I want to tell the sordid story of Headbangers: Rhythm Royale. Game Pass was created for weird, insane games to thrive. If you’re hesitant about spending money on any one game, Game Pass swoops in to give you the choice to simply play something you’re on the fence about and give it a fair shot. Headbangers: Rhythm Royale, from what I’ve observed, didn’t get that chance.
On October 31, the quirky battle royale that could will leave Game Pass. Occasionally, I’ll pop back into it to see if anyone’s playing so I can get a few sessions in. Whenever I queue up in a lobby, out of the 30 competitors who could join, I would be lucky to see the player count break double digits. As someone who loves rhythm games (big PaRappa the Rapper geek), I thought a rhythm-based battle royale was a great idea.
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Headbangers has so much personality and variety in the available games in rotation to see which pigeon will come out on top. A great mixture of memory, precision, and reflexes! My personal favorite was the one where you had to be the quickest on the draw listening out for matching sounds. I’m not saying Headbangers is “dead,” necessarily. Just that I wish it hit the same wave of momentum as a Fall Guys.
game pass giveth, game pass taketh away
Maybe this hits a little harder because of Rumbleverse. Another refreshing battle royale concept far away from anything resembling a gun. As a wrestling fan always looking for weird wrestling games, I was so into Rumbleverse. I thought for sure it was going to be the next big thing… until it wasn’t anymore. Seeing good ideas get flushed down the drain always sucks.
Headbangers at least is still kicking. I even hope it can mount a full comeback — it deserves it! Still, that doesn’t alter my disappointment with the lack of engagement Headbangers suffers from. So, in that realm, the only “unsung” king I have left is MultiVersus. It’s always the risk of putting your bets into anything that doesn’t have a massive budget behind it. One day, it could disappear without warning — never mind the creative forces behind it.
