Fresh Tracks Review (PS5)

Once upon a rhyme in Norwyn…

To be honest, I wasn’t originally interested in Fresh Tracks. I mainly saw this game through its screenshots and gifs and it just didn’t seem all that interesting (the launch trailer, though, is way better). The trailer that I saw didn’t really interest me either. It wasn’t until I got around to watching some demo gameplay close to its release date that I became interested. I ended up liking the gameplay and the songs that I heard, so here I am now. So, how is Fresh Tracks? Does it blend the rhythm and roguelike genres well?

In Fresh Tracks, you jump into the skis of Skaii, who has found herself skiing through a vast expanse of seemingly endless snow in a place called Norwyn. Why? Well, the Mythics (or Gods) of Norwyn are in quite the predicament. The story-songs that they created have slowly withered over the years and one of their own has taken advantage of that. Mars the Mythic of Nightmares, the Queen of Terror herself, has seized control of the dreams of the people of Norwyn and has been causing nightmares. None of the Mythics, of which there are five in total, don’t seem to be in contact so Mars was able to do her thing. That is, until Koda, the Mythic of Hope and Inspiration, whispered in Skaii’s ear and she answered the call. Armed with a sword called Vygor, the feeling of a deep need to save Norwyn, and being caught up in the Blizzard, Skaii sets out to win over the other Mythics to stand a chance against Mar.

It’s not going to be easy, but luckily (or unluckily) the Blizzard has trapped you within the area for the duration of your quest. It may mix up the paths that’ll appear and will blow you back to the outskirts, but it still welcomes you to try again and again to achieve your goal. Koda starts the journey with you, so that’s one down at least. It was easy to win the trust of Koda, but the other three won’t be. First up is Sogvar, the Mythic of Adventure, and then the duo of Fars and Dram, the Mythics of Comedy and Tragedy. However, there may be more at play here and I’m not just talking about the new story-song being created for Norwyn’s new champion.

The story here is pretty nice and does a good job at framing the whole game. It gives you a goal to work towards and that’s all that matters. What’s interesting, though, is the lore of the game. There is quite a lot of lore here about Norwyn and the Mythics and it was all quite interesting. At the start of certain songs, the Mythics will come in to say something related to them. Granted, you have to have them equipped for them to chime in (and I really do hope someone pieces them all together), but each of them says something different and adds to the whole picture. Most of the lore you’ll get will be about Norwyn and its people; while some of it will be about the Mythics themselves and the time before Norwyn was created. The pieces of lore you get fits with the Mythic that’s telling it and I know I said this already, but it’s true that the lore here is interesting. Even the songs live up to their in-universe classification of being story-songs as they also tell a story of the time they were created. Some are more subtle than others, but it does become more clear once you hear what all the Mythics have to say about it. Not to mention that there’s a lore tab that you can look through that says even more.

Oh, and I did like all of the Mythics. I do have my favorites (cough Fars and Dram cough), but I didn’t mind traveling with any of them in terms of their personality. They all have such clear personalities that you can’t see them being the Mythic of anything else. Especially when you take into account their history with the people of Norwyn and each other.

It was such a delight hearing about new tidbits about Norwyn and the Mythics. I found the lore fascinating and if this was meant to encourage players to switch Mythics, well, it certainly worked on me.

Now onto the gameplay. I was debating on where to start, but I decided to start on the meat of the game, the rhythm gameplay. If you’ve played a rhythm game before it’s going to be quite familiar, but there is a twist here to fit with the theme of you skiing through Norwyn. It’s quite easy to pick up, but it does get complex once you get into the harder songs and faster speeds. Rather than sticking to a set amount of lanes, Fresh Tracks actually fluctuates on the number between songs and even during the song. There’s usually 1-4 lanes with the odd song sometimes going up to 7 lanes. Anyway, rather than catching notes, in Fresh Tracks you’ll mainly be avoiding the various hazards that appear as you’re skiing. You have the classic left and right movement so you can switch lanes, a way to lean to either side, a duck so you won’t hit your head against low-hanging pillars or the top of a log, and a jump so you can jump over hazards that are short enough (and actually has a blue arrow indicator so it’s clear…which didn’t stop me from trying to jump over things that were too tall). There are also certain points where you’ll need to jump between platforms. If a hazard hits you, it’ll deal half a heart and if your health fully depletes, well, that’s the end of the run.

