Intralism

About

Intralism is a fast-paced musical rhythm game with challenging gameplay that requires good reaction time and an ear for music. It features global ranks, official and user-created maps, and a built-in editor for creating your own maps. With support for both single-player and multiplayer, you can customize your game experience with rare items and compete with others online for the top spot on the global ranking. However, the game is poorly optimized and buggy, but it still provides a hilarious and enjoyable experience.

Genres & Tags

Play Modes

88%

Audience ScoreBased on 3,266 reviews

music323 positive mentions

stability35 negative mentions

music
1,087 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
30%
66%
4%
The music aspect of the game has received mixed reviews, with many players praising the extensive library of songs available through the Steam Workshop, which includes a variety of genres, particularly anime and electronic music. However, criticisms focus on the lack of difficulty settings for individual songs, leading to frustration for new players, as well as issues with song synchronization and audio quality. Overall, while the music selection is vast and enjoyable, the gameplay experience can be hindered by poor organization and technical issues.
- “The best part of this game is the massive music library there is to choose from.”
- “This game is a good game, the gameplay is good, the music was even better than the gameplay because the music was the original music, not the remix, and that was a plus point for me.”
- “I really loved this game, the music, the challenge, the visuals.”
- “Many of the songs offered in the game are missing a lot of beats and it seems like they were made randomly to put the 'hits' into music rather than following any kind of beat.”
- “The song list is poorly organized and there's no introduction or learning curve; you just choose a song and hope it's not impossible.”
- “The regular difficulty is abusively hard, while the relaxed mode is so laid back that it can't even really be used for proper practice, since it does not give you any feedback on your success or failure.”
gameplay
272 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
36%
57%
7%
The gameplay of this rhythm game is a mixed bag, with some players enjoying its simplicity and addictive nature, while others criticize its lack of polish, confusing mechanics, and unresponsive controls. Many reviews highlight the game's unique visual style and music selection, but also point out issues like difficulty spikes, unclear feedback, and a frustrating "lives" mechanic. Overall, while the game has potential and offers a fun experience for some, it suffers from significant mechanical flaws that detract from the overall enjoyment.
- “The gameplay itself is super satisfying, original, and the fact you're reminded of your global rank every now and then keeps you wanting to get better at it.”
- “Excellent game, thoroughly enjoyed the gameplay and the selection of songs -- lots of anime songs and you can select from official songs, or custom player-made ones.”
- “The gameplay is quick to learn but difficult to master, and the difficulty curve is scaled wonderfully.”
- “This one has problems with the difficulty of the maps, doesn't have a variety of mods to apply to a map, has a lesser amount of maps themselves, achievements tend to unlock only on specific maps (and you have to go through a bunch of those to figure out what's wrong again and again) and gameplay generally just feels worse.”
- “The gameplay feels unresponsive and clunky, with missed inputs freezing the tile in its lane instead of simply removing it and letting you continue playing like literally any other rhythm game ever.”
- “Honestly, the gameplay is the worst part.”
graphics
134 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
61%
36%
3%
The graphics of the game are widely praised for their beauty and creativity, with many users highlighting the impressive animations and aesthetic appeal that enhance the overall experience. However, some players noted that the visuals can be confusing and lack sufficient feedback during gameplay, which may detract from the rhythm game experience. Overall, the visuals are considered a strong point, contributing to the game's enjoyment despite some criticisms regarding clarity and responsiveness.
- “I really dig this game's style, game feel, and overall aesthetic.”
- “Another good point about this game is that some of the maps are actually amazingly animated; it's ridiculous how cool some of the background visuals are.”
- “The visuals of the game are beautiful when you want them to be and simplistic if that's your style.”
- “Most of the difficulty comes from confusing visuals and even the least difficult maps are unwelcoming to beginners.”
- “The visuals are bad and don't give much visual feedback as you hit the notes.”
- “Add to this that there's very little feedback when you hit each arrow (it simply goes away with no further graphical feedback), and the result in summary is that the game feels messy, and you don't really feel like you're necessarily pressing buttons in time to the music.”
story
48 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
25%
67%
8%
The game's story aspect is primarily driven by visually appealing storyboards that enhance the gameplay experience, though they can sometimes obscure important elements, leading to frustration. While the community appreciates the creativity in these storyboards, issues like lag, lack of optimization, and a steep learning curve for creating them detract from the overall experience. Players can toggle storyboards on or off, but the absence of filtering options and difficulty settings in the workshop limits user engagement.
- “Storyboards - this is the main attraction for the game.”
- “It’s one of those 'easy to understand, hard to master' games, but the gameplay is very enjoyable and the visuals for storyboards look good too.”
- “I really like the story mode that people can make in the background to make things a bit more engaging.”
- “Sometimes the target area is obscured entirely by storyboards and art, and you are forced to guess where it is.”
- “I recommend disabling the storyboard because you can't see anything.”
