In a desperate attempt to win the coveted Noteworthy Competition trophy and earn her spot among the world of Note's most famous and acclaimed musical artists, aspiring pop artist Cadence journeys across the land in order to recruit a new band of various singing artists to bring together an entirely new sound. However, the group soon find themselves embroiled in a grand scheme far more pivotal than they could've ever imagined - one that could decide the very fate of music and all of Note itself.

It released on April 7th, 2026.

Previews: Reveal Trailer, Under the Lights Trailer, "Mashup" Song Clip, "Going on Tour" Song Clip, Release Date Trailer, "Imposter" Song Clip, "Spitting Image" Song Clip, Launch Trailer

Tropes:

• 11th-Hour Superpower: For the second phase of the final boss fight, all four styles are permanently active, functionally granting a 50% damage boost to all band members at all times.
• Action Commands: When you use an attack or ability, circular timing markers appear on the screen. Hit them as well as you can to maximize their effectiveness.
• Alas, Poor Villain: Lasso, the leader of Homestead, believes the Keys of Note are weapons that the cities are planning to use against his own people. After the heroes take him down (a process that involves not one but two brutal back-to-back boss battles) he starts to see the light...only to get stabbed in the back by Silence. Cadence comforts him while he lies dying and apologies for all the trouble he's caused her and her friends.
• Boring, but Practical: Fret's "Cleansing Chord" (which removes negative effects from a party member) and Synthia's "Filter Sweep" (which removes a modification from a stanza bar) aren't very flashy but become essential in the later game as you go up against more debuff-heavy opponents.
• Color-Coded for Your Convenience: Each of the four main genres (and their representative band member) have a color associated with them, which appears in their wardrobes, their cities, and their Songstones
  • Cadence (Pop) is primarily pink
  • Fret (Rock) is primarily orange/yellow
  • Synthia (EDM) is primarily blue
  • Vox (Rap) is primarily green
• Cool Old Guy: Fret is an old veteran who was one of the greatest rockstars of the century, and yet he never lost his touch.
• Death Is a Slap on the Wrist: If a band member falls in battle, they'll get up on their own in four turns, even without using any revival skills. And if the whole band is knocked out at the same time, only a single vinyl is lost.
• Deliberate VHS Quality: Councilman Sharp's Villain Song, Power Chord, is performed as a music video played on VHS, with all the grain and other low-quality effects that come with it. Fittingly, his song is about wanting to bring back his glory days, which were in the equivalent era of Note's history.
• G-Rated Drug: Lumina is rife with a controversial performance-enhancing drug called Glitter, which induces synesthesia-like sensations in those who use it and let them feel, smell, touch, and even taste soundwaves. It’s treated with appropriate seriousness despite this and everyone reacts with appropriate horror towards its use, especially once it’s revealed that Synthia has been secretly taking it themself.
• Hero vs. Villain Duet: "Arc Nemesis" is a duet between Arc and Cadence. Arc is singing about how he thought Cadence was the same as him and wanted to do whatever it takes to "fix" the world, but if she won't join him, he won't let her stop him or change his view. Cadence's part is trying to talk him down because of the danger of collateral in Arc's plan, and if she can't talk him down, she'll go as far as it takes to stop him.
• Hurricane of Puns: There are so many that you're almost better off looking for what isn't a pun.
• It's All About Me: Even though there are bigger things happening, Cadence would much rather follow her dream of becoming a pop star. Her only motivation for leaving her town was to come back with a band to give the show something they’ve never seen before. Her Character Development on moving past her selfishness started when Fret, Synthia and Vox decided to leave, Cadence tried to perform in Noteworthy on her own... only for her to forfeit as it would mean she'd be alone. Causing her to rescue her friends from Sharp and band together once more.
• "I Want" Song: Cadence's opening number, which she enters in the Noteworthy competition to be "Under the Lights".
