Quaver

About

Quaver is a single player and multiplayer action game with horror and anime themes. It was developed by Swan and was released on August 19, 2022. It received very positive reviews from players.

Quaver is a community-driven and open-source competitive rhythm game with two game modes and online leaderboards. Create your own maps or challenge the world in online multiplayer matches.

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91%

Audience ScoreBased on 10,726 reviews

music236 positive mentions

optimization17 negative mentions

Smooth, responsive gameplay with solid core mechanics inspired by osu!mania and etterna, offering an addictive and satisfying rhythm experience.
Large, active, and supportive community with extensive user-generated content, including easy downloadable songs and an intuitive map editor that enhances replayability.
Clean, minimalist graphics and UI that run well on modest systems, combined with strong customization options for skins, visuals, and gameplay settings.

Frequent bugs, crashes, freezes, and optimization issues that disrupt gameplay and frustrate users, especially on lower-end hardware.
Inconsistent chart quality with many maps poorly synchronized to music, over-charted, or overly difficult, negatively impacting the rhythm feel.
Grinding and ranking systems are basic and tedious, favoring short songs for score farming, which may deter new players and reduce motivation to progress.

music
934 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
25%
70%
5%
Quaver features a large, community-driven library primarily consisting of anime, electronic, and some video game music, accessible via easy in-game downloads, though the overall selection can feel limited and genre-skewed. While the music and beatmaps offer a challenging and varied experience, many users note inconsistent chart quality, over-charting, and poor song-to-chart synchronization, which can detract from the rhythm feel. Despite some bugs, crashes, and UI quirks, its customizability, map editor, and active community make it a rewarding choice for rhythm game enthusiasts.
- “The charts are well-designed, the timing feels tight and responsive, and the song selection keeps you hooked for hours.”
- “The constant addition of new songs and community-created content ensures that there's always something fresh to discover and master.”
- “Being able to download songs straight from the game for free is also a huge plus.”
- “The songs are weighted very poorly; almost all of the ranked music is generic EDM slop, the hit detection is too strict, and the health bar is obnoxiously fragile.”
- “Many are poorly charted, not even matching the songs, and the majority are overcharted for the sake of difficulty.”
- “The charts are pure spam and don't line up with the songs at all; this is such a waste of memory, I want a refund for this free game.”
gameplay
175 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
29%
69%
2%
The gameplay is generally praised for being smooth, responsive, and addictive, with solid core mechanics inspired by osu!mania and etterna. It offers good customization options for keybinds, visuals, and gameplay settings, catering to both beginners and advanced players. Some critiques mention limited game modes, a steep learning curve without guided progression, occasional bugs, and room for improved map variety and UI intuitiveness.
- “Quaver is a free-to-play, community-driven rhythm game that has carved out its own space in the genre by delivering a sleek, highly customizable, and competitive experience tailored for both veterans and newcomers to 4-key and 7-key gameplay.”
- “The controls are intuitive, the gameplay is smooth, and there’s something deeply satisfying about hitting notes in time with the music.”
- “With its engaging feedback systems, strong creative tools, and rewarding gameplay loop, Quaver will easily earn a 10/10 recommendation from me and people who are willing to put in the time.”
- “The game sucks bad gameplay and bad graphics game is not fun at all so I don't recommend you get this game even though it's free.”
- “The lack of an established campaign really throws me off because in most games progression is marked by increasingly harder gameplay but since there's no set of levels you can play to 'get good' I played the first level I found and it was a nightmare of lines I couldn't even begin to process before being bombarded with more keys.”
- “I'm really bad at releasing notes and it seems that this game makes it twice as hard as any other game I've played with this mechanic, which makes me think how Quaver does it is not good.”
humor
102 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Users consistently praise the game's humor, describing it as funny, goofy, and entertaining, often highlighting amusing music, rhythms, and quirky gameplay elements like "funny circles" and "funny arrows." The humor is seen as a lighthearted, enjoyable feature that adds charm and helps release tension, though some note occasional trolling content. Overall, the humor contributes positively to a fun and engaging experience.
- “Also, please tag this game with farming sim; it would be funny.”
- “Those who join must tap the funny circles till their keyboard breaks, all in the name of swan, the mighty founder of this holy quaver.”
- “Chordjacks are overpriced lol, one of first things I did is getting dense CJ files and difficulty of them in this game is just funny.”
optimization
81 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
17%
62%
21%
Optimization feedback is highly mixed: while many praise the game’s smooth performance, customization options, and efficient UI, a significant number of users report frequent stuttering, crashes, and poor hardware utilization, especially on lower-end PCs. Some point out occasional bugs with map downloading and input lag, with optimization seen as a work-in-progress given the game’s early access status. Overall, although promising and better optimized than some competitors, persistent performance issues and strict performance rating systems detract from the experience for certain players.
- “The difficulty ranking on maps feels accurate unlike osu and the game runs smoothly, with tons of customization for skins and sounds.”
- “Built with precision and performance in mind, Quaver stands out not only for its technical polish but also for the depth of its user-generated content and the supportive community behind it.”
- “This is a great well optimized Steam rhythm game where you can easily download any popular rhythm game song you want and it is so fun.”
- “Has huge performance issues which have affected tournament scores and possibly results.”
- “I also have input lag constantly; I don't have a great computer, but you shouldn't need a supercomputer to run a simple game like this, and it is just poorly optimized.”
