Rhythm games I played this year (2025)
2025.09.21.
Because oh boy there's a few; this was the year when my interest was rekindled.
(Mostly mobile ones. iPad baby behavior Glitch era.)
A little intro/background yapping first:
I've always loved them, been a fan since about 10 years old, but it's not something that's on my mind all the time.
My first one was a knockoff DDR at home with a specialized dance mat and specific songs you couldn't change. It was called Dance Dance Dance and I have never found out anything about it online. But I'm sure I didn't dream it.
Then, naturally, Stepmania 3.9 with a different dance mat. That was a big hit, downloading custom songs, hanging out with friends, entering casual contests at local anime cons.
Not long after, I discovered osu! and my life was over. That was the REAL THING. The first game I tried to git gud at. I actually took time to warmup, practice, better myself. That went on for 10+ years, on and off (though most improvement was in my first 2 years).
After that I was a casual osu player because I got old and didn't have much time anymore and my hands hurt. And my tablet is too big. But this is my history with which I'm entering the actual point of this post.
Starting with...
Cytus II 
I got introduced to Cytus through Muse Dash which I started playing in 2022, but took me 3 years to actually get to Cytus lol. Cytus is great and I love it because it's basically touchpad osu. As a high schooler I even had a dream about such a thing, so it sucked me in in no time. Two things bother me however: the song selection itself, (can't view all songs, they are sorted by characters, can't search), and how forgiving it is. It's too easy!
I compare every rhythm game to osu because so far it's what I've played the most (almost 200 hours), but Cytus is undeniably casual. Way too wide timing windows and it's very easy to MM songs. I played through it to the 3.0 ending then I "forgot" about it, because I didn't want to grind characters/songs I don't like anymore. I will sometime read the rest on the wiki though. But after seeing the story ending and MM-ing the easy and hard difficulties of my favorite song (Chrome Vox), I found no real reason to keep playing, so it sits in my phone collecting dust. (Never forgetting the story though. Ivynessa forever.)
Not In The Groove / NotITG
Seen this game around before, but in June I finally started it out wondering how well I could be doing in it and oh my! I love this. I love how something as simple as DDR can be spiced up to be even almost a different game. It brings an entirely new flavour to rhythm games and I need to play it more! But osu just got me too spoiled by the way the songs are found and installed, so it's put on hold for now. It's really hard to find songs I can play (but it's just my skill issue. It's been 20 years at this point since I last played DDR).
Arcaea
Friendship ended with Cytus, now Arcaea is my best friend. No, really. Finally a hard as fuck rhytm game with a new game style (no circles going brrr anymore) and a gimmick! The arcs are so fun and brain hurting that they took me about 10 hours just to get used to and track properly. And the song I started Arcaea for? Cyaegha? Took me 4 hours to just full combo on the easiest difficulty. Then 20 more to full combo (and all perfect) it in the next one. I'm still working my way up to future difficulty but what I like about this game that it locks me from sweeping through the songs so I'm in my shounen training era to even unlock the song, let alone clear it. CYAEGHA WILL BE MINE. Hopefully within a year.
As of writing this I just unlocked my first anomaly song (Grievous Lady) and hoooh boy. The guy called Glitch surprisingly loves glitchy stuff. Mmmm yes, I need more. Next one is Tempestissimo for sure. t+pazolite my beloved.
As for the story I will probably read it online, or watch gamethroughs if such things exist? I don't like spending money on free to play mobile games. Or mobile games in general. Or anything, really. I bet it's as good as Cytus II's because I keep hearing about it and it gives off the vibes so, but eeeh.
vivid;stasis
Got informed on my birthday that this is free. So, automatically, installed it and tried it out. And found out that yep, 2D vertical scrolling rhythm games make me dizzy. And that unless a rhythm game has a unique gimmick, I'm sadly not interested. The songs are good though! MYUKKE.'s Macropolis beloved. Always happy to see Energy Synergy Matrix too. But it's not something I come back to.
Phigros
NOT IN THE GROOVE BUT FUNKIER??? Oh my... This is apparently also a free to play mobile game that you can play offline and where you don't spend any money aquiring the songs, you just have to grind. Am I in heaven? Arcaea takes up too much of my time and brain space but this is definitely the other game I want to git gud at. I loooove gameplay fuckery oh my god. The possibilities are endless in this game. I love touchpad rhythm games!!!
Musynx
Just in the first few seconds of launching, the unintuitive UI threw me off. I'm happy this is free to play too, because I didn't bother much. Once again, unless a game has a unique gimmick, I'm not interested. Still, I'm not immune to trying out a new game every month (or sometimes week, even day) though. It's my weakness...
That's all for now, but maybe there will be more to come? It's only September, who knows what the future brings...
(It could definitely bring Sound Voltex cabinets to nearby arcades. Just saying. Pspspspspsps-)
Currently listening: Grievous Lady by Team Grimoire vs Laur
Currently watching: The Summer Hikaru Died
Currently thinking about: Arcaea...
CURRENTLY...
2025.08.03.
Figured I'd make a post like this, I feel like yapping about what I'm currently doing. Which is not much, but it's honest work.
CURRENTLY PLAYING: Arcaea! Trying to git gud. I've bought Absolute Reason music pack for one (1) song and I've been trying to perfect the whole pack to make up for the money I've spent. Managed to clear all of them with EX ranks on Present difficulty, only one full combo yet, on Antithese. Very fun chart! Cyaegha has been kicking my ass though, the reason I've bought the pack... But whenever I want a break I've been just clearing every available song in the free pack! 9 hours in as of writing this...
CURRENTLY LISTENING TO: Cyaegha by USAO mostly, but been circling through Kobaryo's Vicious Heroism and 3R2's Corruption too. Though with Ozzy's passing I've listened to some Sabbath and Blizzard of Ozz as well this past week...
CURRENTLY READING: Reading is not my forte but been trying to get through Tony Iommi's biography. Like, this entire year lol. It's not that the book is bad! I'm just one of those weird creatures that doesn't like reading.
CURRENTLY WORKING ON: Commissions... Slowly. Aside of that, just existing. Self indulging by drawing weird shit and trying to complete a puzzle I started back in May.