When you hear that a game is a musical RPG, what comes to mind? Do you think of games like Brutal Legend, Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth, Yakuza, Stray Gods: The Roleplaying Musical, or even Undertale? Although musical games and RPGs do not typically go hand in hand, they occasionally do overlap. At PAX East 2025, we met with Ritual Studios to see the latest update to their upcoming game, Fretless – The Wrath of Riffson.
Although the demo was almost identical to their PAX 2024 build, we could tell that the developers have been working hard to polish the game and make it smoother. Now, two months later, we finally got the chance to play the complete version of the game. How does it hold up, and does it meet our expectations? Find out in our Fretless: The Wrath of Riffson review.
Fretless – The Wrath of Riffson
Developer: Ritual Studios
Publisher: Playdigious Originals
Platforms: PC (Steam)
Release Date: July 17th, 2025
Players: 1
Price: $14.99
Now, when you first look at Fretless – The Wrath of Riffson, you might underestimate it or look down upon it due to its pixel sprite 2D art style. With how the video game industry is, many gamers will prioritize state-of-the-art graphics over fun or unique gameplay. Because of this, many might miss Fretless – The Wrath of Riffson and not get to experience Ritual Studios’ take on an RPG with music as its focal point.
Players are introduced to Rob, a musician striving to make his name in the industry by participating in the Battle of the Bands competition. As Rob sets off on his journey, he learns that the corporation hosting the event has nefarious plans for the industry and will use monsters and other musicians to accomplish them.
At the start of the game, the player has only one instrument to use in order to fight off anything that gets in their way. As the game progresses, the player is able to unlock new instruments with different abilities and styles of attacks.
As they explore, they are able to gather a variety of resources and upgrade their instrument’s attacks; each upgrade can be expensive, but it can make battles a lot easier. Different types of attacks and abilities can be either purchased or found by interacting with legendary musicians’ statues. When moving throughout the world, you will need to keep an eye out for anything that might be of help or hiding just out of sight.
Combat within Fretless – The Wrath of Riffson is fairly straightforward, with the player only able to select three skills during their turn. These skills can vary from damaging attacks, buffing one’s own stats, debuffing an enemy, shielding the player, and even stealing the shield from an enemy.
The player can also use their Crescendo attack whenever it is fully charged, giving them an extra round of attacks; during this attack, a special cutscene will start, and the player will then have to complete a QuickTime event where they will need to press the buttons being shown as they reach the Fret.
Crescendo is charged by damaging your enemies or through certain abilities. If you react to the enemy’s attack QTEs or the player’s attack QTEs at the right time, you will gain additional Crescendo charge. Once the Crescendo Meter is fully charged, you can select it and then shred. For each note you hit correctly, you will deal additional damage.
As you explore the world, you will quickly realize that not every instrument will work in a certain area, so you will need to use them interchangeably. If you die in combat, you will respawn at the entrance area where you previously fought. If you are finding combat difficult, you can upgrade your instrument with different mods.
These mods can offer a variety of buffs, including a health boost, shielding, and character buffs. The player can also switch between the different equipment pedals to get additional benefits. Only three pedals can be active at a single time, but they can be switched interchangeably.
At first, Fretless: The Wrath of Riffson just seemed like it was another RPG trying to make its way in the world, but as we explored the world and listened to its music, it moved our souls. Yes, its combat does not reinvent the wheel, but it gives players enough variety so that they can play the game how they want and still have fun.
Yes, you may have to redo fights occasionally if you just smash abilities together, but with any sense of reasoning, you should be able to take down most common enemies. If you need even more help, the game’s settings have different gameplay options to help the player with QTEs. Players can turn on an assist tool to make it so they have more time to hit QTEs or hit them automatically.
The game also features the ability to change the language text settings, offering English, German, French, Simplified Chinese, Portuguese (Brazilian), and Spanish language options. Players can also adjust the controls for the game. The control setting allows players to remap both the controller and keyboard layout.
If you are having trouble with a certain gameplay element, you can change the button input to meet your needs; it is rare that a developer will give the player the ability to remap the controls entirely, so this is a handy accessibility option.
Fretless: The Wrath of Riffson may not win game of the year due to its powerhouse counterparts, but it is definitely a game that you should put on your to-play list. The game is fairly simple to understand the basic mechanics, but has room for players to fine-tune their combat style and come up with a composition all their own.
Although the story has its dark moments, there are comedic elements that can make you laugh even in serious situations. Yes, the big corporation is bad, and you do encounter a situation where someone you trusted betrays your trust, but the story is one of growth, redemption, and overcoming the odds.
The game’s art will charm you into exploring the world, while the music will move your soul. Outside of the exciting RPG combat elements, the game’s soundtrack will bewitch you and make you want to hear more. Each instrument has its own unique sound, so those who are just listening to the game will be able to distinguish what instrument the player is using without looking.
Boss fights within the game have their own unique mechanics, making it so you do not feel like you are getting the same experience over again, but with additional difficulty. With each boss fight we undertook, there was a different aspect that made us go, “Oh wow, that’s cool; I want to see what comes next.”
While you might not have heard of Fretless: The Wrath of Riffson until today, we hope that this information has made you want to experience it for yourself; if so, there is a demo available to try out. Although it may not win AAA Game of the Year at The Game Awards, we can still see it being a strong contender for Best Indie Game in 2025. Even if you do not fall in love with the game’s combat mechanics, the soundtrack will steal your heart so quickly that you might need the Phantom Thieves to find it. Honestly, this is a game that you should try even if you are on the fence.
The only reason we can not give it a perfect score is due to the game’s teleport mechanic not working properly on multiple occasions and that there is only one difficulty to play the game on; there were a few times where we had to relaunch the game because we would teleport and end up glitched outside of the map unable to get back in. We expect that this issue will be fixed in the near future, but until then, enjoy its ambitious performance.
Fretless: The Wrath of Riffson was reviewed on a PC using a code provided by Playdigious Originals. You can find additional information about Niche Gamer’s review/ethics policy here. Fretless – The Wrath of Riffson is now available on PC (Steam).
