It’s been a while since rhythm mechanics moved beyond Guitar Hero and Rock Band to empower neat versions of action games, like Crypt of the Necrodancer, BPM: Bullets Per Minute and Hi-Fi Rush. Rarely does it grace role-playing games, and then only in quick-time events to make attacks or defenses stronger. But People of Note is an upcoming RPG that doesn’t just implement rhythm into combat — it weaves music through the whole package, from the combat and items to the characters and world around.
People of Note’s story is set in a fantasy world split into lands themed around musical genres. The game kicks off with Cadence, a singer dreaming of global stardom who must leave the pop land of Chordia to form a band if she has any hope of winning a Eurovision-like dream competition. Like any good RPG, she’ll have to travel to other lands (in this case, those of Rock, EDM and Rap) to form unlikely allies to make a harmonizing sound that breaks barriers and beats enemies on their path to stardom.
I got to play a short demo exploring about 90 minutes early in the game, which launches on April 7, and it’s definitely unique. Less revolutionary in mechanics than in marrying RPGs with the trappings of music, People of Note seems tailor-made for performers and musical theater nerds who want to see their art represented in fantasy games for a change. It’s more Kingdom Hearts than a hardcore stat-grinding RPG, but that makes it more accessible for the music novice (like me).
The gameplay revolves around classic RPG staples of turn-based battles and gaining levels; the game’s creative director Jason Wishnov cited Final Fantasy 9 and Chrono Cross as inspirations.
But People of Note has a ton of music, including in-game musical performances. Some of the voice acting of the main characters is split between spoken and singing talents, like main character Cadence (voiced by Heather Gonzalez, sung by the artist LEXXE). Others have one performer for both, like party member Fret (voiced and sung by Jason Charles Miller of industrial rock band Godhead).
That blend seems like it’s setting up People of Note to be more of an experiential journey, but there are some hints of depth. People of Note has borrowed some neat mechanics from the best RPGs out there, turning Final Fantasy’s ultimate move Limit Breaks into Mash-Up collaborations between characters (feeling more like Chrono Trigger’s double and triple techs). Skills and skill-augmenting gems can be swapped in and out like Final Fantasy’s Materia.
Most of People of Note’s innovations lie in remixing staple RPG elements with musical flair. In combat, turn order is visualized on the bottom of the screen as a musical stanza, which shows how many actions players and enemies get. Most of the time, a stanza will offer an attack bonus that rotates between musical styles, giving different party members alternating boosts. (The best songs let band members take turns to show off their stuff in solos.)
A short jaunt in rock-and-roll town
My preview opened just after Cadence leaves Chordia for the land of rock, Durandis, which is a dusty frontier town that would fit in a western. She finds it split between different subgenres, with punk and grunge fans sticking to their neighborhoods rather than blend with each other.
Soon enough, Cadence finds herself sticking up for the locals to defend against raiders (who twang away on banjos and do a bit of soft-boot line dancing). To her rescue comes Fret, a former rocker, who she wants to join her band.
But Fret’s got his own history as he laments the splintering of rock into so many divisive categories gatekeeping each other. He reluctantly joins Cadence as they seek an audience with the biggest local rocker who can protect the town — naturally, he’s also Fret’s old bandmate.
As that intro suggests, People of Note has a lighthearted tone, referencing music fan culture with jokes and jabs. Mostly this comes across in the unending avalanche of puns — an NPC named a Fretful Man, a bird cage with a sign that says Free Bird, Cadence joking that a raid has torn Durandis to «shred,» and so on. Fret’s old bandmate is a local metal star that he knew as Freq (pronounced «freak») but goes by Quincy these days.
I can see how that torrent of dad jokes could be wearying over time, but the jokes landed just fine with me. They fit with the game’s general perspective that music should be playful, experimental and fun — not rigidly locked by rules and precedent.
In their quest to speak to Quincy, Cadence and Fret must pass through his lair, adorned in heavy metal skulls and flames. Players need to solve the puzzles found here, though these can be turned off in the game’s settings.
Players also have plenty of hard rocker enemies to defeat. These fights weren’t too challenging, especially given how the game omits some common RPG friction by, for instance, fully healing between battles. Given the demo’s position early in the game, I hope fights get a bit more complicated and vary in difficulty.
At the top of his lair, Quincy waited for us as a boss battle, getting in multiple attacks and messing with the player’s party. Midway through, he hindered damage done during the first action taken during my turn, forcing me to shift my strategy.
I also saw one of the game’s better innovations: Bosses power up every few turns, ratcheting up the tension and forcing players to end fights more quickly lest they be overwhelmed.
With Quincy humbled and his fans pledging to protect the town, Cadence and Fret go on their way to the next musical land to acquire another band member, seeking to further complexify their sound with EDM and rap to craft a truly iconic blend.
Many games have jokes and pop culture references, but People of Note feels fully committed to bringing a musical fantasy land to life, top to bottom.
Midway through the demo in a cinematic, Cadence launches into a song to get Fret to join her, transporting both to a stage where they trade verses expressing their positions before she wins him over and they harmonize. Like any good musical, conflict is expressed and resolved in song, with characters emerging changed and ready for the next part of the journey.
As I watched the cinematic, I noticed Cadence’s pop star-styled jacket has a bass clef weaved into its front, while Fret’s boot spurs look like guitar string tuning pegs — slight touches that speak to a lot of vision. The game’s streamlined RPG combat didn’t seem like it would satisfy fans of more hardcore games in the genre looking for a mechanical or strategic challenge, but for those who are willing to see the game’s playful blend of two worlds, it’s shaping up to be one of the more novel games of 2026.
