Last year, I wrote about how the glut of (otherwise quality) game releases early in the year was a bit overwhelming, leading me to take a much-needed break from gaming.

This year, I’ve started to feel that again after a really busy January and February consisting of the likes of Forspoken, Season and the PlayStation VR2, as well as features on The Last of Us, Black History Month, International Women’s Day and more. As always, I’m beyond grateful to have these opportunities and am constantly inspired by the creators I cover, but sometimes, it’s good to step away for a bit. As a result, I’ve primarily been spending my entertainment time watching movies and TV as of late.

That said, there’s one game that I’ve been enjoying on the side, and it couldn’t have come at a better time: February’s Theatrythm Final Bar Line. Now, I’m not necessarily surprised that I enjoy it; a crossover game featuring music and characters from Final Fantasy, my all-time favourite series, was up my alley. However, I generally can’t get into rhythm games (including previous Theatrythm titles) due to their inherently repetitive nature, so I didn’t know how much of Final Bar Line I’d actually play.

As it turns out — quite a few hours. A big part of that has to do with the fact that this game marks the series’ console debut; I far prefer using a controller to a device like a 3DS with smaller buttons….