People of Note is a musical RPG that doesn't get too cute in combat

After enjoying Unbeatable so much towards the end of 2025, my mind has been open for more musical video game adventures that have more going on than “rhythm game.” The problem is, some of the other options in this space just don’t do it for me. Games like Fretless, for example, are neat but lean too hard on being More Complicated Paper Mario for my tastes. I don’t like my turn-based RPG combat to get too cute, because I’m old or something. People of Note seems like the answer to my needs, thanks to its apparent restraint. At the same time, it has some cool ideas about how to present musical themes in a turn-based RPG.

People of Note follows Cadence, an aspiring pop music singing sensation who has eyes on a big competition. She’s exploring this strange, musical world to form a band comprising disparate musical styles, creating the ultimate mash-up. The Steam Next Fest demo starts in chapter 2, in which Cadence has found her way to a region full of competing Rock-adjacent genre folk, with bespoke spaces dedicated to Metal, Punk, and Grunge. Country is also here causing trouble, invading the other spaces violently. Despite all of this, Cadence has her eyes set on Fret, a reclusive older rocker who is at odds with this modern world of rigid genre labels.

At first glance, People of Note has everything I want out of a game like this. It has cool music, good voice acting, colorful visuals, and enough production value to soften the edges of my analytical eye. Of course, the big factor for coloring my interest is on combat, and luckily this demo has plenty of it. There’s also a big chunk of puzzle-solving here, with multiple rounds of a classic “rotate the gimmicks to line up bouncing lasers” scenario throughout the provided dungeon.

Anyway, back to combat. The whole thing is structured around Stanzas, so you’re kind of building a song, piece by piece, along with input from your opponents. It’s almost like filling in a turn order bar from a different kind of RPG, but in reverse. What you do and where can be a factor, with debuffs taking up residence on the Stanza bar, and bonuses for doing a specific skill first (for example) are things you have to think about. Additionally, the fight’s music can change round to round, and if you have someone in your party matching the current tune, you’ll get an additional bonus for using them first. Techniques themselves are simple closing circle QTEs, but they can come in groups that follow the musical cues of the chosen move itself. So nothing too crazy is happening, and it’s speedy and simple enough for me to not feel like I have to be locked in at every turn.

The big payoff is actual mash-up moves, which play out like Limit Breaks in a Final Fantasy game. The twist is you need two characters to have their meters full to use them, but the extravagant animations, punched-up music, and big damage you get are solid rewards for your patience.

There are other signs People of Note has The Sauce, if you will. When Fret finally agrees to work with Cadence, there’s a full-on musical cutscene in which the pair work through their differences via the power of song. There are vibes of Brutal Legend and Tokyo Mirage Sessions in moments like these, which is a heck of a weird combination.

Weird combinations are exactly what People of Note is going for, though. One look at the Steam page will show you who else is set to join the party, and the kinds of musical genre shenanigans you’ll be able to get up to in the final game. Luckily, there isn’t much of a wait for this one.

People of Note is available on April 7, 2026 for the PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X|S with a Nintendo Switch 2 version coming sometime after. This article is based on a Steam Next Fest demo.

Lucas White

Contributing Editor

Lucas plays a lot of videogames. Sometimes he enjoys one. His favorites include Dragon Quest, SaGa, and Mystery Dungeon. He's far too rattled with ADHD to care about world-building lore but will get lost for days in essays about themes and characters. Holds a journalism degree, which makes conversations about Oxford Commas awkward to say the least. Not a trophy hunter but platinumed Sifu out of sheer spite and got 100 percent in Rondo of Blood because it rules. You can find him on Twitter @HokutoNoLucas being curmudgeonly about Square Enix discourse and occasionally saying positive things about Konami.