The Metronomicon

The Metronomicon has a few faults, but nothing that stops it from being my favorite rhythm RPG mash-up to date. With a killer soundtrack, some fun mechanics, and quite a lot of content, The Metronomicon is a beat worth getting down to.

81%Game Brain Score

music, gameplay

grinding, optimization

82% User Score Based on 306 reviews

Critic Score 90%Based on 8 reviews

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About

The Metronomicon is a single player and multiplayer role playing game with fantasy and comedy themes. It was developed by Akupara Games and was released on September 29, 2016. It received positive reviews from both critics and players.

Packing in a fully-fledged story mode with a colourful cast of musically-empowered heroes and villains, The Metronomicon sees you take control a party of eight newly graduated masters of the “rhythmic combat arts” to wage musical warfare against a multitude of dance-mongering fiends. By switching between four concurrent hero-controlled tracks on-the-fly, you’ll select and activate a wide array of …

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82%

Audience ScoreBased on 306 reviews

music130 positive mentions

grinding7 negative mentions

Unique and addictive blend of rhythm game and RPG elements creating a fresh and engaging gameplay experience.
Great soundtrack with a variety of catchy and energetic songs that complement the gameplay well.
Good replayability with multiple modes, character builds, challenges, and DLC content, plus local multiplayer support.

Controller support is inconsistent and can be problematic; keyboard controls are difficult for some players.
UI and game information can be cluttered or poorly placed, making it hard to track buffs, debuffs, and enemy statuses during gameplay.
Rhythm mechanics can be overwhelming due to multitasking demands (switching lanes, managing party, tracking elements), and some RPG aspects feel underdeveloped or confusing.

