Encounters: Music Stories

It's a cute rhythm game that feels pretty unique in how it presents itself. You can play this with one hand if you'd like, and I'm not entirely sure if it is easier using 2 hands vs 1. Music is a decent selection of classical tunes with some minor adjustments to make it feel a bit new, but overall you'll likely recognize many of the tracks. Before jumping into each of the levels you'll get a little story bit that's rather charming. They aren't central to gameplay or anything, but they're super cute. Gameplay wise, it requires a bit of timing and precision that I just don't quite have. I've dropped it down to easy mode because the format of the game makes it difficult for me to time things appropriately. That being said, I do think the difficulty is fair. The presentation just doesn't work with my brain's capability to do things. The screen is split in 2, which I totally get. But I feel like I'd of done so much better if it was just one screen with a tweaked perspective. There's also this idea you can play this pretty much by ear, but I'm really not sure that would be possible. It probably helps that as you play you start to remember where/when things will happen... But the music selection doesn't exactly have a lot of predictability in regards to where you'll need to activate blocks. Overall though, it gets a solid recommendation. Rhythm games often try new things, and often are focused on these high-speed musical tracks. It's nice to see one that does things a bit different.