Cadence is a game of two halves, both of which are musical. The first half is a music puzzle game, where you are challenged to solve musical circuitry puzzles that teach you a bit about rhythm. The second half then takes all the things you learn in the puzzles, and opens it up into a sandbox creative suite to build your own musical contraptions to share online and remix others from the Steam workshop. It is a very niche title, but one that is utterly addictive and playful.
The musical puzzles are spread over five chapters and involve players connecting music tiles with wires that travel in certain directions. Cadence is all about beats in a bar of music, and the musical pulse will travel along these wires and trigger the music tile upon hitting it. That could be a musical note, a kick drum, a bass synth, or an audio effect. As you progress through the game, more types of tiles are introduced. Some have countdowns. Some have mute switches that swallow the music pulse whole. Others repeat or split the pulse off in different directions. Some will turn on and off mini circuits inside the level, and these operate like circuit A for drums, circuit B for piano, and circuit 3 for bass. The learning curve is gentle initially, but the final two chapters are crammed with ideas that build on everything you’ve learnt, and the difficulty ramps up fairly quickly. Whenever you complete a level, the entire musical interlude is played back to you, complete with lighting and pulse charges, and it’s all very satisfying to watch.
The puzzle mode takes 3-4 hours to solve. Whilst you do not need to be a rhythm-infused or musical person, being able to join up grids of tiles in 4×4 squares to create 4 bars of music is critical to your success. This is because Cadence is built around creating loops. Those loops then kickstart a nearby loop, or a melody riff elsewhere, and that’s how the musical interlude is created. This is only hinted at in the puzzle mode, where large-scale pieces of music are rarely showcased. I wished there were more of a stepping stone jump from the puzzle side to the sandbox element to bridge the gap and show just how powerful Cadence’s tools are.
Whilst the sandbox mode isn’t quite a Digital Audio Workstation (DAW), it could be used as a visual entry point to DAW’s for newcomers to music production. There is a selection of instruments, a piano scroll to place notes on for each trigger point, and all the looping and timing tiles to create sequences. The switches can be positioned to create verses and choruses, or at the very least, a swap between multiple melodies or chords. Whilst the instruments included are close to a retro MIDI sound, you can create some modern electronic noises, too. The learning curve to play with each musical tile’s parameters is very steep, and one of the stranger limitations is that you can only take in up to five instruments to tweak. That said, it’s surprising just how much sound you can get from this limitation. The other very obvious trick with Cadence is to map out your playing area with enough space to build what you need. This caught me out several times, as I’d end up building a giant loop and then struggle to connect it back to the start or a suitable reentry point. Balancing visual aesthetics with musical loops takes pre-planning.
Anything built in sandbox mode can be uploaded to the Steam Workshop. Here, you download other people’s creations and remix them. I’ve swapped out instruments to create a chiptune version of a piano classic, and added crazy rock drums to someone’s electronic dance piece. It’s fun to see how others have used the tools, and that’s helped me learn about Cadence’s hidden strengths. Whilst it sits awkwardly between a powerful and complex tool and not robust enough for full music production, I think creative tools like Cadence are excellent ways to invite newcomers into the creative world. Long may they continue to exist.
If you come to Cadence purely as a puzzle game, you’ve got a strong experience that will be satisfying to complete and not outstay its welcome. If you want to dive into the sandbox and creative mode, then suddenly Cadence has a huge amount of replay and experimentation potential. There is a lot to enjoy, so long as you have the curiosity to dive under its bonnet and tinker. Enjoyable.
Higher Plain Games is part of the Higher Plain Network. If you like what I do, please consider supporting me via Patreon for as little as $1/£1 a month. There are additional perks for supporting me, such as behind-the-scenes content and downloads. You can also share the website or use the affiliate buy now links on reviews. Buying credit from CD Keys using my affiliate link means I get a couple of pence per sale. All your support will enable me to produce better content, more often. Thank you.
