A role-playing game featuring musical themes with an affinity for the sick and ridiculous. The story revolves around a deadly battle of the bands contest, where entrants can attack and be attacked with music.

RPG Gamers summary

Deathbulge: Battle of the Bands is a unique role-playing game with a strong focus on music-based battles, over-the-top humor, and the absurd. The central story pivots around a high-stakes musical contest where bands combat each other through the power of their performances. You’re not just predicting the next note; you’re predicting your survival.

Players can fully personalize their band from a selection of nine distinct music-themed classes. Each class comes with its own set of attacks, perks and striking visuals. The game injects its quirky humor into virtually every aspect, allowing players to level up their band’s strength by literally kicking down doors, depicting the relentless grind of musicians trying to get their big break.

The game’s combat system is innovative as it focuses on ‘Bar Effects’. It injectively integrates real-time elements into the turn-based combat, where the breaks between the turns become as significant as the actions themselves. One of the interesting elements of the game allows players to manually sew patches of band logos onto their ‘Battle Jacket’, offering extra benefits during combat.

Deathbulge: Battle of the Bands removes the element of random monster encounters. Instead, it lets the players see the monsters in the field, giving them an option to dodge or confront them. The enemy line-up is as farcical as the rest of the game, with foes ranging from everyday objects to a skateboarding platypus.

One of the striking features of this game is its original and catchy soundtrack. The music plays a vital role, enhancing the player’s immersion and even eliciting expressions like ‘Siiick’ and ‘Oh Right On’.

In line with the game’s overt humor, even the health restoration items have personalities. The standard ‘Health Potion’ is replaced by Barry Friendly’s Tea, and there’s a chance to meet the friendly beverage provider, Barry, himself.

With a vibrant world inhabited by more than a hundred individual NPCs, each with a plethora of expression faces that add depth to their personalities, and a relentlessly humorous tone, Deathbulge: Battle of the Bands promises to be a distinctive and entertaining ride for players who appreciate a lighter, music-themed addition to their RPG collection.