I don’t know what I want out of UNBEATABLE (D-Cell Games, 2025) that it didn’t either promise or deliver on. I mostly liked the rhythm-action gameplay, and it’s been the way it is since I first played the White Label demo in 2021. I found the writing mostly enjoyable, though it was admittedly so full of cliches that you could’ve probably made a drinking game out of it. I was already well on board with the visual language and aesthetics, given that I’m a fan of Studio Gainax and Studio TRIGGER anime like FLCL and Kill la Kill. The game is honest and open about what it is; it’s not like I feel as though I’ve been tricked or anything.
So why have I been sitting here, mildly dissatisfied, fidgeting around for a month looking for the critical language to talk about this game?
Maybe I’m dissatisfied because Unbeatable gave me everything I was looking for—no more, no less. I got the punky, alternative, riot grrrl-meets-J-Rock soundtrack I wanted. I got to beat up cops, by far the highlight of Unbeatable‘s gameplay next to a baseball batting cage game that drove me slightly crazy. I experienced moments I resonated directly with, like watching a band fall apart and losing a parent—both things that have happened to me. And yet when I hit the big emotional climax and saw credits roll for the final time it felt like something was coming up short. And I just can’t fucking put my finger on it.
I think sometimes we expect games to fix us. Games aren’t built to do that. Play is powerful, transformative, something that can help reframe, reassess and recontextualize your lived experiences, but it can’t remove traumas or heartaches from your life. It can’t make you whole.
And despite knowing this, I think subconsciously I was hoping that Unbeatable would be able to beat that expectation and do what no other piece of media I’ve consumed over the decades has managed to do. That’s not really Unbeatable‘s fault, nor is it fair to the devs to lay that expectation at their feet.
Music used to be a much larger part of my life than it is. You’ve undoubtedly seen it seep into what I’ve written here before. I was in a band. I was part of a music scene that felt like family. Something horrible happened in my scene, I stood up to speak out against it, and I was pushed out. I spent years drifting away from friends I swore I’d have forever. It was hard to listen to music as voraciously as I had in better days. I couldn’t go to shows anymore. I had to leave the band i was in. It was worth it to speak out, but it reshaped my relationship with music. I see my own experiences, not perfectly mirrored, but to a degree reflected in Beat’s experiences. That was valuable to feel. I felt the catharsis of beating up on cops during the rhythm sections (I really cannot stress enough how peak that is in context). I understood all too well what it was to lose a parent you thought would be there for decades more at least.
Unbeatable didn’t owe me any of those points of connection. I’m glad I made them.
I need to sit in my dissatisfaction more. I need to process it outside of games. Maybe some more cop-fighting will help.