Iridium Studios and Annapurna Interactive’s People of Note wears its inspirations on its sleeve. From the earliest moments, I see Spira from Final Fantasy X as I explore the opening city. It gives me that sense of vastness and potential from the earliest moments. I see the archetypes you’ll find in most JRPGs as I recruit characters to my band, and it all feels very familiar when I sit down and play each night.
Does it work, though? The combination of a rhythmic RPG sounds enticing, and it is, but how much before the allure starts to falter? Or what if it can’t hold the line until the credits roll? I think it does, and that’s because it doesn’t simply resort to making rhythm games or worse, nonstop musical numbers. Instead, the world filled with references to music, including track names, weapon and item descriptions, and even the cities.
People of Note Is For Turn-Based Sickos
People of Note is set in the musical world of Note, where every city is named after a term of musical terminology. Playing as Cadence, a solo singer who quickly realizes her act isn’t cutting it, heads out into the world to recruit a band to enter the Noteworthy Song Contest. However, it seems the Harmonic Convergence is causing havoc worldwide, and someone is trying to disrupt Note’s natural balance and harmonies.
The world of Note is pretty damn cool, filled with standout locations like the Rock City of Durandis, with a punk area where music belts out and a grunge area. Each themed area is distinct enough, thanks mostly to the tunes, but the actual locations are pretty basic: some feature a store for equipment, a place to gather information, or even a spot to buy a drink to progress.
Later on, encountering new party members requires you to deal with a personal quest before having them join you. Fret, the jaded ex-guitarist, was shunned by his friend Freq, who went out to create a new band called The Osmiums, whom you’ll encounter and face several times before the culmination between Fret and Freq.
As you’ve helped Fret get through some hurdles, he joins you in your new band and a new pop-rock sound forms. It’s mostly light-hearted stuff that lands most of the time, including a folk-inspired forest area with movable blossoms that slide across tree trunks and branches, small puzzles that use light refraction, and more. And these instances blossom as you introduce Synthia, the EDM baddie and Vox, a prince, to your party, who deal with their own issues and eventually come together to face a bigger threat together.
The thing I was surprised by was just how sometimes People of Note wasn’t afraid to get real. You see musicians so stuck in their ways give way to more viable horizons. You see musicians reconciling with the effects of fame. It’s all assembled with care and attention to detail, but it rarely overstays its welcome as it tells its story without prejudice.
Fans of turn-based combat will find a level of familiarity as they dive into People of Note. As your band grows, the standard turn-based mechanics change. Depending on who your party consists of, the character’s genre changes how turns work.
Each character has their weapon, whether it’s a mic or a guitar, and each turn is called a Stanza. As you process turns, Stanzas change in nature, meaning you might have a mic or guitar element, denoting which character can deal additional damage if you use them during that turn. You’re free to swap between characters at will if they have a turn available.
Turn Up The Music
There are also dynamic battle conditions, with real-time music changes, musical mashups that allow your team to combine forces and create unique attacks, and more. What really stuck out are puzzle encounters, which are spread throughout each area. These battles ask you to figure out the correct order of actions to defeat an enemy before the enemy wipes you out. So, through trial and error, you might begin by using a special attack, then quickly follow up with two standard attacks.
Regular enemies are pretty standard encounters, but they’re good practice for boss battles. Later on, you’ll start meeting challenging opponents which fully utilize all the mechanics introduced, like Cadence, which, with every passing turn, makes enemies count down to a strong attack, or the ability to remove your ability points. People of Note’s boss battles can be a great test of how quickly you’ve mastered the mechanics and a great showing of your skills.
Every character has HP and BP to dole out an assortment of music-infused attacks, spells, and heals. Additionally, Mash Ups are People of Note’s version of limit breaks. These are often really cool attacks you need to build and unleash as a team.
You’ll also find songstones and collect them often. These songstones are equippable and latch onto your instrument, giving you new upgradeable skills. It’s similar to how skills are doled out in many RPGs, most recently in Clair Obscur: Expedition 33.
Bosses are challenging and serve as puzzles you need to figure out. Each time you face a boss, it’ll likely end in your defeat, or you’ll come out by the skin of your teeth. Equipping the right songstones is crucial to succeeding.
Dungeons are pretty standard and include finding ways through basic puzzles, like shifting a dance floor to finding the right drink for a bouncer by listening to locals, while battling it out against assorted enemies within the area. You’ll even encounter “Weird Owls,” hidden in dungeons and serve as trivia battles while jamming out to Polka music. If you answer correctly, you’re rewarded for getting the question correct, but otherwise, you deal with a fleeing enemy. It’s worth exploring to find these joke enemies.
By collecting vinyls in dungeons, you can use them to do a couple of things, like buying new powers, but also “Dropping a Beat,” which gives you access to random battles when you need to level up. It’s a neat way to allow you to dictate how and when you battle enemies, and it works in this bubble.
Verdict
People of Note is a surprisingly fun and adept RPG. Between the excellent use of music, the endearing cast, flexible battle system, and memorable locations, it’s a surprise hit that I didn’t expect to love as nearly as much as I did. It’s pretty clear Iridium Studios knows what it wants to make with People of Note, and it’s got a lot of clever, music-themed levels, catchy tunes, and fun battles to offer. However, it’s a lean RPG with little to do outside the main story, which is a surprise given that it mimics many familiar RPGs in many ways. Don’t let that deter you, though. People of Note is the real deal.
[The publisher provided a copy of the game for review purposes.]
Reviewed on: PlayStation 5
