Muse Dash Review

Cure me of my rhythm fever

I actually knew of Muse Dash before it had a release date on Steam. I vaguely remember coming across it one day and seeing gifs of two characters (which I now know is Maid Marija and Sleepwalker Rin). However, I never actually picked it up till the last winter sale. I guess I never added it to my wishlist and thus never got a notification that it released. Fast forward after I played through Deemo Reborn (as well as still playing Deemo and VOEZ), here I am trying to shake off my obsession with another rhythm game. I saw that this was just $3 and said why not. If I didn’t end up liking it, it wouldn’t be too much money down the drain.

Muse Dash is a colorful two lane rhythm game that has you fight enemies (or projectiles) to the beat of the music instead of simply hitting the notes. Taking a side-scroller approach, your enemies come in from the right and will either be at ground level or up in the air (which makes up the lanes). A song can take place on either of the four maps, with most enemies getting a reskin and containing their own boss. Though, the variety you’ll come across enemy-wise doesn’t stop at what lane they’re in. There’s the classic small and big enemies, enemies that are linked together called Gemini that take up both lanes, ghosts that disappear a few seconds before it hits your crossfire, and bosses. There are also the more annoying Raiders variant that is basically an enemy swooping in at the last second. Bosses in particular will send out more enemies, fire projectiles where you have to resist your urge to dodge them, or even come at you, but you can’t necessarily defeat them. Though, the map’s boss and a particular big enemy with an exclamation mark will let you mash away and there are hold notes (Sheets) here as well.

Other than enemies, there are also hammers that can swing down, saws that you need to jump over or you get hurt and your combo is broken, song notes that increases your score and hearts to increase your health.

As of now, the base game has 48 songs available with 100+ songs with the Just as Planned DLC (with more songs coming in every month). In addition, Muse Dash also has a weekly free song rotation for anyone without the DLC so you can get more of a taste on what the DLC will give you other than listening to the song previews.

There are 3 characters, or muses, that you can play as with their own unique outfits. Each different outfit will give you a specific ability that can help you out, whether it be giving you more health or increasing your score. There are also Elfins that can join you and provide you with their ability. If you happen to get hurt a lot or want to get a full combo more easily, you can equip an Elfin with an ability that can help. Although, these aren’t unlocked automatically. On every level up, you’ll be randomly given two chips that will either be for an Elfin, a character skin, or a photo for loading screens. Elfins and characters require eight while photos only need five.

You can gain EXP from completing songs (the higher score you have the more EXP you get), achievements, daily challenges, and song specific challenges (which can range from getting a minimum combo or perfectly hitting certain enemies). Idol Buro also gives you more EXP when you play as her.

Muse Dash is definitely worth picking up for $3 (as well as $30 for the Just as Planned DLC). Before I picked up the Just as Planned DLC, I played for 5 hours and still needed to unlock one more song. Of course, those who want to score on all difficulties and perfect all songs will have a longer playtime. You probably should look up some songs so you know if you’ll enjoy the music here, but considering how cheap it is for the base game, it couldn’t hurt to try it out anyway.