Rhythm Action games are some of my favourites, and every once in a while, a new game comes along that feels quite unlike anything else out there. Fresh Tracks feels like a fresh concept. It is a mixture of skiing and ski-track lane swapping, sword attacks, leaning about, and some rhythmic ducks and jumps. It’s like a biathlon version of Oh Shape and Beat Saber, infused with mythical gods, but for the TV screen crowd, not for contorting yourself into all kinds of shapes in VR. Oh, and it’s also a roguelike!
That’s a lot of references, so I’ll break down how Fresh Tracks works. At the start of each run across the tundra, you’ll select your skis and a mythic. A mythic is both a narrative companion and a gameplay choice, as each mythic is a god-like being that fuses into your sword that you’ll be taking on your travels. Each one has a personality, and will alter some specific boss battles depending on the match-ups you’ve chosen. Upon setting off, and after each mainline level, you’ll get the choice of three songs to choose from. Each comes with a difficulty level and some kind of reward upfront. It might be health, coins for in-run upgrades, or money to unlock songs for freeplay mode or additional skis after death or success. Once ready, you’ll be skiing into oblivion.
Fresh Tracks has 28 base songs that range from Viking rock to peppy electronica to heavy metal to hip-hop to electro-funk with symphonic edges. It’s a varied selection, and most tracks are over four minutes long. What makes Fresh Tracks stand out is how you’ll be swapping disciplines and dexterity challenges around your controller. Your main movement between lanes to avoid obstacles uses the D-pad. That allows you to crouch and avoid overhead hazards, and to double jump to leap over gaps or jump up stairs. Fresh Tracks wastes no time making every beat an action, so expect densely populated lanes full of hazards to move between on almost every beat of a bar. You’ll then need to use the bumper buttons on your controller to lean left or right to avoid things like hanging tree branches or house walls. Reminding me of Oh Shape and Hole in the Wall, these get combined with jumps and ducks in harder levels. Next up is your sword, which requires you to swing in the appropriate directions with the right analogue stick. Sometimes you have free choice of the swing direction, but if the skeleton army starts to pounce, you’ll usually have a set pattern to follow.
With all of these different requirements, often intermingled or running simultaneously, Fresh Tracks quickly becomes one of the most involved and exacting rhythm action games I’ve played in ages. A single mistake can be costly as you’ll lose a heart, and if you aren’t able to replenish them quickly enough, it’ll be game over quickly. Your skis and mythic may have some bearing on your health and the difficulty of specific scenarios or songs, but Fresh Tracks largely comes from the school of get gud. You can turn off extreme difficulty songs in the main menu, but you’ll be missing out on some bangers… and about a third of the soundtrack and game content. If you keep crashing out on the same song, Fresh Tracks implements a dynamic difficulty reduction, making some areas less busy or simplifying some patterns to help you get through. As soon as you pass the song, it’ll crank straight back up to its original difficulty. Again, this option can be turned off, too. I strongly recommend buying songs with your overarching currency for freeplay mode, and get some muscle memory running.
Initially, I found the screen to be very overwhelming at times. This is especially true in boss battles. Each boss battle has a variety of alternative versions depending on which mythic you have equipped. Mythics are originally bosses until you defeat them, and then they become yours. That means you’ll hear a metal or an electronic version of the same song, but you’ll also have different patterns to beat in-game. Each mythic builds up power in your sword to unleash a special ability by pressing in on your analogue stick. The firebrand, for example, will blast away all enemies regardless of where you swish your sword. Very handy! If you arrive with the firebrand mythic (Sogvars) at his boss level, instead of wandering through fog (which is its own challenge), you’ll battle a fiery dragon from on high. Each mythic has its own personal route, offering lots of replayability on top of the RNG song selection for 2 or 3 tracks between each boss fight.
My only minor quibble with Fresh Tracks comes from its roguelike element. The game is hard enough as is, but a shop will roll into view at certain points during each run. Rarely did I find that the upgrades offered would make much of a tangible difference. All too often, the upgrades are priced at levels you cannot physically reach unless you luck out with harder tracks and collect everything perfectly. Instead of helping, I found the shop a place of frustration and annoyance. It hasn’t dampened my enjoyment or love for the gameplay or game itself, I just found it unnecessary and the weakest part of the experience by far. The flipside is that a skilled player won’t be gated by needing to grind for upgrades, though.
I bought the game and soundtrack bundle and have zero regrets. The soundtrack has over 2 hours of memorable music from a range of genres, with a heavy tilt towards rock and guitar solos. It gets the blood pumping, and the game keeps you engaged and focused at all times. When everything clicks, Fresh Tracks puts you into a flow state, where music and movement synchronise perfectly. The player feels alive and incredibly skilled. Whilst borrowing from lots of different influences, Fresh Tracks feels and plays like no other rhythm action game out there. It is one of my favourite surprises of 2025 and a must-have for any music game fan who doesn’t mind a bit of a challenge. Superb.
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