- “The constant crashes and downloaded songs either soft locking me or just not being available during/after the optimization process is awful and not something that should be happening on a game as light as this, especially the crashing.”
graphics
44 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
18%
75%
7%
The game's graphics are generally described as clean, minimalist, and smooth, with a focus on functionality over flashy visuals, making it accessible on modest systems. While some users find the basic art style effective and professionally polished, others note occasional graphical glitches, jitteriness, and a desire for enhanced visuals or customization options. Overall, the graphics support the gameplay well but leave room for improvement in refinement and aesthetic depth.
- “The interface is clean, the visuals are simple but effective, and the game runs very smoothly even on modest systems.”
- “The visuals are clean, the UI is smooth, and the overall polish makes it feel professional yet approachable.”
- “Not only that but the quality of Quaver skins (in my opinion) is higher than that of osu or Etterna (in terms of visuals).”
- “This game features very lackluster minimalist "art" for graphics instead of anything remotely contemporary.”
- “The game sucks: bad gameplay and bad graphics; game is not fun at all so I don't recommend you get this game even though it's free.”
- “Still encounter frequent hitches during gameplay and graphical bugs in the menus months after release.”
stability
44 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
5%
95%
The game suffers from frequent bugs, freezes, and crashes, particularly during gameplay and menu navigation, which often disrupt the experience and cause frustration. While stability issues are common, especially in multiplayer and some features like chart imports, some users report improved performance on certain setups. Overall, the game remains enjoyable but is hindered by persistent technical problems expected at its current development stage.
- “I haven't encountered any major issues with the game so far, so it's basically bug-free.”
- “Runs great on my laptop!”
- “The game has an issue where it constantly freezes in the middle of songs, completely ruining any note streak you had before the lag spike.”
- “I can't even get an hour of gameplay before the game freezes in the middle of a song.”
- “Multiplayer is still buggy; the game crashes and freezes regularly.”
story
23 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
13%
48%
39%
The game largely lacks a traditional story, with most users noting the absence of a narrative or storyboard. Some mention detailed character designs or a moral theme, but these elements do not significantly drive engagement. Overall, the focus is on gameplay rather than storytelling.
- “Nice plot with very detailed and appealing character design.”
- “Moral of the story: you never know what life has in store for you, and if I had given up when all odds were against me, I wouldn't be where I am today.”
- “☐ Few hours (10 - 20 hours) if you focus on the main story.”
- “No story.”
- “Mania but rankable score and no storyboard.”
- “It doesn't give me that drive that has me loving every song I play and really pushing that drive with things like combo bursts, shaders, storyboards, background videos, etc. Maybe this does have those and I just didn't give it enough time but with the time I did spend on it, it wasn't for me.”
grinding
22 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
14%
27%
59%
Grinding in the game is a significant and sometimes tedious part of progression, especially due to a flawed ranking system favoring short songs for score farming. While the gameplay loop remains satisfying and addictive, extensive grinding is required to improve, which can feel basic and repetitive. Players recommend patience and skill development, though the grind may deter some newcomers.
- “You'll need a second life for grinding.”
- “Please God, no more! I've been grinding for 12 hours.”
- “You'll need a second life for grinding.”
- “The biggest problem is that the ranking system doesn't consider song length or stamina whatsoever, so you can farm a 1-minute song to get a good score, whereas farming anything longer than 3 minutes is a waste of time if you're trying to get a high rank.”
- “It's a good game, but the farming meta is way too basic/oriented and honestly, I don't get why it even exists in the first place.”
- “Overall this game's pretty good, but if you plan on grinding and getting good quickly, I'd watch out.”
emotional
9 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
89%
11%
The emotional experience of the game is intense and often frustrating, leading many players to feel overwhelmed or upset, especially beginners who may struggle with its difficulty. Despite this, some find the challenge emotionally impactful, evoking strong reactions such as crying, whether from frustration or a sense of heartfelt engagement.
- “Don’t check how long I played this for but I cried because I was so bad.”
- “Not a game for beginners unless you want to cry yourself to sleep.”
- “I want to cry.”
monetization
4 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
25%
25%
50%
The game's monetization approach is polarizing, with some criticizing it for aggressive mobile-style microtransactions, while others appreciate the absence of ads and microtransactions, highlighting the option to donate as a positive feature.
- “No ads, no microtransactions, just the option to donate.”
- “This game is infested with mobile app store-like microtransactions.”
replayability
4 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
75%
25%
Replayability is enhanced significantly by the easy-to-use custom track creation and seamless workshop integration, allowing players to access and experiment with a wealth of community-made content. Achievements and multi-platform support also contribute positively, although inconsistent chart quality and lag issues somewhat detract from the overall experience.
- “Custom tracks are a nice bonus, and the community-made content adds huge replayability.”
- “Creating your own maps is surprisingly easy and adds a ton of replay value.”
- “The workshop integration is seamless, and downloading charts is quick and easy, encouraging experimentation and replayability.”
atmosphere
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
50%
50%
The atmosphere received mixed feedback, with some users finding it exceptionally immersive and atmospheric, while others felt it lacked a unique identity compared to other rhythm games.
- “Atmospheric as hell”
character development
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
50%
50%
Character development is described as concise yet effective, supported by a compelling plot and detailed, appealing character designs.
- “Nice plot with very detailed and appealing character design.”