In Falsus Review: A Brutally Hard Rhythm Game Behind a Weak Story

In Falsus is the hardest thing Lowiro has ever shipped on PC — and the most frustrating game to recommend without a long list of caveats. This In Falsus review exists because the conversation around the game has split cleanly in two: rhythm players who adore its charts, and everyone else who keeps bouncing off a story they never asked for. If you are deciding whether to spend your money and, more importantly, your practice hours here, the answer depends almost entirely on which of those two camps you belong to.

In Falsus Review at a Glance

In Falsus is a hybrid of three things: a fast, unforgiving rhythm game, a visual novel, and a light puzzle element. It comes from Lowiro, the studio behind the mobile hit Arcaea, and it wears that lineage proudly — fast note streams, laser lanes floating above the playfield, and a control scheme that borrows heavily from Japanese arcade rhythm design.

It launched on Steam in 2026, and the studio has signaled plans for more music in the form of DLC packs. Here is the short version of our In Falsus review before we dig into the details:

The gap between those rows is the entire story of this game. The rhythm half is genuinely excellent. The wrapper around it is what keeps In Falsus from being an easy recommendation.

Gameplay: Six Keys, One Mouse, and a Brutal Skill Floor

This is where In Falsus earns its keep. The control scheme splits your hands aggressively, and it is the first thing you need to understand before buying.

Six buttons in one hand is more inputs than you have fingers, which means you need a keyboard layout you actually trust and a left hand that can spread across it without hesitation. Meanwhile your right hand is locked to the mouse for lasers and flicks, so there is no clean way to cheat your way through a hard chart.

The result is a surprisingly high skill floor. Even experienced rhythm players describe needing real adjustment time, and the charts do not ease you in gently. Once it clicks, though, it clicks hard — the loop of chasing a cleaner clear is genuinely addictive, and the visual feedback during dense sections is striking enough to keep you coming back.

If you have been waiting for a PC rhythm game that feels like an arcade cabinet rather than a port, this is the closest thing to it in a long while.

The Story Problem — and the Skip Button That Isn't a Skip

Here is the criticism you will see in almost every In Falsus review, and it is fair: the narrative is the weakest part of the package.

The writing reads like early-draft fan fiction. There is an interesting premise buried underneath — reviewers have noted that some story beats are genuinely compelling — but the execution is uneven, the pacing drags, and the payoff does not resolve much of what it sets up. If you came for a visual novel, this will not satisfy you.

The bigger issue is mechanical. Community reports on the Steam forums are blunt about it: the skip button speeds text up rather than skipping it, and it still forces you through whatever the game flags as an important beat. One widely read discussion thread, titled simply "I DON'T CARE ABOUT STORY," has players arguing about exactly this across nearly thirty replies.

The counterargument from other players is that the game was announced as a hybrid — a rhythm game crossed with an ADV-style visual novel — so the story is not a surprise. Both sides are talking past each other, but the practical complaint stands: a true skip function is standard in the genre, and it is missing here.

Why the Unlock Structure Makes It Worse

The skip debate matters more than it would in most games because of how progression works. According to player experience shared in the community, most songs unlock through the story rather than through free play. That means you cannot simply ignore the narrative and grind charts.

Players also report a handful of quality-of-life gaps alongside this: requests for a visual offset setting, complaints about high-polling-rate mice causing input issues, and at least one reported bug where the song unlock animation does not trigger. None of these are dealbreakers on their own. Together, they suggest a game that shipped with its rhythm core polished and its surrounding systems still catching up.

Music and Sound Design: The Reason People Stay

If there is one uncontested win in this In Falsus review, it is the soundtrack. Lowiro pulled in serious talent — Feryquitious, Camellia, TAK, and REDALiCE are among the composers involved, and veterans of the scene will recognize those names instantly.

The track list mixes originals with licensed material, and the range is wider than you might expect from a rhythm game. Upbeat pop sits next to deliberately strange, experimental cuts that lean into the genre's weirder instincts.

The presentation around the music holds up too. Note effects, lane visuals, and the laser lanes above the playfield all read clearly even at high speeds, which matters enormously once charts get dense. A rhythm game can have a great soundtrack and still be unreadable — In Falsus is not.

Who Should Buy In Falsus?

The honest answer is that this game is exceptional for a specific player and mediocre for everyone else. Use this table before you commit.

A few practical tips before you start:

• Remap your keys early. With six inputs on one hand, your default layout is almost certainly wrong. Spend your first session experimenting rather than fighting muscle memory later.
• Adjust your sensitivity and polling rate if inputs feel off. Community reports specifically flag high polling rate mice as a problem area.
• Budget for story time. If you want the full catalog, you are going to read — or fast-forward — your way there.
• Keep an eye on DLC. Lowiro has indicated more music is coming, so the value proposition should improve over time.

For more official details, specs, and current availability, see In Falsus on Steam, and for a second opinion on the rhythm gameplay, PC Gamer's hands-on feature on In Falsus is worth reading.

FAQ

Is In Falsus a rhythm game or a visual novel?

It is both, plus a light puzzle layer. The rhythm game is the main draw and the most polished part; the visual novel sections exist to frame it and unlock content. If you want only one of those two things, be aware that you are getting both whether you like it or not.

Do you have to play the story to unlock songs?

According to community reports, yes — most of the catalog is tied to story progression. Free Play exists, but the available song pool stays limited until you work through the narrative. That is the single biggest structural complaint in this In Falsus review.

Is there a real skip button?

No. The skip function fast-forwards text rather than bypassing scenes entirely, and it still stops on story beats the game considers important. Players have requested a true skip repeatedly, and so far it has not been added.

Is In Falsus worth it for a beginner?

Probably not as a first rhythm game. The six-key-plus-mouse layout and high skill floor make it punishing to learn. If you are curious anyway, try the demo before buying, and expect a real adjustment period before the controls feel natural.

The Bottom Line

In Falsus is a great rhythm game trapped inside a mediocre visual novel. The charts are fast, precise, and satisfying; the soundtrack is genuinely excellent; and the visual presentation makes dense play feel readable. But the story gating, the fast-forward-instead-of-skip problem, and the missing quality-of-life features mean you have to want the rhythm half badly enough to tolerate the rest.

If you do, this is one of the best PC rhythm games available right now — and with DLC on the way, it is only going to get bigger. If you do not, wait. The charts will still be there when the skip button finally works the way it should.