Fretless – The Wrath of Riffson Review - Musical RPG Mayhem Unleashed!

At a very young age, I knew I was going to be one of two things in life: a musician or someone who writes and talks about video games. One of those things didn’t work out, but the other? Well, I am still here doing what I love on this channel, so I feel blessed in that regard. But deep down inside, a passion for music still burns within me. That little Eddie Vedder or Kurt Cobain that wants to let out my angst and aggression and just, SMASH A GUITAR. Alright, that was a bit aggressive there and I'm no Fred Durst, but naturally, when I see a game like Fretless: The Wrath of Riffson hit the indie gaming scene—a title that pays homage to rock ’n’ roll amongst other varieties of music—it grabs my interest. Mix a musical rhythm-themed concept with one of my all-time favorite genres, an RPG, and now you REALLY have my attention! But does Fretless feel over-produced and auto-tuned? Or does the game hit all the right notes? Well folks, tie those flannels around your waists, because we’re about to find out in our full review!

Fretless – The Wrath of Riffson is a turn-based RPG where you’ll play as Rob, a musician capable of wielding and controlling an assortment of powerful weaponized instruments, including an acoustic guitar, synth keyboard, bass guitar, and my favorite—the brutally low-tuned 8-string guitar for those epic death metal riffs! Meshuggah would be proud! Rob is on an epic quest to stop the evil Riff Riffson and his many cohorts who are corrupting the music of this world. Basically, Riffson is making every song sound like Hanson’s “MMMBop.” No, I made that up, but that does sound pretty diabolical, doesn’t it? In reality, Rob becomes entangled in Riffson’s Battle of the Bands contest, hosted by his evil super megacorporation known as Super Metal Records. Our villain's ultimate objective? To trap the world's greatest musicians in terrible contracts. God, I haven’t seen a deal this bad since Little Richard sold off Tutti Frutti!

While the narrative of Fretless serves its purpose, I did feel like more could have been done with it. Maybe not as unreadable as Morrissey’s List of the Lost, but this is no Scar Tissue by any means. Players will perhaps snicker on occasion at some of the game’s decently written dialogue and musically-based references, and the world is full of music and magic on the surface level, but lacks a strong cast—an important aspect of any RPG, even a hybrid one. Rob himself is pretty one-note (pun fully intended); our villain isn’t all that deep or fleshed out, and so I found myself more attached to the game’s theme of music than its actual written story.

But let’s talk about the core gameplay loop of Fretless which is much less shameful than whichever band ended up asking for money to play Ozzy’s last show. The game follows a rather linear structure for an RPG, almost always giving players a clear indication of their objective and which direction they should be headed. There are signs to guide you, a message log just in case you’ve forgotten the current goal, and even a handy dandy fast travel system that makes getting around easy enough once you’ve discovered a new location. Generally, you’ll be presented with a conflict of some kind, explore a sizable area battling foes to complete the goal for that location, and then be dropped into one of many towns where you can heal up and purchase upgrades for your instruments. These areas aren’t particularly large or all that interesting to explore, serving mainly as rest points. A town will typically consist of just a few NPCs, one of whom is likely to give you your next main mission, and some upgrade stations. Dungeons, as I will refer to them as though they aren’t really all that dungeon-y, offer very little room for exploration—with just a few side paths that will, predictably, lead to hidden treasures and upgrades. Occasionally you’ll come across a puzzle or two in these areas, but they never evolve much past pushing a few blocks or memorizing a pattern. Huh, kinda like Nickelback, every song is the same damn thing for the most part with minor variations.

But now, it’s time for ME TO REMIND YOU that the developers seem to have placed most of their efforts into the combat engine of Fretless, which is by far the most interesting aspect of the entire game. It’s a turn-based system, as I mentioned, with enemies being visible on-screen if you’d prefer to avoid them entirely Chrono Trigger style. Or you know, the many other games that have done that since. Assuming you DON’T avoid battle, and depending on which instrument you’ve come equipped to fight with, a different backing track will play during encounters for the represented instrument. These backing tracks aren’t here to help Taylor Swift sound better, however; rather, they are an instrumental part of the gameplay, literally! I thought this was a brilliant idea, though I'll touch on the sound design a bit more later. Each instrument not only includes a unique backing track but also comes with its own set of riffs which you’ll use to defeat your foes. Here’s where things really get interesting, as, SURPRISE! Fretless is also somewhat of a deckbuilder. Players are able to pick between different riffs, make custom sets to bring into battle, and, of course, unlock new cards, or riffs, as they progress further into the game.

