Fuser is a rhythm game created by Harmonix, primarily known as the creators behind Rock Band, Its the digital Spiritual Successor to their previous work Dropmix. That is, "create your own mashup".
Gameplay works similarly as you have 4 empty decks in which you can insert songs to start playing. Every song and its elements have been divided into isolated stems, allowing you to mix parts such as vocals from one track with the guitars/percussion/synths/vocals of any of the other tracks you have in your current "crate." The cards for each song run along the top of the screen. All the songs will play in a 32-bar loop shown onscreen, and you earn more points and goodwill with the crowd for dropping in songs perfectly on beat (or perfectly offbeat.) With each crowd you get moving and each festival stage you crush, you learn more and more mixing techniques to help improve your skills and take your parties to the next level.
The songs you can mix/unlock to mix with come in a range of genres, from country to dance hits to hip-hop bangers. Songs also span different decades. Artists include deadmau5, Shania Twain, Sean Paul, Ace of Base, The Killers, with dozens more with DLC. There are also a handful of in-house produced songs made by DJ characters you meet throughout the game's campaign.
The game released on November 10th, 2020 for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PC, and the Nintendo Switch. On December 2, 2022, Harmonix announced ([1]
) that no more content for the game would be produced, and all sales of the game and its DLC would be halted on December 19.
This game provides examples of:
- And Your Reward Is Clothes: Your main reward for completing campaign levels is extra clothes, and new patterns for old ones. Some rewards require you to get a full 5 stars on a set before you unlock them.
- Bowdlerize: With the nature of copyrighted music and the look of the game, it's to be expected that some songs would get censored.
- Character Customization: And a decently in-depth one. You can change body shape, facial hair, height, masks, helmets, general clothing, makeup, you get the idea. The kicker is that absolutely nothing is locked to gender. Feel free to create whoever you'd like!
- Cooperative Multiplayer: You can hop into Co-op Freestyle and join other players in a freestyle mixing session. You can also choose to simply watch/listen to other players mixing!
- Downloadable Content: There's a lot of extra songs to buy, at $2.99 CAD each. Or you could buy the Launch Pack that comes with 25 songs and a few cosmetics for $60. Or the 2020 Backstage Pass (Season Pass) for $67. Or just go all-in on the VIP Edition of the game for $130+...
- Improbable Age: Bignums, the DJ/trap producer you meet at the second festival stage, is 10 years old.