You also have a Rhythmic weapon which you use for destructible hazards, signified by glowing blue and having many cracks, or dealing with enemies whether it’s hitting them before they hit you or parrying their arrows. Sometimes these will also have an arrow, which does help you hit them on-beat, but they also won’t be destroyed unless you hit them in that direction. The Rhythmic Weapon also has a meter, which will fill up as you hit hazards. There are three different Rhythmics you can unlock and use, with all three having their own ability that you can activate once the meter is filled. Like the first one you get, a sword called Vygor, will heal you.

There are pick-ups here, which I’d say act as the more traditional notes on a track. You don’t have to hit them, well unless you’re aiming to get the highest score possible, but they are placed so they go along with the beat of the song. Plus, they do give off a pleasant sound when picked up and often combines nicely with the song and may even elevate it (so much that the song may feel off without the sound effect). Sometimes you just have to overlap with them by just being in the same lane to pick them up while other times it will also require you to be in the right position by leaning, ducking, or both. Don’t worry, that last one is easy to read during songs thanks to it being visualized with what I can only describe as a staff of light. These do have an additional use, though, as these are also used to guide you through acting like another visual indicator on what you should do. Like there will be Whyspers where you need to lean to pick them up and you’ll need to lean anyway to avoid hitting the side of a mountain. They’re especially helpful for charts where hazards aren’t spawned in from the beginning, but come in after you’re a certain distance away. It gives you that extra split second that you can take advantage of. Granted, though, you shouldn’t just rely on using the pick-ups. A lot of the tracks do have two paths you can take (which I liked), there will be moments where a hazard will come in that you have to catch yourself, and sometimes a hazard will come flying down the lane to hit you if you go into the lane too early. They also do help out with making stretches where there are little to no hazards still engaging, which is nice.

I would say the pick-ups here can be separated into two categories: helpful in the moment and currencies. For the former, there are Health and Resyn pick-ups. Health, taking the form of a heart, obviously heals you for half a heart while Resyn, taking the form of a glowing ball of light, fills up your Rhythmic meter so you can use the ability. For the latter, there are two currencies in the game: Whyspers and Ekkos. Whyspers are the more plentiful pick-ups you’ll encounter here and it’s a currency that’s specific to your current run. You’ll lose it when the run ends, but you’ll be able to use it to buy items and charms from the merchant that’s stationed before each boss song. In contrast, Ekkos are the more rare pick-ups here and they accumulate over time. You’ll use Ekkos at the Outskirts to buy different equipment for you to use, a random item that you can use in your next run, and songs for the Lark.

Once you finish a song, you’ll then be scored on how well you did based on how many hits you did and if they were on beat, how many pick-ups you picked up, and how much damage you took. You’ll also get a neat little rank from Unsung (the lowest rank you can get) to Legendary (the highest rank).

It seems pretty easy enough, and it is, but things get complicated on higher difficulties as it asks for you to do multiple actions at once (like leaning to the left while ducking) or quickly chaining them (like moments in a track where you have to jump and duck in quick succession or finding yourself with a face full of sword right as you change lanes and duck. Plus, the second you get comfortable, the game hits you with a hazard. It’s hard to really tell by text or by watching gameplay, but trust me, it gets difficult and tricky as you’re trying to juggle everything and reacting in the split second that you have. It gets to be a lot once you’re at the point where the full map is unveiled.

Now onto the potatoes, aka the roguelike element of Fresh Tracks. This utilizes the use of multiple runs, or journeys as Fresh Tracks calls them, that you repeat until you make it to the end. You’ll start at the Outskirts, which act as your hub area. Here, you’ll be able to change out your equipment before you set off on another run. If you want to change out your skis, Rhythmic weapon, or the Mythic you have equipped you can. You start out with the basics, but as you progress you do unlock more. The various skis will give you perks like giving you an extra heart or giving you a discount at the merchant; the weapon you pick determines what Rhythmic ability you’ll have; and the Mythic you have equipped will not only determine who joins you on that run, but also gives you a perk, changes up the boss songs, and I believe the type of songs they prefer means that those songs have a higher chance of appearing. In addition, the first Mythic you unlock makes the game slightly easier while the last one makes the game harder. You also have The Lark, which allows you to play songs without having to go out on a run and waiting until it pops up. You do have to encounter the song (and specifically that difficulty) first when out on a run, but once you do it’ll unlock. You’ll then have to purchase it and then you’ll be able to play it to aim for a high score or to just practice it (or to hear what the Mythics have to say as luckily you don’t have to also encounter each song with each Mythic).

