Fretless – The Wrath of Riffson Review: Get Amped!

Whenever I walk the halls of an annual trade show like PAX East, I’m practically guaranteed to come across two genres in particular: deckbuilders and turn-based RPGs. 

The deckbuilder, popularized in 2017 with the release of the hit roguelike Slay the Spire, has since become a Steam category with thousands of creations. The turn-based RPG, likewise, has enjoyed a massive resurgence thanks to successes like Persona, Undertale, and, more recently, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33. 

Although both are great genres, they risk becoming a crutch for today’s indie creators. At least, that’s what I thought before I demoed Fretless – The Wrath of Riffson at PAX East 2025. Developed by Ritual Studios and published by Playdigious Originals, Fretless circumvents the staleness I’ve been feeling toward both genres with a crafty solution: Mash the two together.

Part Slay the Spire, part Paper Mario, Fretless – The Wrath of Riffson takes these two genres and finds unique harmony between them. Sprinkle in a third inspiration — the music-rhythm gameplay of Guitar Hero — and you have all the makings of a really rad band.

The final result has its issues — notably, a slew of bugs, some balancing issues, and an underwhelming ending. Still, Fretless – The Wrath of Riffson is a worthwhile play, and an admirable addition to the genres that inspired it.

From Zero to (Guitar) Hero

Fretless – The Wrath of Riffson stars Rob, a young musician who dreams of making it big in the industry. One day, his world is turned upside down, both for better and for worse. The bad: Humans and animals have turned into dangerous monsters due to the nefarious Rick Riffson, CEO of Super Metal Records. The good: Rob now has an opportunity to compete in the annual Battle of the Bands to save the world — and potentially prove his worth as a musician.

The story in Fretless is entertaining, if nonsensical. Over the course of seven to eight hours, you’ll travel from the comforts of your hometown to everywhere from a haunted forest to a snowy mountaintop. In true JRPG-inspired fashion, you’ll find new towns along the way, filled with shops and NPCs. You’ll also cross an ocean aboard a boat (though you don’t control it, and there’s no Final Fantasy-esque open world waiting for you when you do).

Although inspired by the Square Enix greats, Fretless – The Wrath of Riffson is content to tell a shorter, more concise story. There aren’t a whole lot of motivations explored beyond “Rob good, Riffson bad,” and the characters are largely forgettable, but the overall writing is sharp. If you go in expecting B-movie camp, and not the next Baldur’s Gate or Clair Obscur, you’ll be adequately entertained.

Slay the Lyre

The real reason you’ll play Fretless – The Wrath of Riffson is for its combat system — and oh, is it a clever one. Like every other turn-based RPG under the sun, you’ll engage with enemies by running up to them and transitioning to a static battle screen. Unlike Final Fantasy or Dragon Quest, though, there are no “Attack” or “Defend” commands to be found here; instead, you’ll duke it out by playing cards from an ever-evolving deck, Slay the Spire style.

These cards, known in-game as “riffs,” range drastically in effect. Some deal attack damage to a single enemy, while others deal area-of-effect damage. Some shield you from harm for a turn, while others serve as powerful buffs or debuffs that persist from turn to turn. As you progress from one town to the next, you’ll have the opportunity to buy new riffs and even upgrade your existing ones into more powerful versions.

Whenever you play an attack-oriented riff, you’ll see the border surrounding Rob turn from orange to green. By pressing a key/button at the exact time Rob turns green, you’ll deal extra damage to the enemy, a la Paper Mario. Similarly, you can time incoming enemy attacks to significantly reduce the damage taken — perfect for turns when you find yourself without enough shield to cover an attack.

As you battle, you’ll also accumulate “Crescendo,” which, once maxed out, allows you to activate a powerful (and often lethal) super move. While most RPGs would settle for a flashy attack animation, Fretless goes the extra mile, turning these moments into a Guitar Hero-inspired mini-game. The more notes you tap correctly and in time, the more damage your super attack will deal. A similar phenomenon occurs during the game’s many boss battles, with Rob tapping to the beat to avoid incoming super attacks.

Avant-Garde Gaming

It sounds like a lot to juggle, but Fretless – The Wrath of Riffson makes it effortless. Before long, I was experimenting with various riffs, finding effective combo lines, and exacting great pain upon my enemies. It helps that Fretless offers a bevy of customization options — including four distinct instruments (i.e., decks), countless modifications (i.e., passive abilities) you can equip to each instrument, and various amps that offer deck-agnostic boosts to your character (e.g., increased health).