music
343 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
38%
59%
3%
The game's music receives mixed to positive feedback, with many praising its energetic, diverse electronic and dance-focused soundtrack that complements the gameplay well and offers numerous catchy, well-choreographed tracks. However, some find the musical style repetitive or not to their taste, and others note that song variety and challenge could be better, though the ability to add custom music is a valued feature. Overall, the soundtrack is considered a highlight and a major appeal of the game, contributing significantly to its fun and replayability.
- “The soundtrack is amazing, and the play is super interesting and fun.”
- “The music in The Metronomicon is all brilliant, and there's some serious variety on display here too.”
- “Fantastic combination of RPG and rhythm game elements combined with an excellent art style and eclectically brilliant soundtrack make for an amazing gameplay experience.”
- “Upsettingly bad art direction, unfunny dialogue, voice acting so bad it horseshoes twice around to being bad again, and music that is... fine... like, if this game didn't come out 10 years ago, I'd be suspicious it was AI generated.”
- “If the business plan for a game is to compete with Spotify, which is free and has effectively unlimited music, all of which is better than the music here, it's failed before it even started.”
- “The game doesn't have button presses in sync with what's being played most of the time, it's usually just pressing buttons in time with the music but not in sync with what's going on.”
gameplay
109 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
37%
60%
3%
The gameplay blends rhythm-based mechanics with RPG elements, featuring a unique lane-switching system and character abilities that add strategic depth to the fast-paced, dance-like action. While some find the mechanics engaging, addictive, and well-refined with a satisfying learning curve, others criticize the lack of integration with the story, shallow RPG aspects, and occasional complexity or pacing issues. Overall, the game offers a fresh, dynamic experience that appeals especially to fans of rhythm games seeking added layers of strategy.
- “The mechanic is very solid - it's simple at its core which is what I prefer in these games so you can focus on your accuracy and achieve a good flow.”
- “The gameplay differs from other rhythm games out there like Stepmania, as instead of having just one track with 4 lanes, you have 4. All of this makes Metronomicon's gameplay incredibly dynamic.”
- “The other aspect of this game is the RPG mechanics; they're very well implemented, very similar to bejeweled RPGs where you equip skills that can serve you during gameplay by giving you a way to execute them during the round, in this case, becoming a section of the song that you have to execute without mistakes to trigger the skill.”
- “The developers failed one of the most basic, fundamental requirements of game design: 'show, don't tell.' You spend a huge amount of time not playing the game but clicking through endless lines of poorly written visual novel text cutscenes because the developers couldn't figure out how to relate their narrative through the game mechanics, and instead decided it would be better to compete with reading a book for your time.”
- “All of the above would be forgivable if the mechanics of the game didn't also grate.”
- “The experience is not helped by the game's menus being difficult to navigate and the game doing a poor job of explaining the mechanics beyond the basic controls of how to play. I was taken from the tutorial to a list of songs to play, with no indication of the rewards for killing monsters, what the post-song icons meant, or what the elemental shards I seemed to be collecting were to be used for.”
story
83 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
17%
75%
8%
The story in this game is generally seen as lighthearted, cheesy, and somewhat forgettable, serving mainly as a quirky backdrop to the rhythm and RPG gameplay. While fully voiced and featuring unique characters, many players find it shallow, short, and unengaging, often skipping dialogue to focus on the music and mechanics instead. Overall, the narrative adds charm but is not the game's strong point or primary draw.
- “The Metronomicon is the fusion of rhythm style rock band and guitar hero style lane gameplay with a fully fleshed out RPG with unique and voiced characters, skills, equipment, and detailed storyline.”
- “The story of the Metronomicon follows four students of a dancing combat school (of sorts) where they are trained to fight the monsters that have been invading their realm with the power of dance.”
- “Gameplay is fun and challenging and offers tons of replayability, the theme is great and there is surprising amount of humour in the story dialogue.”
- “The story is quite boring, but the gameplay is kind of fun for a couple of hours.”
- “Playing the majority of the side-content I gained access to, it took me about 6 hours to finish the main story mode, which felt very short, especially considering there's almost little-to-no story to speak of.”
- “Beneath the forgettable story, terrible dialogues and somewhat uninspired art, there is a pretty damn good rhythm game.”
graphics
49 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
41%
53%
6%
The game's graphics receive mixed feedback, with some praising its colorful, quirky, and well-designed art style that complements its RPG and rhythm elements, while others find the visuals uninspired, low-quality, or distracting during gameplay. Although the artwork and animations are generally considered charming and fitting the game's aesthetic, many players note that the graphics lack polish or modern sophistication expected by PC gamers. Overall, the visuals contribute to the game's unique appeal but may not satisfy those seeking cutting-edge or highly immersive graphics.
- “Sleek artwork and interesting concept, mixing rhythm beat and battles.”
- “Also, with a RPG touch, great graphics and amazing soundtrack choices, I could easily give it 5/5.”
- “Art style and animation is gorgeous, yet you will be too concentrated on the note tracks to really take it in.”
