The power of dance is potent—and as it turns out, is also a coding language. That's according to All Systems Dance, an up-and-coming dance battle adventure game featured in this year's PC Gaming Show.
"We have thought of everything, so that you never have to," declares a calm monotone advertisement from the sinister minds at Woosh, a dictatorial island megacorporation brainwashing its captive audience. Luckily, the resistance is here, and they're kinda gettin' sturdy with it.
Describing itself as a "non-violent combat game", All Systems Dance is all about—well, dancing to defeat systems. Instead of turning Woosh's robots into scrap metal, you'll be dismantling them in dance-offs to get them on-side for the revolution.
All Systems Dance looks like an interesting foray into the ever-present design question of "Hey, what if this game wasn't built around juggling combos and landing crits?" As much as I'm a fan of both those things, I'm also a fan of studios trying to buck all and any trends.
This isn't the first time developer Mighty Yell has tried to break the mould. This is the same studio that brought us The Big Con—a similarly non-violent game about the (slightly less wholesome) act of grifting to raise $100,000 for your mom's business.
Back then, game designer Dave Proctor described the problem in some pretty evocative terms: "Games with guns don't bat an eye, but the moment you have to steal an old lady's wallet, people start to think maybe there's something wrong with you." Naturally, All Systems Dance is angling for a far more wholesome tune.
It's an interesting design challenge to tackle for sure—and it's a little too early to declare exactly how Mighty Yell will be pushing the boat out this time. Still, I like what I'm seeing. The artstyle's bright and colourful, like a blend of Jet Set Radio and Hi-Fi Rush, and the dancing animations are a bucket of fun.
How this all translates into gameplay, in my mind, will be the real kicker. Though I'm also on board for a chill, sea-faring experience of vibing the capitalist hellscape away. Sometimes a power fantasy is swinging a giant sword at god—other times, it's getting to groove through your problems.
