Mr Records Preview (Summer Game Fest 2026)
If you’re looking for the best rhythm games of all time, and you remove games like Rock Band, Guitar Hero and other highway note style games, the pickings become quite slim. Add in another filter that requires the game to have a narrative and you could probably hold those games in the palm of your hand.
Narrative driven rhythm games are a rare breed, which is odd since music plays such an integral role in nearly all of our lives. Next to your sense of smell, music is probably the biggest trigger of core memories, which is why after playing Mr Records at Summer Game Fest, it’s one of my most anticipated games.
Mr Records Preview
When I first laid eyes on Mr Records during the Day of The Devs - Summer Game Fest Showcase, it immediately jumped off the screen with it’s unique rhythm gameplay, but also its art style that looked highly reminiscent of The Plucky Squire, a whimsical game that I adored. However, upon closer inspection, Mr Records features a narrative that feels equally as important as its gameplay.
Mr Records is being developed by Glee Cheese, a small four-person indie studio from France, whose first two games were also highly influenced by music. The Glee Cheese motto is to develop innovative music games with a strong artistic identity. With Mr Records, the studio is bringing forth a lot of qualities from their first game, A Musical Story. There is a striking visual style, gameplay that wants you to feel the music, as often times you’re required to hit notes without visual cues and an emotional narrative.
In Mr Records, you play as George, a music fanatic and someone who has a very intimate relationship with music. George is in the back half of life and decides to follow his dream of opening up his own music store against better judgment. In his bedroom, George has the ability to transcend time and space when listening to music to become part of the song. When the needle hits the vinyl, George becomes transported to very different worlds depending on the track. Once inside of these often psychedelic tracks, George will need to jump, kick and slide his way through these musical landscapes in order to sell that record at his shop.
The gameplay loop of Mr Records is quite simple. Play Records, add those records to your collection, sell the records in your shop, buy more records with the money from the sales and then start the gameplay loop over again. What makes it compelling is that each section is quite short. It always leaves you wanting more and never overstays its welcome.
Since George has been alive for a while, he has seen many genres of music come and go. Mr Records features a wide ranges of genres from rock, hip-hop, electronic, and pop with so many sub genres in each. Mr Records features over 45 original songs that you will get to visit through the memories of George, which were composed by just the two musical composers/game designers on the team. The gameplay in the tracks drastically evolved during the small demo we played, as it asked the player to learn new abilities and then string them all together. Glee Cheese has also teased other gameplay twists, mini games, and side activities to keep gameplay feeling fresh throughout.
RHYTHM HEAVEN
At the bare minimum, the rhythm gameplay in Mr Records was extremely satisfying, as it constantly evolved during our time and will likely be enough to carry the experience to a good game. What has yet to be determined is if the narrative can take the experience from good to great or even higher.
However, in the demo, which was basically an EP, Mr Records started pulling at a lot of heavier emotional threads. Themes that resonate with everyone including regret, sadness, love, loss and the concept that it’s never too late to start living the life you’ve always dreamed of. If what I played was just a few tracks, I cant wait to put on the full Mr Records LP.