- “Regardless, the overall visual quality of the game is very low, beneath what PC gamers have come to expect in this era of cutting-edge photorealistic 3D graphics.”
- “There's no option to change the resolution and no useful graphics tweaks.”
- “The art-style however is a little bland and uninspired, cookie-cutter RPG characters with slight party vibes; however, the designs and animations of enemies can be rather interesting and hilarious.”
humor
20 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
95%
5%
The humor in the game is light-hearted, silly, and often cartoonish, with characters and animations providing a playful charm despite some cheesy or forgettable story elements. While dialogue and voice acting receive mixed reactions—ranging from enthusiastically fun to occasionally unfunny—the overall comedic tone enhances the enjoyable, rhythmic gameplay experience. Fans appreciate the quirky jokes, amusing enemy designs, and humorous cutscenes that complement the catchy music and vibrant style.
- “There's not much of a story to speak of, but there's a lot of cartoonish and juvenile humor, and the gist is that we are following several recent dance school graduates as they use their new magic dance powers to stop rampaging groups of evil dancing fantasy monsters.”
- “The story is kind of stupid, but it's light-hearted, harmless and can be quite funny; a fun means of getting you through the game (and honestly you can't expect a grand, epic tale from a music game).”
- “The characters are fun, the enemy designs look great, the backgrounds are well detailed, the game offers a challenging and fun experience, the animations look wonderful and go along with the beat of the songs, has good humor, and of course the music is outstanding.”
- “Upsettingly bad art direction, unfunny dialogue, voice acting so bad it horseshoes twice around to being bad again, and music that is... fine... like, if this game didn't come out 10 years ago, I'd be suspicious it was AI generated.”
replayability
14 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
64%
29%
7%
The game offers extensive replayability through a solid main campaign, various arcade and endless modes, optional challenges, and user-generated content, appealing to both casual players and experts. Its engaging soundtrack, diverse difficulties, and leaderboards further enhance the incentive to replay, though some RPG elements may feel shallow to those seeking deeper mechanics. Overall, the replay value is praised as a key strength, with a variety of content ensuring players keep coming back.
- “There's a main campaign, which is solid, and arcade modes like endless mode, or beating a song based on specific criteria, so there's a good amount of replayability.”
- “This, accompanied by the incredible soundtrack, a great amount of choice and depth with the player characters, and the many interesting and unique difficulty modifiers make for a great game with a lot of content and tons of replayability—whether you're an expert gunning for the top spots on the leaderboard, or a newbie who keeps dying but keeps coming back for the music and the fun.”
- “They also recently added the ability to create your own tracks as well as support for StepMania file types, so tons of replay value there.”
- “For as much variety and replayability as the RPG mechanics can add, they are relatively shallow and those looking for an RPG may leave disappointed.”
grinding
9 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
22%
78%
Grinding in the game is generally more accessible and less tedious than traditional RPGs, with some players appreciating the inclusion of goals and secrets during progression. However, others find the leveling process somewhat unclear and feel that grinding lacks meaningful player agency. Overall, grinding is optional and balanced with engaging challenges, making it less of a chore.
- “Also no grinding necessary, which is always nice.”
- “No grinding needed, but enough challenge so that you consider getting a level or two.”
- “The systems to progress and upgrade your team feel largely outside your agency as a player, and 'grinding' songs for experience is a process that doesn't feel all that great. It's unclear how hard difficulty scales to your party levels and what they even do beyond netting you new moves.”
- “Just like regular RPGs, there is a little bit of a grind; although it's much more accessible than, say, Disgaea or Final Fantasy, which require lots of grinding.”
- “I don't see myself grinding for neat stuff like I did in Patapon.”
optimization
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
50%
50%
Users suggest that optimization impacts performance, with an implication that better optimization correlates with improved performance levels.
- “Performance.”
- “Performance is a significant issue.”
character development
1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Character development features deliberately unconventional designs that break typical stereotypes, such as female DPS roles and a male healer, with diverse ethnic representation. However, the story provides minimal opportunity to deepen these characters, resulting in limited overall development.
atmosphere
1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The atmosphere is highly praised for its immersive and captivating mood, strongly resonating with players and enhancing their overall experience.
- “Really though, the mood and atmosphere click so hard with me it's unreal.”

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90%Critics’ scoreBased on 8 critic reviews

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Frequently Asked Questions

The Metronomicon is a role playing game with fantasy and comedy themes.

The Metronomicon is available on Xbox Series X|S, PC, PlayStation 5, Mac OS and others.

The Metronomicon was released on September 29, 2016.

The Metronomicon was developed by Akupara Games.

The Metronomicon has received positive reviews from both players and critics. Most players liked this game for its music but disliked it for its grinding.

The Metronomicon is a single player game with multiplayer and local co-op support.

Similar games include Before the Echo, Monster Sanctuary, Nobody Saves the World, Crypt of the NecroDancer, Chained Echoes and others.

The Metronomicon

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808s and bone breaks: The Metronomicon review