The infusion of musical Rhythm along with Hack and slash action can be a daunting sight for newcomers but with our Hi-Fi Rush Beginner’s Guide, you will be easily slaying enemies to the beat of the music in no time flat. The game incentivizes you to learn its creative gameplay mechanics to efficiently play it but it’s easy to get overwhelmed if you’re not familiar with its general gameplay consensus.
- Learning every key detail of Hi-Fi Rush’s gameplay can be confusing at first, but with the Beginner’s Guide, new players shouldn’t face too much trouble with it.
- Activating the in-game Beats Visualizer will allow players to have an easier time adjusting to the Rhythmic combat as well as when to input their attacks.
- Completing and claiming a variety of challenges in the Hideout will reward players with a plethora of Gear, the main currency of the game.
- Exploring the levels thoroughly is vital as they can tend to hide some important items to help increase Chai’s total HP and reverb gauge.
- Timing Beat Hits can be necessary as they can deal a lot of damage at the end of combo strings.
- Lastly, additional combat tips include using Chai’s dash attacks, making proper use of both dodge and parry as well as learning the ins and outs of air juggling.
Enable The Beat Visualizer
You can enable an immensely helpful feature in the game called the Beat Visualizer which essentially allows you to visually read the beats as they’re appearing on-screen. It is an accessibility tool that can be toggled on and off at your leisure by pressing either the Tab key on your keyboard or the View button on the Xbox controller.
Since the game literally uses the rhythm beats as its core mechanics, you will undoubtedly run into occasional errors or hiccups here and there so the Beat visualizer is here to fix that problem right from the beginning. As shown in the image above, the beats will appear as red circles which stop in the middle-ringed area so make sure to have it enabled so you can run into lesser mistakes when performing inputs or other attacks as Chai.
Completing Challenges For Rewards
As soon as you gain access to the hideout after the first chapter, it will act as your base of operations, allowing you to interact with a bunch of NPCs among other things. One of which includes the Graffiti wall behind the couch here, which will allow you to view a list of different challenges. These challenges are split across various categories from battle-related ones to even miscellaneous ones such as acquiring a certain number of items.
Completing the objectives of these challenges will reward you with a high sum of Gear which can be used to unlock additional combos and abilities for Chai. Make sure you regularly visit the challenges board to see which ones you have completed so you can reap their rewards or even ones you’re close to finishing up.
Exploring For Items
The main campaign progression of the game is split across various different missions, which is similar to other action games in the genre such as Devil May Cry 5 or even Bayonetta 3.
But the main thing that each of these missions comprises is the multi-layered level design which may not seem like that at first but trust us when we say that fully exploring them will be necessary as each level contains one or two hidden items needed to be collected. It is honestly one of the few things that are worth keeping in mind from our Beginner’s Guide for Hi-Fi Rush.
These items are specifically the Life Gauge or the Electric Reverb Cores, which when collected in a specific amount, will permanently increase either the total HP or Reverb gauge of Chai. The items in question are tucked away in hidden parts of the levels or alongside alternate paths, so keep your eyes sharp and make sure never to miss anything from your main point of view.
Furthermore, it doesn’t help to break open any extra crates you might find along your way either as they contain the gear currency which even the smallest bit will prove useful in the grand scheme of things. They can also be found along the hidden paths which end up leading to the items we mentioned previously.
Timing The Beat Hits
You can perform different kinds of finishers at the end of each combo in the game in the form of Beat Hits which have an interesting mechanic in order to execute them properly. As shown in the image above, Beat Hits will require you to press either attack button as the outer red circle is perfectly overlapping with the green circle. Correctly timing the beat hits will allow you to deal extra damage upon performing combo finishers.
However, it is worth stating that not only will the game tell you this, but the beat hits actually correspond directly with the beats of the music, and it certainly has a large window to execute it. You can easily achieve the perfect rating on them, but even being slightly off-rhythm won’t cost you much.
The In-Game Shop
Just like most action games in the market, you are able to stylize and upgrade Chai in a few different ways, most specifically, being able to unlock new combos for him as well as a brand new set of special attacks to equip. These can all be purchased and unlocked via Peppermint’s in-game shop found in the hideout. There are also a few instances where you can encounter her portable shop whilst playing missions.
We strongly recommend picking up a couple of combos right from the get-go as Chai will have access to a limited set of combos from the early going in Hi-Fi Rush. Moreover, you may also be tempted to pick up new special attacks to equip on your Reverb gauge, such as one where you can blaze through enemies while riding a Skateboard, which of course, we suggest picking up once you’re a couple of missions into the game.
Lastly, there is also a nifty item here that allows you to equip more than one Special Attack on Chai, but due to its cost value, it is advised from our end that you save for it the mid-game events since you will be much better off investing in the other aforementioned items for your beginning hours with it.
Additional Rhythm Indicators
If you head into the settings, at the bottom of the accessibility tab, there should be an option to enable another Beats indicator for 808, the cat, which essentially acts as Chai’s sidekick. As shown in the image above, you can tune it to your personal liking with up to three different modes to choose from. This will further ensure that you don’t end up missing any beats while performing inputs during the combat scenarios.
