GRAB YOUR EXPLORER AND LETS GO!

In Hi-Fi RUSH, the levels you play through are called tracks, and while fighting does make up a good chunk their gameplay, they also have their fair share of exploration and platforming. Almost every track has exploration segments between the fights (which are called choruses). These are mostly made up of walking (or rhythm dodging (which is dodging on the beat), if you want to get around quickly (you can add a light attack at the end of a chain of dodges, then immediately get into another chain to go even faster) and platforming. During these, you can talk to NPCs and find collectables.

There are twelve tracks total, with two of them being dedicated to boss fights specifically. They are as follows:

The different tracks are dedicated to different sections of Vandelay and the people that run those sections. Most of them get two tracks dedicated to them and their specific zone; the only ones who don't are Roquefort (with the lowest amount at just one track) and Korsica (with the highest at three). Only two of them have one of their tracks dedicated to their boss fight specifically, those being Mimosa and Kale.

Most of them end with some kind of boss fight, which can take the form of a fight against one of the heads, multiple waves of enemies with increasing difficulty, or, in the case of track 4, a race to escape. Throughout a few of them, you are tasked with doing specific things in order to progress, whilst in others you simply have to follow the many bright, glowing arrows to keep moving forward.

Speaking of moving forward, there will be times that, in order to do so, you have to call in your partners for help. There are three that you get throughout the game, and they each have their own unique skills, both in and out of combat. I'll only be discussing their abilities in the former here; if you'd like to learn about what they do in combat, check out the page for it! Also, to avoid spoilers, I'm not going to refer to any of them by name.
The first partner can shoot far away switches, activating different mechanisms to help you progress. They can also shoot other things, such as the drones that carry monitors all throughout Vandelay. Though shooting those specifically doesn't help you progress, it's useful in its own way. They can break any electric barriers that may get in your way, as well. To do so, all you have to do is aim at your target, then let go of the partner button to shoot.

The second partner can punch through certain walls and doors, which is obvious in its usefulness. There's a minigame that accompanies this, in which you have to release the partner button when the circles line up. Much like most everything in the game, this is on beat, so if you're in-time, you don't even really need to use the circles for reference.

The third partner can temporarily disable fire gates by blowing the flames out, allowing you to safely pass through. They can also overheat generators, which causes the machinery to malfunction, providing you with platforms to get to where you need to go. Much like how the fire gates are only temporarily disabled, these generators only stay overheated for so long, meaning you can't dilly dally after you've done so. Like partner two, partner three's abilities come with a minigame! It's the same for both; after you line up the reticles, a circle will appear with marks in it that indicate when you need to hit the partner button.

One of the NPCs you can talk to is named VA-SF07, though everyone calls them Smidge. They're an overly friendly smart fridge who you can talk to to learn more about the game's mechanics. They appear not long after tutorials, and provide advice and extra information about whatever you were just taught about. Being a fridge, they have energy drinks (which is what the health pick-ups are) stored inside themself, and will give them to you after you talk to them, though they don't do this for every mechanic.

There's a particular duo of NPCs you can encounter in almost every track. Their names are SEB-AAA and JSF-001. They work in HR, and can be found discussing matters related to it. Or, at least, sort of related. These two are a reference to the Evil Within, another game made by Tango Gameworks, and are based off of Sebastian Castellanos and Joseph Oda.

In tracks 2, 5, and 8, there's one NPC for each that you can talk to that gives you a side-mission. Once you complete the mission, they'll reward you with a collectable.

  • In track 2, a SCR-UB asks you to shoot at the three flocks of pigeons in the area. There's one on some boxes nearby, one on some pipes further away, and one on a metal beam far away.
  • In track 5, the TEC-78 you speak to early on asks you to find and collect his schematics, which are stored in packages held by drones.
    Click here to see all the drone locations!
    • After the TEC-78 finishes talking to you, go right. There's a platform you can drop down onto that leads to a bunch of circular platforms that are moving around the center pillar. Use them to make your way down to the platform to the left; the drone is floating right in front of the door there.
    • In the circular area with the elevator in the center, you can climb to the catwalks above by jumping on a server. Once up there, make your way over to the catwalk on the far left side.
    • When you enter the room that leads to node two, go right; jump onto the servers and then onto the balcony above. Do the breakdown combo to open the door, then look up and to the left.
    • After you finish activating node two, before you use the jump pad to get back up, jump onto the boxes to the right of it and then up onto the glass bit above. The drone is to the left.
    • Once you make your way up the moving platforms that lead to node one, turn around. There's a magnet you can grapple to. Then, jump across the gap to get to the drone.
    • After the fight against the SES-103, GNR-020, and SBR-001, go past the button and down the path that leads to a Z-shielded door. The drone is behind that door, on the upper right side of the room.
    • After the fight against the SES-103s, SBR-001s, and the WA-ES-2, go left, up the sliding platforms, through the door, down the little hall, and then to the left. It's floating next to the locked door.
    • Once you get past the first set of lasers in the vent, jump up to the left, and then go all the way up into the little office space. It's floating just behind SEB-AAA.
    • It's floating on the right side behind node three.
    • After the fight outside of node three's room, jump onto the moving platforms on the left side of the elevator (facing away from the door). Use them to get to the next platform. From there, walk over to the narrow bit; to the right is the drone.
  • In track 8, a SCR-UB asks you to find a golden soda can, which is in one of the trash cans in that area. It's always down in the one behind the VA-SER that's struggling to pick a can up off of the ground, right next to the big globe.

As you explore the tracks and pick up collectables and gears (the game's currency), you'll also occassionally find batteries. There's three kinds, but the most interesting is the very large ones. Upon picking these up, you hold onto them until you use them, but you can only have one at a time and you lose it upon beating a track. Using these gives you two full bars/gauges of reverb!

NPCs to talk to, collectables, gears, and batteries aren't the only things you'll find, though. There are vending machines and golden busts of Kale that you can whale on and break. Doing so rewards you with gears. Some of the vending machines can also give you health and batteries. What they give you partly depends on the difficulty you're playing on, though some will always give you health and batteries regardless.

Keen-eyed explorers may also spot Tango-Chan! They're a small, snail-esque, black creature with a large, green circle on their "shell." They appear in almost every track, and can be found doing numerous different activites, such as bouncing a ball against a wall or dancing. They can't be interacted with, but it's fun to keep an eye out for them! They were Tango Gameworks' mascot.

In-between some of the tracks, you return to the hideout, which is your base of operations. You also get sent there if you back out to the menu, then go back into your save. Whilst there, you can chat with the other characters and buy a variety of things (which you can learn about on the shopping page). Backing out in the middle of many of the tracks, then going back in activates unique dialogue from the characters, most of which is rather meta. As for what else you can do in the hideout, you can access the Wall of Fame; the training room, where you can practice combos and test out special attacks; the post-game content; and you can view all of the vlogs and graffiti you've collected!

It's important to note that the hideout isn't the only place where you can purchase things! Throughout the tracks, you'll encounter shops every once in a while, which are called Level Up Machines. These are the exact same as the main shop in the hideout, they're just an on-the-go version, essentially.

Chips are one of the things you can buy, and I mention them because once bought and equipped, they give you different passive skills. Most of them only really affect combat, but some of them do have an affect on the general gameplay. They range from making your rhythm dodge be able to pull in items from further away, to increasing the amount of gears you get.

If you're playing the game on Steam, if you've ever pressed shift + tab to activate the steam overlay, you may have noticed that you had a custom status message that fit the track you were currently in. There's one for every track (some even have multiple), alongside a few for other areas of the game, but I'm only going to list the track-related ones here (and the one for the hideout).