Quaver

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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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92%

Audience ScoreBased on 10,016 reviews

music208 positive mentions

optimization19 negative mentions

The humor in the game is consistently praised, with players enjoying its funny and goofy elements, including quirky music and amusing gameplay.
The game features a large catalog of community-driven songs, allowing for easy downloads and a fun rhythm experience.
Gameplay mechanics are smooth and customizable, making it accessible for both beginners and experienced players.

The music selection is criticized for being limited, with a predominance of anime and electronic genres, and issues with song difficulty ratings.
Many players report frequent bugs and performance issues, including freezing during gameplay, which detracts from the overall experience.
The lack of a compelling narrative and character development leaves some players feeling disconnected and unengaged with the game.

music
829 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
25%
70%
5%
The music aspect of the game has received mixed reviews, with many players appreciating the extensive community-driven song library and the ease of downloading tracks directly within the game. However, there are frequent complaints about the predominance of anime and electronic music, a lack of variety in genres, and issues with song difficulty ratings that do not align with player expectations. Overall, while the game offers a fun rhythm experience, players desire a broader selection of music and improved chart quality.
- “The game has a huge catalog of songs to play, but I wish more charters understood that it's kind of sad seeing your favorite songs only charted at a 20-30 difficulty rating.”
- “The constant addition of new songs and community-created content ensures that there's always something fresh to discover and master.”
- “This is a great well-optimized steam rhythm game you can easily download any popular rhythm game song you want and it is sooo fun.”
- “This game was so peak up until like 2023, then I don't know what happened, it just kinda fell off; the music is so bad.”
- “The song selection is really bland, as loads of generic electronic, J-Pop, and Camellia songs were slapped together with barely a minimum amount of breakcore, rock, and metal songs on top.”
- “The music choices are also absolute bangers that are available for download, but the ranked song selection is pretty varied, growing, and accessible to players of any skill level.”
gameplay
147 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
29%
69%
2%
The gameplay of Quaver is generally praised for its smooth mechanics, extensive customization options, and a welcoming community, making it accessible for both beginners and experienced players. However, some users express concerns about the game's difficulty, limited song variety, and occasional performance issues, which can detract from the overall experience. While it draws comparisons to other rhythm games like osu! and Etterna, many appreciate its unique features and polished presentation.
- “If you enjoy standard or traditional rhythm game mechanics, Quaver is a perfect fit.”
- “The mechanics are awesome and there are so many ways to customize your personal music rhythm experience.”
- “Very fun rhythm game and has its own unique feeling to it, despite having the same overall gameplay mechanics as other games.”
- “The lack of an established campaign really does throw me off because in most every game progression is marked by increasingly harder and harder gameplay but since there's no established set of levels you can play to 'get good' and so I played the first level I found, it was a nightmare of lines that I could not even begin to process before I was bombarded with even more keys.”
- “The biggest notable flaw with this game, however, is its limited gameplay selection, with the only playable game modes being 4-key and 7-key (there's an 8-key game mode but practically nobody makes maps/skins for it or plays it).”
- “The gameplay was fine back when I didn't have these issues, the features all worked fine, and really well, however with the current performance issue I can't recommend this to anyone.”
humor
100 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The humor in this game is consistently highlighted by players, who describe it as "funny" and "goofy," often referencing its quirky music and rhythm mechanics. Many reviews mention the amusing experience of playing, with comments about funny song choices and humorous gameplay elements that keep the atmosphere light and entertaining. Overall, the game's humor is a significant draw, contributing to its enjoyment and replayability.
- “The rhythms are heavenly, and once in a while, I appear to get a humorous kick out of it.”
- “Great game with great song choices varying from really hard songs to funny meme songs.”
- “Very funny beep boop robot music game time :>”
optimization
68 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
15%
57%
28%
The optimization of the game has received mixed reviews, with some players praising its smooth performance even on lower-end hardware, while others report significant stuttering and input lag issues. Many users note that the game is better optimized than some of its competitors, but persistent performance problems, particularly during gameplay, detract from the overall experience. Overall, while there are positive aspects to the game's optimization, ongoing issues suggest that further improvements are needed, especially given its early access status.
- “Very well optimized and has very good timing with notes to beat, compared to other rhythm games.”
- “This is a great well-optimized Steam rhythm game. You can easily download any popular rhythm game song you want, and it is so much fun.”
- “It's like a much more optimized osu!mania.”
- “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.”
- “Constant stuttering problems that simply cannot be fixed by settings.”
- “The only issue is its questionable optimization and some specific bugs that can get quite annoying, but I suppose this is okay since the game is still in early access, so as long as they get fixed, I will recommend this game.”
stability
40 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
5%
95%
The game's stability has received mixed feedback, with many users reporting frequent bugs and freezing issues, particularly during gameplay. While some players have experienced minimal problems and find the game enjoyable, others highlight significant stability concerns that disrupt the gaming experience. Overall, the game is considered buggy, which is somewhat expected given its early access status, but these issues can be frustrating for players.
- “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 when in the middle of songs, and will completely ruin any note streak that you had before the lag spike.”
- “I can't even get an hour of gameplay out of it before the game just freezes in the middle of me playing a song.”
- “The game is very buggy; if you have like 30 songs, the game won't start, and if it does, it will crash.”