- “Game should be in early access due to its raw state; the editor crashes on random occasions, mapping is uncomfortable, and storyboarding requires a Wikipedia amount of knowledge to be used properly.”
stability
37 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
5%
95%
The game is widely criticized for its instability, with numerous reports of bugs, glitches, and freezing issues that significantly detract from the overall experience. Players have noted that certain features and settings are non-functional, and online multiplayer is particularly problematic. Despite its fun gameplay and potential, the game's current state is described as a "buggy mess," leading to frustration among users.
- “Oh, and it runs great on Linux as well.”
- “Well, a nice place to practice fast finger clicks, but the game starts to freeze whenever I play (it's not about CPU or FPS). It depends on certain beatmaps; some beatmaps freeze by themselves and desync the music, which totally ruined my mood.”
- “Online gameplay is quite buggy, and overall I am not really happy with how this game plays at this moment.”
- “Even on a brand new gaming PC, this game is laggy, buggy as all hell, and just all around garbage.”
optimization
24 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
13%
29%
58%
The game suffers from significant optimization issues, leading to resource overuse and persistent stuttering that disrupts gameplay and audio synchronization. Players have noted that both single-player and multiplayer modes are poorly optimized, with numerous bugs and a lack of settings to improve performance. Overall, enhanced optimization could greatly enhance the game's appeal and playability.
- “No complaints with the performance on a technical level, though at sub-100 hours I'm not exactly an authority.”
- “It would become both attractive and addictive for players if enough optimization was done.”
- “Develop a new mode, give us more settings (offset, menu music, design) and just tweak the performance a bit.”
- “The game is not optimized well, causing it to use lots of resources over time for practically no reason.”
- “Now this on its own wouldn't warrant a not recommended, but the fact that this stuttering completely desyncs the audio and the beat map just ruins the game.”
- “Multiplayer is poorly optimized, has a lot of bugs.”
humor
20 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The humor in the game is widely appreciated, with players finding it funny, charming, and filled with meme-inspired content that adds a lighthearted touch to the gameplay. Many reviews highlight the amusing nature of the "funny" category in the beatmap download list, which features charts designed for entertainment rather than seriousness. Overall, the game's humor contributes significantly to its appeal, making it enjoyable and addictive.
- “This game is funny, charming, pleasing, melodic, addictive, colourful, competitive... I guess I'm running short of adjectives.”
- “I thought this was 'kawaii anime' but it's just an arrow game, the cheap one. What made me recommend it was the funny ones; they got me good.”
- “Funny: charts that are memes, funny and jokes that were made to be for fun and not serious.”
grinding
8 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
25%
75%
Players find the grinding aspect of the game to be tedious, particularly due to the lengthy maps that often feature extended periods of easy gameplay before challenging sections. Many reviewers express a desire for quality-of-life improvements, such as the ability to practice specific segments of a map or adjust play speed, to alleviate the frustration of grinding through repetitive content. Overall, while the multiplayer experience offers some enjoyment, the grinding can feel excruciatingly drawn out.
- “However, Intralism is in dire need of a few fundamental quality of life features, such as practicing maps starting from a specified timestamp and practicing at a slower play speed. Some of these maps are long, and when a song starts with 3 tedious minutes of easy notes followed by 30 seconds of insanity, trying to practice those final 30 seconds can be excruciating.”
- “You'll need a second life for grinding.”
- “Those (to my knowledge) are most prominent in multiplayer, which tends to be a little tedious to play from time to time, but it works... I guess.”
monetization
6 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
17%
17%
67%
The monetization strategy of the game has been criticized as feeling like a quick cash grab, despite some players finding value in purchasing it on sale for a low price. However, the inclusion of in-game purchases, market items, and drops is noted as a positive aspect that enhances the game's appeal.
- “Another nice feature is the variety of items you can acquire from the Steam market, in-game purchases, and drops that enhance the game's visual and audio experience.”
- “Gives the whole project the taste of a quick cash grab.”
- “Even with this, I bought it for ~$0.59 on sale, so it was more of a cash grab for me.”
- “Another nice feature are the different items you can get from the Steam market, in-game purchases, and drops that make the game look (and sound) even better.”
replayability
6 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
67%
33%
The game boasts excellent replayability, largely attributed to community-created levels that enhance the experience, similar to osu. Players find it highly enjoyable with endless opportunities for replay, ensuring sustained engagement.
- “Very enjoyable and has excellent replayability, similar to the game osu due to the presence of community-made levels.”
- “Good replay value.”
- “Endless replayability.”
emotional
5 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Players report a strong emotional connection to the game, with many expressing that it evokes tears and enhances their self-esteem. The diverse range of levels, both easy and challenging, contributes to a heightened experience that allows players to deeply feel the music.
- “I cried.”
- “This really heightens the player's experience, and for me, it truly made me feel the music.”
- “Plenty of levels, easy and hard, made me feel much better about myself.”
atmosphere
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
50%
50%
The game is praised for its exceptionally relaxing and chill atmosphere, creating a soothing environment for players.
- “And this one has the most chill atmosphere.”