switch and iOS

Skill Rating: 7+ year-olds

Components: 2D Side-On, Cartoon and Grid

Theatrhythm is a series of rhythm games where you hit notes and perform actions in time to the music. In Theatrhythm Final Bar Line, you play along to tracks from the famous Final Fantasy Series and other [link to...

Across the Grooves

Release Date: 17/06/2020

Platforms: PC and Switch

Skill Rating: 12+ year-olds

Components: 2D Side-On and Cartoon

Across the Grooves is a narrative adventure where you play Alice as her uneventful life is turned upside down when a magical record throws her back into her own past. You play by making choices about her interactions that not only change the past she is...

Bandapes

Bandapes (Sokpop)

Release Date: 03/04/2019

Platforms: Mac and PC

Skill Rating: 8+ year-olds

Components: 2D Side-On and Hand-Made

Bandapes is a turn based fighting game where you gather a team of fighting apes who fight using musical note combinations in a turn-based battles with other ape squads. It's a wacky and unusual combination of rhythm and turn taking battle simulation.

HarmoKnight

Release Date: 28/03/2013

Platforms: 3DS and 2DS

Skill Rating: 5+ year-olds

Components: 2D Side-On

HarmoKnight (Rhythm Hunter: HarmoKnight in Japan) is a rhythm based running, jumping and whacking game. You play a boy named Tempo who is fighting enemies with a musical note staff. You are joined by an archer named Lyra, a buff warrior named Tyko, and...

Atone: Heart of the Elder Tree

Release Date: 27/01/2023

Platforms: PC, PS4 and Switch

Skill Rating: 8+ year-olds

Components: 2D Side-On and Pixels

Atone is a traversal narrative game set in a Norse-inspired world where combat is a rhythm rather than a reaction challenge. You explore the world as Estra a young warrior on a quest through Midgard to discover the truth behind her father’s death. It...

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Game genre:
Style of Play:
Components:

How long to play:
User-generated content:	No
Accessibility features:	Yes

Controls
Gamepad:
Mouse And Keyboard:
Touchscreen:
Motion:	Motion Aiming Motion Pointing Motion Tilting Motion Gesture Motion Camera
Remap Controls:
Button Combinations:	Holding Down Buttons Optional Rapid Repeated Pressing Optional No Simultaneous Buttons
Controller Vibration:
Sensitivity:

Getting Started
Onboarding Before Play:
Assistance Getting Starting:	Tutorials Practice Area View Control Mapping Assistance With Controls Reaction-Time Not Critical Low Pressure Adjust Speed No Jump Scares
Assistance For Progressing:	Guaranteed Progress With God Mode Bank Progress With Frequent Checkpoints Assisted Progress With Boosts Assisted Progress With Hints Assisted Recall for Characters Assisted Recall for Narrative and Dialogue Save Progress Anytime

Reading
Reading Level:
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Visual
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Visual Distractions:
Audio Cues for Visual Events:
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	Motion Sickness Friendly
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Play Without Sight:
Violence:

Audio
	Balance Audio Levels
Audio Events:
	Play Without Hearing

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Online Communication Assistance:

Difficulty
Difficulty Options:	Simple and Full Version No Memorisation Advantage No Hidden Information No Deceit Advantage No Colour Advantage No Mathematics Advantage No Weighing Decisions

Getting Started
Assistance Getting Started:	Clear Manual Electronic Version of Manual Electronic Version of Manual for Screen Readers Getting Started Video Digital Version Reference Aid
Assistance Progressing:	Play Order Tokens (Or play order doesn’t change) Reaction-Time Not Critical Low Pressure Low Impact Catch Up Rule

Reading
Reading Level:
Necessary Text Visibility:	Large Clear Text on Board (Or no text required) Large Clear Text on Cards (Or no text required) High Contrast Text (Or no text required) QR Code For Text (Or no text required) Primary and Secondary Text Distinguishable (Or no text required) Information Orientation Clear Icons

Physical
Pieces:	Components are Distinguishable by Touch Components are Replaceable No Non-Standard Dice (Or No Dice) No Tiny Pieces No Paper Money No Sprawl
Cards:	Large Card Size Standard Card Shape Limited Hand Management No Excessive Card Shuffling No Right-Handed Advantage
Placement:	No Unbound Placement Player Components Not Shared No Fiddly Placement Easily Verbalised Actions

Visual
Printed Visibility:	Colour Blind Friendly Design Double-Coding Colour High Contrast Colours
Component Identifiability:	Outline Key Elements No Busy Backgrounds Easily Verbalised Game State No Close Inspection Disadvantage Playable Without Sight

Audio
Communication:	Audio Cues Mirrored Visually (Or no critical audio signals) No Pressured Reveals No Pressured Communication Playable Without Hearing

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