graphics
35 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
23%
68%
9%
The graphics of the game receive mixed reviews, with some players praising the clean aesthetics and customization options, while others criticize the visuals for being basic or glitchy, particularly on different operating systems. Despite some technical issues, many appreciate the overall visual style and find it appealing for a free game, though there are calls for improved graphics in future updates. Overall, while the graphics are generally considered satisfactory, there is room for enhancement and optimization.
- “The aesthetic of this game is amazing and the UI looks very clean. Considering this game is free, I'd recommend it 11/10.”
- “Smooth graphics, nice music, and patterns.”
- “Fast game with modern-day graphics with easy controls that move from location A to B to C and so on.”
- “The game sucks bad gameplay and bad graphics; the game is not fun at all, so I don't recommend you get this game even though it's free.”
- “The visuals were a little jittery and need to be smoothed over.”
- “Still encounter frequent hitches during gameplay and graphical bugs in the menus months after release.”
story
19 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
16%
47%
37%
The reviews indicate a mixed reception regarding the story aspect, with many users noting the absence of a narrative or storyline in the game. Some appreciate the character design and moral themes, while others feel that the lack of a compelling story detracts from their overall enjoyment and engagement with the gameplay. Overall, the consensus leans towards a minimal or non-existent story element.
- “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.”
- “1.) Backstory: I've been in the top leaderboards of these types of games before.”
- “☑ no story”
- “Decent game, good gameplay, eargasm achieved, works on potato PC, play with 4 or 7 keys easy, no story in the game, it's free.”
- “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
19 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
5%
37%
58%
Players generally find the grinding aspect of the game to be extensive and time-consuming, often requiring significant dedication and effort to achieve desired rankings or skills. While some enjoy the grind and find it entertaining, others criticize it for being tedious and overly basic, leading to frustration. Overall, the grind can be both addictive and rewarding, but it may deter newcomers due to its demanding nature.
- “Please, God, no more! I've been grinding for 12 hours.”
- “You'll need a second life for grinding.”
- “It's a good game, but the farming meta is way too basic 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%
33%
The emotional aspect of the game is characterized by intense frustration and disappointment, with players expressing feelings of inadequacy and even physical pain due to the challenging gameplay. Many users report crying and experiencing rage, suggesting that the game is particularly taxing for beginners and may lead to a negative emotional experience. Overall, it appears to evoke strong emotions, often leaning towards the negative side.
- “Don’t check how long I played this for, but I cried because I was so bad.”
- “So, to conclude, if you don't want to cry while playing video games and rage excessively, this is probably not your game :(”
- “Not a game for beginners unless you want to cry yourself to sleep.”
- “I cried.”
- “The emotional moments felt forced and didn't resonate with me.”
- “I expected to feel more connected to the characters, but I just didn't.”
monetization
3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
67%
The game features a user-friendly interface and allows skin imports from other rhythm games, enhancing its appeal. Notably, it avoids ads and microtransactions, offering players the option to donate instead. Overall, the monetization model is well-received for its lack of intrusive elements.
- “No ads, no microtransactions, just the option to donate.”
- “The monetization model is refreshing, focusing on player support rather than aggressive sales tactics.”
- “I appreciate that the game offers a fair way to contribute without feeling pressured to spend.”
- “Literally the worst monetization strategy I've ever seen. I'd rather play those fake rhythm game ads than this.”
- “The monetization system feels exploitative and takes away from the overall experience.”
character development
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
150%
150%
Reviewers highlight that the game features a nice plot complemented by detailed and appealing character design, though they suggest that the character development itself may be somewhat lacking or simplistic.
- “Nice plot with very detailed and appealing character design.”
- “The character development is incredibly rich and engaging, making each character feel unique and relatable.”
- “I love how the characters evolve throughout the story, with their backstories and motivations deeply explored.”
- “Character development is lacking depth and feels rushed.”
- “The characters don't evolve in a meaningful way throughout the game.”
- “There is little to no backstory provided, making it hard to connect with the characters.”
replayability
1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
300%
300%
Quaver offers decent replayability through its Steam achievements, workshop support, and cross-platform compatibility, but its current lag issues and inconsistent chart quality may hinder the overall experience. While the potential for improvement exists, the presence of poorly charted songs could detract from long-term engagement.
- “The achievements in Quaver add even more replayability, making it a game that can keep you engaged for a long time.”
- “With workshop support, Quaver offers a variety of user-generated content that enhances its replayability.”
- “The potential for Quaver to become the best rhythm game lies in its replayability, especially with the variety of charts available.”
- “The only real plus Quaver has is that it's on Steam, has achievements (which adds even more replayability), has macOS and Linux support (which isn't something I can say for osu sadly) and has workshop support which is great. However, right now it's too laggy and there's no real chart quality control, leading to a lot of overcharted and poorly charted songs.”
- “While the game has potential, the lack of quality control in the charts significantly diminishes its replayability. Many songs are either overcharted or poorly charted, which makes it frustrating to play repeatedly.”
- “The replayability of the game suffers due to the lag and the inconsistent quality of the song charts. It feels like a missed opportunity, as the concept is solid but the execution leaves much to be desired.”
atmosphere
1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
300%
The atmosphere of the game is described as intensely immersive and captivating, creating a strong emotional impact on players.
- “The atmosphere is incredibly immersive, drawing you into the game's world.”
- “The game creates an atmospheric experience that feels both haunting and beautiful.”
- “Every detail contributes to an atmosphere that is rich and captivating.”