PipOwO finished... UNBEATABLE

Probably you haven't realized (especially here since I'm just now putting my stuff here), but I didn't finish any new games during 2025. Not even something short like to a T or the most acclaimed like Clair Obscur: Expedition 33. I simply didn't have the time or energy for none of these, and I hate it. 2025 was incredible in the quantity and quality of the releases and the fact I couldn't finish not even one makes me want to put my head into a blender.

However, I wanted to finish one in specific, one that would become my most anticipated game of the year, managing to somehow surpass both DOOM: The Dark Ages and Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 in my list, that one being UNBEATABLE, which honestly keeps surprising me.

In contrast to the other two and even the rest of my Top 10, this one is a lot smaller and less known, but you don't have any idea of the way it took control of my mind all year long. This is not a polished game, it feels rought on all sides and certain decisions will confound you, but you can feel the passion behind every dialog, every song, every animation, every model, every scene, demostrating the vision that they wanted to show with this game, and that even with all of those problems, they deliver something full of soul and care.

DISCLAIMER: This review was made in December 2025, and since then D-CELL has made various patches and improvements to the game, so many of my issues with performance and bugs may be fixed by now.

PROPER RHYTHM

UNBEATABLE is a rhythm game, which usually takes me a little away because the barrier of entry in many of these is too high and comes to saturate me a lot. Thankfully, UNBEATABLE isn't very demanding for beginners, and even if the controls are a bit confusing in the first hours, its simplicity makes that it feel very natural after a while. The most direct comparison I can make would be Muse Dash and Rhythm Doctor, where the notes come from above and below in one side of the screen, with visual changes and special notes made so that you don't get too comfortable.

It's simple and maybe the most polished part of the package. It has an Arcade mode aside from the main story for anyone that only cares for the "rhythm" part, with a multitude of original songs and some from other artists like Lena Raine and Jaime Paige, although this review will focus on the ones made by the D-CELL Sound Team. UNBEATABLE has an amazing OST, that's the whole thing that made me interested in this game, and even if you don't like the story, the soundtrack composed of pure garage-rock and punk will be inserted into your mind permanently.

I can't talk about some of these due to spoilers, but among my favorite are DIALTONE, WAITING, MEMORIZED and YEAH (x8), not only they're composed beautlfully, they are also linked to some of the most emotional moments in the story, and speaking of that...

GETTING OUT OF H.A.R.M.(S) WAY

It might be weird what I'm about to say, but the story is probably the least polished part of the game, but that doesn't mean I consider it weak, on the contrary I believe this is what makes UNBEATABLE go from just being a good game, to a very special work with fun characters and a strong message. The narrative uses the game catchphrase as a base, "A game where music is illegal and you do crimes" and along the way we not only discover what caused this, but also it wants to talk about the passion that we put in our art and the effect music has on us using the dilemas of the main characters.

But that doesn't mean that the story has to be melodramatic, the writing of many of the dialogues are very funny when it has to, using a dry and ironic humor that constantly had me laughing from the absurdity of it all, amplified by the excelent work put into the voice performances. Every character, but especially the main ones, make an excellent work selling to us the personalities of each one and their respective sense of humor. I may be biased here, but I wanted to highlight the VA of Treble, who is also one of my favorite youtubers called Noodle, it will surprise you how well he does it.

Alongside this we have the visual element, which I adore with glitches and all. It uses a fusion between 3D and 2D, kinda like Paper Mario, giving you some phenomenal character designs, very pretty backgrounds and very expressive animations. Yeas, sometimes it feels like it's falling apart, but when it works as intented, it's impossible not to feel an spark of inspiration inside of me, one that intensifies during the musical set-pieces (DIALTONE will live forever inside my hear, and the ending I love it even if it last 13 goddamn minutes).

Now, as I said in the beginning, this game has a lot of weird creative decisions that leave you more confused that what they intended, and sadly this is something that is very present in the story. The way they tell it to you leaves you with more questions than answers, jumping suddenly to important moments without a second to think about it. The focus is in the characters and I really like that, but I cannot negate that I wanted to at least get a better explanation to many things about this world, especially when it's about the main conflict.

That's why I had to see theories and explanations from other fans on Discord to say "ohhhh of course", because if it weren't for them I would still be so lost. The moment where everything starts to make sense and you can see more of what they wanted to do, is during the ending of Chapter 3, and while I had the patience to surpass it, there are many that won't have it. To them I want to say that please hang a bit longer, because this is really worth it.

AND THE IDEA CHANGES YOU IN RETURN.

When everything starts making sense and you manage to see the conflicts of the characters, you get a game that manages to leave a very strong impact. This is a story about our art, the way it can amplify our emotions and not evade them. It's a message that maybe doesn't impact me in a way that feels like my whole life has changed, but I still felt that this is something very important, being told in a very interesting way.

In fact, I would say that this is what it left a stronger impact on me, how imperfect UNBEATABLE is. If I center only on the negatives, I can say that the pacing is a disaster, with a lot of bugs and glitches that break it even more, and a worldbuilding that should have gotten a bit more exposition to be understood, and even if these critiques are valid, for me they are not enough to dislike it when I see everything it does well.

When it came out in December, the discourse about AI in videogames started to gain strength after the GOTY, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, used it in a very small segment. That's a debate for another day, but during my playthrough it made me think a lot about its use in game dev. This game feels rough, but with passion in every corner and even if it could be more polished, I like it the way it is.

I want them to fix the bugs, of course, and when they do it I will replay it, but everything else that doesn't relates to the technical side I like it the way it is. RJ Lake and his team had a vision and it took 7 years to make it happen, and even if they could have used AI to make it faster, they didn't do it, giving as a result a game that maybe it's not perfect in a lot of ways, but you can feel the human factor and I wouldn't change it for nothing. UNBEATABLE is a very special experience even with all those problems, something that only could have come out from a group of passionate people and something I won't forget for a long while.