Electronic Super Joy: Groove City

I put Groove City on expecting a quick curiosity and finished the session white-knuckling a controller, replaying the same ten-second stretch of level for the thirtieth time. That is, predictably, the intended experience. Michael Todd's mini-sequel to the original Electronic Super Joy strips back the move set from its predecessor - no butt stomp, no double jump, no air abilities - and builds its fifteen levels entirely around a single run-and-jump loop that demands timing so precise it flirts with cruelty. The silhouetted player character and black-outlined enemies move against backdrops of throbbing, shifting neon colour, the whole thing pulsing in loose sync with an EDM soundtrack composed by enV. Visually it reads as simple; experientially it puts you somewhere close to a trance. The level design is clever in ways that only reveal themselves when you start caring about score. Collecting stars feels safe until you realise the black ones each spawn a homing missile behind you, turning a clean run into a survival dash. Hidden areas are tucked behind what look like certain-death jumps off the screen edge, rewarding the paranoid and the curious with extra stars and harder challenges. End-of-level grades account for time, death count, and secrets found, which is where the replay hook lives. A post-launch update added Steam ghost records from friends on the same level, and that small competitive layer quietly extends the value of an already replayable game. Frequent checkpoints keep the frustration on the right side of the line - you are always close to progress, just not always capable of it yet. The adult humour is the game's most polarising design choice. Checkpoint sounds are, by default, what can only be described as enthusiastic. NPC text bubbles deliver low-effort innuendo. Pope Boris the Super Sexy says things about his sceptre. A PG mode exists and turns most of it off, leaving a cleaner mechanical experience underneath. Whether the raunchy shell entertains or irritates is genuinely personal; the platforming does not need it to work, and the platforming does work. What does not entirely work is the overuse of homing missiles in the back half - a complaint shared by most reviewers and easy to sympathise with. Some late-game sections feel less like precision challenges and more like attrition tests against missile density. For context: veterans can finish this in under two hours, and a determined speedrunner can clear it in minutes. Coming in from the original Electronic Super Joy you may also feel the reduced scope - fifteen levels versus the original's forty-plus. But Groove City is priced and positioned as a standalone mini-sequel, and within that honest framing it delivers a polished, tight, and genuinely pleasurable loop. Steam users land at around eighty percent positive across over two hundred and fifty reviews, which for a niche precision platformer is a fair signal. If you have any tolerance for the masocore rhythm and love a soundtrack that sounds expensive, this one earns its place.

Kai · Scout Team

Indie & narrative

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