Once you feel like you’re ready, you can then start a new run. You have a map which starts out pretty small, but does expand as you beat more and more bosses until the final location is unveiled. The map isn’t where the roguelike element of branching paths come in, though, as it’s more used to tell where you’re at. They come in when you’re out skiing and you’ll get a choice between two or three songs when you’re at that node. You’ll get a good amount of time to choose based on the song, the song difficulty (which determines how complex the chart is and how fast you’ll be skiing), and the reward you get for picking that path. The reward can be currency, a full heal/charge, or even grant you a Charm. Charms basically grants you a leg up like increasing your health or giving you another Rhythmic meter bar. What I do like about this is that I don’t think the reward you get for choosing a path truly feels randomized. I could always choose what I wanted as I never felt a harder song had a better reward. In fact, there were times where a better reward was attached to a path with an easy song. There were some points where I had to choose a harder song for a better reward or to play it safe, but most of the time I was able to pick whatever song I wanted.

Anyway, all you have to do is make sure you’re in the lane that has the song you want to do. If you pass the song, you’ll be able to continue your journey. Once you complete all the song nodes in your path, which depending on where you are can be two or one, you’ll get a brief reprieve with a visit to the merchant. You’ll be able to use the Whyspers you collected to buy a Charm or a consumable item. You don’t have a lot of choices in the beginning, but as you progress the game you unlock the other slots so you can have more picks. Which is good considering you may only have enough Whyspers for one Charm/item. Then, once you’re ready, you’ll head for the boss song. The first time at a boss song is to recruit the Mythic tied to it and succeeding will send you back to the Outskirts with the Mythic in tow and the map extended to the next boss song. While the second time around will allow the Mythic with you to tell their unique view on the events the boss song tells as well as changing up the chart itself. The song itself stays the same, though the instrumentals do change to fit that Mythic a bit more, but the visuals and how the chart is built changes. This aspect of the game is so cool and I loved seeing the different variations of the boss songs

If you happen to fail a run, you do also get a chance at recovering a portion of the Whyspers and Charms you collected if you manage to get to the song that you last fell to. You can also unlock shortcuts, which are after the song nodes but before the merchant, if you defeated the boss song of that area with the Mythic you have equipped. Though, this is after you recruit the Mythic tied to that boss song as it doesn’t count the first time you beat it. Seems a bit annoying, but considering the boss songs change depending on the Mythic you have equipped, I’d say it’s a fine way to make sure you don’t miss the various different chart variations. The shortcuts certainly help considering the boss songs are long and difficult.

You can also adjust your base difficulty, which is called Player Type. You’re asked this right as you start a new game and you can change it any time you want in the pause menu. This basically just determines a couple things like how lucky you are (which I think affects the likelihood of different pick-ups), the leeway you have, and how much health you have. You can alter the base difficulty even more with Divine Favors and Diskords. Divine Favors are unlocked from the beginning and this will let you remove easy songs or expert songs if you want, as well as enable Mercy of the Mythics which increases the chance of health and Resyn pickups if you fail a song too many times. Diskords, in contrast, unlock once you beat the final boss song for the first time and they are more like modifiers that you enable to challenge yourself. Like if you want to test yourself in completing a full run with only one heart container.

As for replayability, Fresh Tracks does encourage you to complete a full run with all of the Mythics to achieve the true ending. You can also challenge yourself or aim to get the best score possible in each song using The Lark if you wish.

I liked the gameplay here. It already had a leg up considering I really like rhythm games and I did like how Fresh Tracks shook things up. I really like how everything flows together. Skaii never stops skiing, even when you’re at the Outskirts or at the merchant as the menus are the vehicles that are slightly ahead of Skaii. The only time it stops is when you pause. I did also find that the charts for all the songs and its difficulties flowed well. I do think some charts were difficult to read, which may be tied to the visuals of that song or how fast it is, or had chained actions that were too difficult on a controller, but everything you do just felt natural. It felt like it matched up with the song. I guess what I’m trying to say is that I liked how all the charts for all the songs and its different difficulty variations were made. They all manage to be different and fun. My favorite moments are when the lyrics match what you’re doing. Combining skiing and rhythm gameplay was a great idea and it works wonders here. I also do think roguelike elements did blend well with Fresh Tracks.