While on the subject of rhythm indicators, another impressive detail is the fact that the environment is in sync with the music track playing in the background during gameplay. It just adds to the fact that the game never ceases to amaze you right from its opening segments, plus it also showcases that everything is correlating with the beat so that even non-rhythm game players can feel at ease playing this title.
Combat Tips And Tricks
Despite the Rhythm aspect being a major element of the gameplay, at the core of everything, Hi-Fi Rush is still a complex action game with deep combat mechanics, so mentioning a few pointers for our Beginner’s guide will help you master things quickly.
Practice In Training Mode
You must already be familiar with the saying that “Practice makes perfect,” which also applies to this game as practicing and getting more familiar with the combat can be certainly helpful, to say the least. You can access the training mode by talking to Peppermint in the Hideout.
The training mode itself contains a variety of functions that you can tweak to your liking, from adjusting enemy types and their behavior to even if you want to use the Beat Visualizer to master the rhythm inputs instinctively. Fighting enemies in training will help ensure you remain at your best for the combat sections as well as practice any of your combos at your own leisure, so we highly recommend taking time out for it.
Airborne Juggles And Dash Attacks
If you’re familiar with most action games and maybe an expert with their deeper mechanics, then you will easily understand what we mean by air juggling. By launching enemies high into the air, you will gain an advantage over most mobs by staying in the mid-air section for longer than the intended period.
While most games have different methods to learn air juggling properly, a fun way to do that in Hi-Fi Rush is by using Chai’s grappling hook to latch onto enemies as soon as you execute your Beat Hit. If timed correctly it will cancel out the ending animation and strike the enemy once again for additional damage. Of course, it can take some practice to execute timely so again, practice it in the training mode whenever possible.
Lastly, on the subject of launching enemies into the air for juggling, you can easily do that with minimal effort using Chai’s forward dash attack. While a few combos chains can launch enemies into the air, the dash attacks are definitely something not to forget, as they can also help bridge the gap amongst a few of the ranged foes.
Parry Or Dodging Attacks
In order to avoid most attacks, you will need to time your dodges, or else you will get hit quite often, interrupting your combo chain as well as disrupting your ranking in the process. The dash button will, of course, be your means to dodge, and only inputting it to the beat will allow you to chain it successfully up to 3 times. Just keep in mind that you can only dash a single time whilst in mid-air.
Lastly, you will unlock the ability to parry in Mission #3, “Trial by (Volcanic) Fire,” by pressing the B button on your controller. It is highly suggested that you take the time to learn when to get the timing down, especially for perfect parries, as not only do they have an achievement to perform 200 Perfect parries, but most bosses and enemies of the game can be effectively beaten by parrying their attacks instead of dodging all the time.
Special Attacks
By building up the Reverb Gauge, Chai can unleash special attacks which can inflict an insane amount of damage on the enemy or boss, changing the tide of the battle at any given moment. There are a number of special attacks available for Chai to equip, as most of them can be bought from Peppermint via her in-game store. You can only equip a single special attack during the starting stages of the game.
However, as mentioned previously, you can even unlock another special attack attachment slot, but since the price can be concerning, it doesn’t hurt to wait until you’re a few missions into the game to grab it. Lastly, it is worth pointing out that not every special attack will be the same and vice versa, as each one has a different range of attacks or abilities that it unleashes.
Using Allies In Battle
Hi-Fi Rush allows players the opportunity to call in NPC allies who can provide assistance to them during any kind of combat encounter. You gradually unlock new characters throughout the main campaign, with the first one being Peppermint, but later on, as you meet and unlock new characters such as Macaron, they will become an indispensable sidekick that can hop in and out of combat to deal extra damage to foes.
Furthermore, they have a slight cooldown whenever you call them in, too, so make sure to rotate each one during the battle in order not to mess your rhythm up.
The Wrap-Up
It seems like Hi-Fi Rush is on its way to becoming a rather popular Action title, and as apparent from a recent Subreddit Post, it is obvious that the game is garnering an immense amount of love from gamers right from the first mission and its boss battle.
Hi-Fi Rush is easily perhaps the most engaging action title yet as it boasts a Rhythm flair to its combat, making it not only stand out from numerous other titles of its genre but also showcasing the creativity of the game, all executed perfectly by the developers at Tango Gameworks.
Not to mention the Voice Actors of Hi-Fi Rush bring a whole other meaning to charm and enthusiasm to the game’s characters which are all well-written and, even at times, comical too. Not only is the combat just sublime, but the fact that it blends so well with the rhythm element makes it a must-play title, and when experienced fully, you will probably be in the majority of calling it a potential Game of the Year candidate.
However, for now, this wraps up our Beginner’s Guide for Hi-Fi Rush. It contains a few obvious things but with them explained more in-depth, it will help provide every essential piece of information that you need when starting out as the quick-witted Chai for the first time. If you have any other questions, then be sure to let us know about them in the comments section below, and we will get back to you as soon as possible.
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