Rockbeasts is about managing animal bands in the Bojack style world, but you need to do more than horses around

Bojack Horseman was a show about Horsin’ Around.

There was a good thing that once had, and now there was a horse man who had been away for years, but he still clung to the idea that magic was still there. I’m not lost on the territory of spoilers, but that clinging generally didn’t work very well for the old Bojack. He was a bitter, selfish and washed-out star that he often looked back, rather than looking forward to his turn. That was his disadvantage.

It takes me to the Rock Beast. Or rather, the challenge facing this band management game from Polish developer Litchund Studios. Taking a lot of inspiration from Bojack’s Netflix Adventures, we’re back to the ’90s version where anthropomorphized animals roam America, doing what humans do. In this case, rather than appearing on television, they launch bands and run equipment in the music industry.

Adult tragedy continues as deer guitarist Paz Gordon has vowed to you and acquiesced a strip club trip where he saw troubled rabbit drummer Keith Boone refused to stop eating chicken wings. At one point, I remembered that the only lyrics had become “blood, death, piss, Satan,” and convinced me of the trio of goats pounding metal tunes, giving up on the recording studio room.

The bridge between these encounters and story beats is the daily management of the band, filled out by narcissistic ostrich singer Vernon Rose and gentle fish bassist Carlton. The game incorporates episodes, each culminating in a band that plays one song at a gig. This requires you to play the quick-time event style by typing the keys in fashion that is very similar to the Yakuza game karaoke.

However, the meat of the action occurs before you get there. You’ve given the group of Misfits a name and allowed them to crash on the couch, so you’re a manager and you need to whip what you can win a record deal. This game presents two paths that can protect your bags, both artistic and/or literal. Provides specifications to the progress tree about making the most of its ability to attract fans. It is managed by a Portrey English Bulldog with a cynical worldview, while it is sold out by the company.

To advance which level, make sure the gig is as good as possible by choosing which activity the band will do the day before, to promote the likelihood of impressing either vein. These days are divided into four time slots: morning, afternoon, evening and evening. Each of these turns gives you the opportunity to do one activity, such as buying ads, showing your face around town, promoting your music stuff, rehearsing, hunting killer amps, etc.

Along with most management games, there are scattered littered resources you need to acquire. The four baseline ones are designed to perform corresponding activities in different locations around Bucksville, each of which is in the health, mood, hype and money of the band. Generally, you’ll achieve building them all and buying a new kit or trick that can be slotted in one of each song, and in one of the sections that make up each song, you’ll earn the focus points used to activate those bits and bobs. It’s a cycle that might start dragging a bit beyond the three episode chapters I played as part of this preview, but there was enough drama to keep things interesting.

It’s a story that I think will mostly decide whether Rock Beasts will win an encore or be booed from the stage. I wasn’t sure if there was enough unique meat for the bones when going in and satirizing the rock and roll world. Of course, there’s something to show here that everything from now on is spine taps, leading up to a bad news tour of comic strips. What makes Bojack special, however, is that it incorporates the gags that have been making about celebrities over the years, dragging them into a modern, surreal version of alienation, complex psychology, and not afraid to delve deeper into the complex issues they face now.

The show took to swing a lot of that first series properly. The same kind of learning curve faces the Rock Beast. The writer is ready and eager to develop the skillful, informed touches needed to take a character beyond the surface level. There definitely were some possibilities in the short snippets I played because it was worth it. Path seems to be the most balanced character in this regard so far. Both the scenarios I mentioned earlier, and the scenarios she follows, and the scenarios in which she chooses to order a band so that she doesn’t make any controversial in an interview about Salkyrie dragging off the rail are the most powerful examples of the preview section where the promised choices and results are in the song.

With the investigation into addiction with Keith, who was unrewarded before reaching the end of Chapter 3, it will be interesting to see how it evolves. Carlton and Vernon will need more fleshing. The latter in particular is because every time a writer needs someone to dick someone in the band, there is a risk of being relegated to a paper-like, vocalist-like stereotype simply drawn to work.

The voice acting is all-out excellent, especially when it comes to Rittany, the fun side character that brings back three Single Street districts in Bucksville, Downtown, Molly Place and Old Riverton. However, I don’t know if it was the correct call to go the voice hero route with the unknown manager you play. Certainly, that means the flow of conversation will be a little better, but in games that are otherwise dedicated to customization, you can name your band and dress up like a Barbie doll before they appear on stage, properly blanking the blank role-playing canvas.

Overall, there are possibilities here and there are some indications in the intro. This earned Big GTA 4 Nostalgia Points by hosting Iggy’s Pop on a rock radio station. However, if Rockbeasts sells out the stadium properly, you need to prove that it’s more than just a tribute band.