No Straight Roads - Welcome to Vinyl City First Thoughts

YouTube is hitting a strange area in regards to their recommendations lately. We’re getting memes and music videos from months, sometimes years back, apropos of nothing, that usually don’t have anything to do what it is we watch regularly. Every now and then, however, we get something that makes us bust a gut, sit still for about an hour, or something else that the GLaDOS-like algorithm decides to shove in our faces. What greeted me this fine morning was a trailer for a game that had been years in development. Somehow had gone unnoticed for me, despite apparently being right up my alley. That game is No Straight Roads - Welcome to Vinyl City.

From the get go of the trailer, we’re introduced to a vibrant, sunny character by the name of Mayday. The game wastes no time in letting us know just how crazy awesome she and the game are, playing the ballad of her city in a zany cover the Barber of Seville Overture, and it actually gives a good amount of exposition.

Not pictured: me screaming my head off

The NSR megacorp, which also markets their own EDM label, has taken an interesting spin on dystopia. They monopolize music and make sure that their tunes are the only ones played in their nightclubs.

No evil megacorp is complete without a giant, conspicuous tower.

An EDM fan myself, even I would get tired of listening to it four hours straight without something to break it up in between. Fortunately, Mayday (and her acid-green sidekick drummer Zuke) think the same way, and are ready to throw down against Tatiana and her crew and reclaim the city with the power of rock. Along the way you’ll literally change the world with your music, and Metronomik really spreads their wings here in creating stunning, jaw-dropping locales and hyped-up, gargantuan boss battles.

Metromonik bills themself as ‘a place where rhythm and visual storytelling come into play’. And true to form, both elements are combined seamlessly in the trailer we have. No apparent cutscenes, and the world. Looks. Amazng. While the graphical stye likens back to the simplistic, easygoing nature of the PS2 era, it’s fluid, expressive, and a feast for the eyes. The ears are likewise satisfied with Welcome To Vinyl City’s powerful soundtrack. From what we know, the game transitions seamlessly back and forth between EDM and rock, creating an eclectic, engaging mix to do battle with. “We bring the harmony of music and video games to the masses, without turning them into a rhythm game.” Metronomik states, and it looks like they’re holding true to their mission statement. For their very first game since starting business 18 months ago, it definitely looks like a strong contender if the feedback, and the Best Audio award at the 2019 Taipei Game Show are any indication.

Rightly earned, IMO.

As a lover of games and music, this title is hitting all the right notes for me, and I’m looking forward to its spring 2019 release with eager eyes and ears, and just enough space in my storage to actually download it (sorry, Steep).

Yes, that is in fact a turret formed from the power of music.