Hi-Fi Rush was one of the more surprising games of 2023, not only because it was stealth dropped, but also because of how it was developed by a team that had only previously made horror games. And even though the whole title was released suddenly, Tango Gameworks has announced the first massive Hi-Fi Rush update ahead of time, and it will include two new modes, cosmetics, and more.
The Hi-Fi Rush update adds two combat-heavy modes
This update is scheduled for July 5, and its biggest features are the Power Up, Tower Up and BPM Rush modes. They both include five new songs and two additional enemies and can be found in a new arcade machine in the player’s hideout between levels after completing the campaign.
Power Up, Tower Up introduces a twist to the game’s existing Bloody Palace-like, wave-based survival mode Rhythm Tower. It strips players of their abilities, but doles out random upgrades between rounds much like a roguelike. These upgrades either yield a buff that lowers the score multiplier or a debuff or extra challenge that increases the score multiplier.
BPM Mode is like, in Devil May Cry terms, a mix of Turbo Mode and Bloody Palace. This mode gradually ramps up the beats per minute and gets players to fight enemies at a quicker pace. It tops out at 200 BPM, which is around 40 BPM higher than what the base game goes up to, according to game director John Johanas. Johanas also said that there are easy and normal settings, as well as an extra hard difficulty that unlocks after clearing the mode once and makes enemy attacks even more damaging and stays at 200 BPM the whole time.
The update also includes a host of cosmetics like new accessories, 808 costumes, outfits for Chai and Korsica, special attacks that summon CNMN and the tutorial robot Smidge (who is voiced by Johanas), and Photo Mode filters and poses. However, it appears as though a portion or all of them will be unlocks tied to BPM Mode and Power Up, Tower Up. Johanas also teased in the Xbox Games Showcase Extended 2023 that this Hi-Fi Rush update will contain a lot of secrets, too.
It wasn’t clear what it would end up being, but there was evidence that Hi-Fi Rush was on the cusp of getting more substantial content. A Reddit user had recently noticed that the game had gotten 10 blank new achievements.