If I have an issue with the combat — and it’s a big one — it’s balancing. The game becomes shockingly easy just a few hours in, and never really offers much of a challenge thereafter. Unlike Slay the Spire, which consistently ramps up the difficulty thanks to its roguelike structure, Fretless has a preset difficulty that always feels undertuned. There is no XP, which thankfully means no need to level grind; however, that also means enemies don’t scale up over time, allowing battles to become trivial once you have an effective deck. 

This creates another issue: Because it’s easy to hone a strong strategy early on, there’s very little reason or incentive to switch between instruments. With the exception of one area, which necessitated the use of debuffs to progress, I stuck with my initial weapon — an acoustic guitar — for most of the game. It was only toward the end that I decided to switch things up, and even then, it was only out of curiosity rather than necessity.

Exacerbating these issues is the game’s ending. In most RPGs, I’ve come to expect a healthy post-game in which players can explore side areas, fight optional bosses, and otherwise test themselves beyond the parameters of the main campaign. Given how easy most of Riffson ended up being, I held out hope that the game would surprise me in its final act.

Unfortunately, not only is there not an endgame, but the actual ending is tragically short-lived. I won’t spoil specifics, but the game’s story wraps without much in the way of resolving action. Once you fight the big baddie and finish your adventure, things cut unceremoniously to the end credits. It isn’t a huge loss (especially given how one-note the rest of the story is), but I would have loved a little more time to spend in Rob’s world nonetheless.

Pitchy Notes

While Fretless’s cromulent story and easy difficulty are certainly critiques of mine, they’re small potatoes compared to my biggest issue: a lack of polish. While the game runs fine from a performance perspective, I encountered a litany of issues that slowly but surely chipped away at my overall experience.

Here’s just a small sample of what I noticed during my playthrough:

• Pixelated textboxes (as if all the dialogue were zoomed-in PNG images)
• Repeated typos (“eneimes” instead of enemies, among many others)
• Animations that didn’t show up (e.g., Rob’s acoustic super move)
• Lingering visual artifacts near the bottom of the screen
• Sounds that didn’t play properly
• Objects I could walk through in the environment (a crate, an amp, etc.)
• Lack of a selector for the “yes/no” UI pop-up (at least on Steam Deck, which I used to review)
• Missing letters in the end credits (kind of a big one!)

Those were the technical bugs, but there were some design oddities as well. The game offers a handy map screen, allowing you to warp back to previously visited locations; however, NPC behavior doesn’t change over the course of your adventure, giving little reason to backtrack unless I needed something from a specific shop. In one case, I received a call on Rob’s cell phone, only to return home to converse with a certain character and find his dialogue hadn’t changed at all since I left many hours ago.

In isolation, these issues are forgivable, if not understandable. This is a smaller-scale game, after all, and I never expect perfect QA from a non-AAA title. That said… after seeing the game’s credits, I couldn’t help but notice just how many people worked on this game — including testers. These issues are hopefully fixable, but it’s a wonder how so many of them made their way into the final product.

Final Thoughts

Fretless – The Wrath of Riffson is a terrific game in concept, but one that’s held back from greatness in reality. Its combat is thrilling, pulling from classics like Slay the Spire, Paper Mario, and Guitar Hero. Its story, though formulaic, is an enjoyable romp that goes down smooth. There’s a lot to like here, even with such a short run-time.

But I can’t help but wonder, “What if?” What if the game had launched without so many bugs? What if it had offered a bit more side content, or dialed up the difficulty when it mattered most? Those are questions I’m sadly not sure I’ll get the answers to (short of a post-release patch or DLC expansion).

Still, what’s here is genuine fun, especially at its more-than-reasonable $15 price tag. If you’re a fan of deckbuilders or classic RPGs, I certainly recommend giving Fretless a play. Just don’t expect a pitch-perfect performance.

Score: 7.9/10

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Fretless – The Wrath of Riffson, developed by Ritual Studios and published by Playdigious Originals, released on July 17, 2025, for PC (via Steam). MSRP: $14.99. Reviewed via Steam Deck.

Disclaimer: A review copy was provided by the publisher.