• Karma Houdini Warranty: After defeating Sharpe, he declares that all his actions were well within his rights as a councilman and that the heroes have no legal recourse against him, forcing them to walk away without seeing justice done. However, in the epilogue Cadence urges the Overture to open diplomatic channels with her city and tell them about everything that's been going on, and during "In Concert" his portrait in the Arena has been replaced with that of an unknown woman, indicating he's been kicked off the Council of Fifths. Doing the Chordia sidequest enables the player to take part in his downfall, convincing Yuna Verse to aid in an Engineered Public Confession.
• Limit Break: Starting when Fret joins Cadence, each band member has a Mashup Meter that fills as they take damage. When two or more members' meters are full, and each has an available action, they can unleash a Mashup to do massive damage or have a variety of powerful support effects, like healing or buffing the party, debuffing the enemy party, or granting extra actions to the band. Additionally, using a Mashup will change the style for the stanza to be a combination of the genres of all band members who were involved in the Mashup.
• Mercy Mode: The game gives you the option to make the Action Commands always succeed, and skipping puzzles or battles if you get stuck on one.
• Neon City: Lumina, the city of EDM, is full of skyscrapers and neon lights. The city wouldn't look out of place in a cyberpunk work, though there’s no indication of extreme corporate influence.
• Musical Assassin: Pretty much everyone is this since the people of Note are more or less completely devoted to music in every single facet of their lives.
• One-Winged Angel: Arc, after he's unable to control the Symphony and gets consumed by it. In keeping with the abundance of puns throughout the game, the track for the boss battle is called "One Stringed Angel."
• Pun-Based Title: The title can refer to the inhabitants of the world of Note, and to people of high importance.
• Punch-Clock Villain: The members of Smoulder are revealed to be this; antagonizing Cadence and her band is the latest on a very long list of errands they've been forced to run for their manager Sharp. Anthony's heart is definitely not in it the last time you confront them, and the others come around not long afterward—in no small part because Sharp gives away the Key of Chordia to outsiders and drops his support of Smoulder immediately afterwards.
• Rebel Prince: Vox is the prince of Pyre, making her mother the queen. But would much rather be a rapper than king. But he deeply cares about his home, his mother even more despite their friction.
• Shout-Out:
  • An encounter can be had with a "Weird Owl" that asks a trivia question of Cadence and her crew. Said Owl sports a very familiar haircut and mustache combo, and is accompanied by accordion music.
  • The description for the Sonic Boom accessory is "Trouble keeps you running faster."
  • One enemy in Lumina starts a fight with the line "It's dangerous to go alone. Take this!"
  • A citizen of Durandis muses on the divisions among the populace: "Am I out of touch?...No, it's the punk rockers who are wrong."
  • One of Fret's Songstones is a power-booster called "Eleven."
• Shrine to Self: Couniclman Sharp's mansion is filled with art and sculptures of himself. He even calls them up for his boss battle.
• Theme Naming: Pretty much everything and everyone in the game is some reference to music.
  Cadence: But who's Quincy? You said his name was Freeq... uency. Nevermind, I got it.
  • On a non-musical level there's Synthia, who uses they/them pronouns and has instruments called "Enby Stinger" and "Non-Binaural."
• Variable Mix: Stanzas can be one of four genres, which give their respective party member a boost in damage for that round. The battle theme will change depending on the genre of that Stanza, such as more vocal elements for Pop or more guitars and drums for Rock. Mashups further shift the mix, combining two (or more) character genres.
• Villain Song: 2 of them:
  • "Power Chord" is Councilman Sharp's villain song, about how he wants to bring back his glory days, and how he thinks people should love his style of music above all else.
  • "Free Country" is Lasso's song, about how if the other nations want to wipe out the Heartlands, he'll take them out first. Unfortunately, he's the victim of a ruse by Silence and Arc, who tricked him into taking the Keys by completely making up everything about the other nations wanting to wipe out the Heartlands.
• Well-Intentioned Extremist: Arc. He wants to gather the Keys to access the power of the Symphony, altering reality to bring back his childhood friend Ten and tear down the system that lead to her death. Never mind that even a minor use of the Symphony's power could have devastating side effects—and restoring an entire life and erasing history is not a minor thing.
• World of Pun: Nearly everything, from the people, to the equipment, to the monsters, and many more, is named after a musical reference.