On each turn in battle, you’ll select from 3 different riffs before needing to hit the SHRED button in order for your actions to play out. Huh, that’s more riffs than Blink 182 ever had! These battles are anything but formulaic, however, as depending on the chosen attack, you’ll need to press the action button in rhythm with your character AND the background music to maximize damage. Performing QTE inputs to the beat of a song takes a bit of practice but eventually feels satisfying when, or if, you are able to nail it down. Admittedly, I struggled a bit, but shit, nobody ever notices when the bassist messes up, right? In a similar fashion, staying in tune with enemy attacks will allow you to better block them. Boss encounters in particular require a good amount of strategy and thinking. Some riffs will shield you, some will damage you for the greater good, and some can be stacked to dish out further damage. The coolest attack by far, however, would be your crescendo, activated by filling up a meter over time through landing successful attacks. These screen-filling moments will have you inputting commands on a Guitar Hero-like grid, dealing out massive damage in the end. Crescendos are fun to activate and a joy to watch unfold. Instruments can also be modded with various upgrades such as new strings. These will grant you perks that can potentially offer additional tactical advantages. There are even effects pedals that can be equipped, giving you even more of an edge in battle. So as you can see, Fretless has a combat system that is deeper than it may appear on the surface. Maynard James Keenan would be great at this game! Overall, I enjoyed the combat, even if some battles dragged out a bit longer than I would have liked. 

Fretless also doesn’t feature a traditional leveling system. You won’t gain levels or XP as you do in countless other RPGs; instead, toppling foes earns you materials which can improve your riffs and instruments. I guess you could say I am a material boy! The game is all about building up a great deck, so fans of the RPG genre that were hoping for something a bit more old-school and traditional may be disappointed in this regard. Personally, I missed the satisfaction of growing physically stronger with each battle, but it's important to recognize that Fretless isn’t exactly trying to be all that much like a standard RPG or JRPG. Sure, it borrows plenty from the genre, but it is also very much its own thing—a fusion of deckbuilding, RPG exploration, and rhythm gaming. Whoa, it’s so unexpected just like Radiohead’s Kid A, a great album by the way.

In a game about music, you would hope Fretless has excellent sound design, and I am pleased to report that it does. While, as I mentioned, much of the game has a traditional rock and roll theme around it, the OST does explore other genres such as synth, pop, and heavy metal. Each composition is incredible, and the ways in which the soundtrack often worked together with the gameplay impressed me to no end. I’m a ’90s grunge kid at heart, so I do wish we got a bit more of that style of music represented here, but overall, the soundtrack and overall sound design of the game are excellent.

There’s music EVERYWHERE in this world, and that serves the game very well. The pixelated visuals are also charming, though the game is almost a bit TOO pixelated for my tastes. Don’t get me wrong, I love pixel art, but it's zoomed in to the extreme in Fretless, making the presentation just a bit messier-looking than I usually prefer. Even still, a great deal of creativity has gone into the enemy designs, different set pieces, and overall look of this musical world. The menu designs are serviceable, though a bit cluttered.

Unfortunately, much like the first time I listened to Pearl Jam’s Vitalogy, I did come across a few bugs during my playthrough, one of which had me haplessly gliding across the screen before accidentally progressing me further into the game than I was supposed to be. Talk about having an appetite for destruction! Nothing outright broke the game, however, and thankfully I was able to load back into where I was before that bug had occurred without issue. There were a few other, smaller glitches here or there too, but nothing that can’t be ironed out with a few good patches, I am sure—just worth noting regardless. Performance was otherwise good, with no major framerate drops to report on my main rig. Playing on Steam Deck seemed serviceable, though during exploration I WAS getting random framerate drops that made things judder a bit, which didn’t happen on my main PC, often bringing Fretless down below 60fps. These spikes can make the overall pacing of the game feel a bit off and not all that smooth to play when walking about. Battles were mostly stable in my testing on the Deck, but either way, it was playable, though not perfect on Valve’s handheld.

Fretless – The Wrath of Riffson may not be a rock legend, but it is a creative little indie that offers up an interesting combat system worth diving into. I liked the mix of deckbuilding with turn-based battles; the soundtrack and overall sound design are excellent, and while the story feels like a bit of a missed opportunity, it’s hard not to laugh at some of the funny musical puns. With a bit more fine-tuning, the game could have been something truly special, but as it stands, it's a game worth checking out, especially if you like the idea of different gaming genres coming together to make for an entertaining, musical experience. I look forward to seeing if Ritual Studios can truly nail down a sound in their sophomore effort—assuming they don’t hit the dreaded slump, that is.

Bronze - GOOD