I will also say that I’m quite surprised this didn’t launch with a VR mode and I would be surprised if it never does in a future update. I have no skin in this considering I don’t have a VR headset to play said VR mode, but this game just seems perfect for one. Especially since I would constantly catch myself leaning my body along with the movements I was making in the game.

I do have a couple negatives. I ended up really wishing there was a way to see how far you were in a song, especially for the longer ones like the boss songs. I also personally didn’t like the Encore charm, but it’s more because I thought it would restart me at or sometime before where I died rather right back at the beginning. My first try always ended up being my best try since you lose your Rhythmic meter and item. I wish there were a couple more songs here as well to help with variety, though honestly I just want more songs like “Hit Your Mark”. Especially since I felt Fars and Dram was lacking in songs that felt like it was their story-songs. If you’re a casual rhythm game player, you will also hit a wall eventually as the game does get harder as you defeat more boss songs. As you progress and recruit more Mythics, easy difficulty versions of the songs will stop appearing and even the medium difficulty versions will stop appearing after you pass the first or second area, leaving you with hard, expert, and certain death difficulties. I was thinking it would just be an equal chance of any difficulty appearing, but I was wrong. I was also expecting more easy difficulty versions of songs, but there are some medium difficulty ones that I felt leaned more towards easy. There is also a chance when you hit a cluster of destructible hazards that one, more specifically the one right in your lane, won’t be destroyed.

Oh, and of course this does have the downsides that roguelikes usually have, like hoping RNG is in your favor and the game feeling repetitive and punishing setting in after a while.

On the surface, Fresh Tracks seem bland in the visuals department, but that’s actually not true. There are songs that take place in that vast, endless, blanket of snow, but you do also get to see other locations that the different songs take place at. Not to mention that the charts themselves also help out through how the various hazards are placed and the different forms. There are honestly some really cool charts here, some that are just based on how everything is placed and some a combination of how everything is placed, the location, and the form the hazards take the form of. Every song is different in the visuals department. Fresh Tracks could have easily gone the easy route, but it didn’t and it really elevates the game. I also really like the added touch on how the various difficulty levels for the songs also have the symbol that skiing trails have in real life. That was a nice touch and it does also have an added benefit of being an easy way to tell what difficulty a song is without looking at the text that says it.

The songs were all amazing. Fresh Tracks have a good mix of pop, metal, rap, and theatrical, and they were all amazing. I loved the vast majority of the songlist here, of course there are one or two that I didn’t like as much, and I especially love the songs that had lyrics. And talking about the lyrics, the songwriter here did an amazing job as they not only stand really well by themselves, but even better when you take into account the stories tied to them. Rhythm games are all about the songs and Fresh Tracks did not disappoint. You know a rhythm game nails it when the main reason you picked it up is because you loved the songs you heard while doing research on the game.

The voice actors all did a wonderful job in bringing their characters to life. They all were so good here and I loved all of them. They all perfectly exude the Mythic they represented and I can’t imagine them sounding any different.

Fresh Tracks plays wonderfully on the PS5, though I did get a handful of moments where the game did lag. It was just enough to where I could notice it and, sadly, just enough to where I felt it did mess me up if it happened during a moment where there was stuff on the track.

Verdict

All in all, Fresh Tracks is a pretty good game that does mesh the rhythm and roguelike genre together well. I’m glad I decided to look up more about the game as I ended up enjoying Fresh Tracks a lot and loved the songs here. I also ended up really loving the story and lore here that makes up the world of Norwyn; as well as the Mythics that joins you to act as your narrator. I do have my gripes with the game, but I do think Fresh Tracks is something special. If you like rhythm games and you like roguelikes and you’ve been wanting those two genres to combine, check out Fresh Tracks.

I do also encourage you to look up some gameplay footage so you can see the game in action and hear some songs. Even if you’re not interested, it might just push you to being interested like it did for me.