Headbangers Rhythm Royale Review (PS5)

Glee Cheese Studio’s Headbangers Rhythm Royale is the latest in a growing roster of battle royale party games. Heavily reminiscent of Fall Guys, the game sees floppy-headed pigeons duke it out in rhythm-based puzzles. Thirty competitors fight to earn the coveted title of master headbanger.

You’ll be familiar with the format by now — a four-round tournament structure where players are knocked out until a handful remain to compete for the top spot. Unlike Mediatonic’s pandemic-era hit, elimination rounds are static minigames, rather than a physics-based obstacle course.

There’s a good variety of activities; we got through a lot of contests before seeing a repeated event. Some of the games are genuinely fun, while others feel like they could be overwhelming for those that don’t cope well with audiovisual stimuli.

On the frustrating side are events like ‘Super Striker’, which switches up speed and visual clutter while you attempt to flick a ball in a net. There are a few events that use this template and many will consign themselves to disqualification when they pop up.

Meanwhile, there are less intense and more enjoyable rounds, usually the ones that don’t feature speedy inputs. ‘Guilty’ shows a lineup of costumed birds and has players guess who (or should that be coo?) recorded a specific musical snippet. Mini-games like this highlight the game’s cartoonish charm.

There’s a wealth of customisation options to spend your hard earned (and literal) bread on. You can adorn your bird with all manner of funky wardrobe using currency earned from competing. To encourage players to return, there’s also special costumes for achieving specific milestones.

Other than the online tournament mode, it’s a bare bones experience. Longevity of this will hinge on future content and more diverse play options (couch co-op in particular). In its current state, though, the bite-sized events offer a welcome alternative to the rat race of other party royale titles.