VOEZ is a Free-to-Play Rhythm Game for Android, iOS, and the Nintendo Switch developed by Rayark, the same developer behind Cytus and Deemo. Notes fall down different tracks and must be tapped when they reach the bottom, or a button pressed if playing the Switch version on a controller. However, the tracks the notes fall down can move, and change color and thickness, adding a visual element to the game.
VOEZ has a selection of eight or more free songs, which rotate on a regular basis. Keys can be purchased in order to unlock a song, so that it can be played when it is not currently in roation.
In addition to the songs, the game also includes diary pages, which detail the events of a group of friends and their lives. Diary pages are unlocked by completing different goals, and occasionally provide free keys for unlocking songs.
The Switch port in particular was previously known for being the only Switch game to be non-playable in docked mode, but a later update allows the game to be played in docked mode and with a controller (when the Switch is in handheld mode, it can be played with either type of input, but docked leaves controller play as the only option).
This game provides examples of:
- Allegedly Free Game:
- The game is free to download, but in order to play songs not currently in rotation, as well as unlock avatars to use from the gacha, you have to use keys, in the shape of the game's bird, nan, to unlock them. Nans can be unlocked either by unlocking diary entries or buying them with in-app purchases. At the least, there are occasional discounts that make it cheaper to buy nans in bulk.
- Averted with the Switch port, which uses the traditional "pay once and the game is indefinitely yours to play" model, with free updates.
- April Fools' Day:
- For April Fool's Day 2017, a song called "Gamegame?" was added for just that day. It's identical to the song "Gamegame" music-wise, but it has a new set of very screwy charts rated -41, 99, and 41. For 2018, they did something similar, adding a song called "PяayStation", identical to "PrayStation" music-wise but with a set of charts that are basically extended Shout Outs to various other music games.
- Arc Symbol: Diamonds are seen everywhere from the shape of the notes, the way the 'O' in VOEZ looks on the main screen, and the interface in general.
- Color-Coded for Your Convenience: The effect for touching a note changes based on the type of hit: blue for normal, gold for perfect, and multicolored for max perfect.
- Unlocked songs will have a colored diamond at the bottom of them based on the best combo gotten on that song: blue for a standard full combo, or a gold for an all perfect. These colors are also shown on the diamonds underneath the combo indicator during gameplay, showing the best rank you are currently achieving.
- Difficulty Levels: Easy, Hard, and Special, although Special is based on the amount of moving note tracks rather than difficulty. There are goals based around all the difficulty levels, so the player needs to beat songs on every difficulty level to unlock diary pages.
- Everything's Better with Rainbows: The effect for getting a max perfect on a note is rainbow colored. In some of the songs, the different colored track lines will form a rainbow pattern. And then there's the song titles "RAINBOW" and "Rainbow Adventure".
- Each of the characters have a color associated with them, representing the colors of the rainbow, excluding violet.
- Sasaki Yuko: Red
- Chelsea: Orange
- Lance: Yellow
- Ocean: Green
- Jessy: Blue
- Qian Qian: Indigo
- Each of the characters have a color associated with them, representing the colors of the rainbow, excluding violet.
- Flawless Victory: Full Combos (do not miss a beat) and All Perfects (all beat hits are "Perfect")
- Flower Motif: Not as prominent as in Deemo, but the songs “Carnation” and “Ancient Rose” are named after flowers.
- Gameplay Grading: Gives a numerical score based on a percentage, and a letter score based on the numerical score.
- Getting Crap Past the Radar: The game was temporarily pulled from the Nintendo eShop in the US
and rerated from E for Everyone to T for "Mild Blood, Partial Nudity" in regards to some previously overlooked content. - Harder Than Hard: The difficulty levels go Easy, Hard, and Special. Special is usually this trope, but a few songs actually have it easier than Hard..
- Heart Symbol: The special version of "PRETTY DOG" uses slide notes to form a heart.
- Light Is Good: The songs "Keep You Safe" and "Brightness"
- Non-Indicative Difficulty: Usually Special is the hardest difficulty level, but the songs “Keep You Safe” and “The Longest Night” both rated as harder on the Hard difficulty level.
- Non-Indicative Name: The judgement rank of Perfect (below Max Perfect) really means not only is your timing off, you also only get 70-90% of the note score.
- Rank Inflation:
- It's possible to get an S rating on a song by getting a high enough score or receive a title.note
- The judge ranks are Miss, OK, Perfect, and Max Perfect.
- Rule of Cute: The unlock keys are represented by cute birds, known as "nans".
- Play Every Day: Some of the goals for unlocking diary require playing a song each day for consecutive length of time.
- Retraux: The song "Hop Step Adventure☆" is a chiptune song.
- Same with "Owari to Hajimari no Oto", which is made by the same artist as above except much harder.
- Scrapbook Story: The diary entries include not only diary pages, but notes, texts, and tweets by the various characters.
- Shout-Out: Mandoras, a plant creature from a different Rayark game, can be seen in the song artwork for some of the songs, such as “Soul in Call” and "PrayStation".
- Unlockable Content: The diary entries.
- Unwinnable Joke Game: The 2017 April Fools' Day version of Game Game is effectively this. Highlights include teleporting hold notes, notes that are invisible until just before you miss them, and so many notes at once that you'd need all your fingers to get it right. That said, at least one person managed to get All Perfect anyway.
- Notably, it's one of the only songs that has not been ported to Switch.
