If you watched this week’s Nintendo Direct right from the very start, you will have seen a whopping two-minute-fifty-five-second trailer for next month’s first-party offering, Rhythm Heaven Groove. We’re rapidly closing in on that 2nd July release date, and today, the first previews have appeared online.
A bunch of outlets (including us) have had hands-on time with the long-awaited return of the rhythm series, so we can start to gauge what it has in store for us.
Here at Nintendo Life, we admitted that Groove is little more than more Rhythm Heaven, but that’s no bad thing. Here’s a snippet of our early thoughts, followed by the full preview:
There’s something oddly intoxicating about the sound design and visuals, coupled with the primal feel-good sensations that come from successfully adhering to a rhythm.
But what do other outlets have to say, eh? Below, we’ve rounded up a handful of them, so you can get an idea of the early consensus at a glance.
Over at Game Informer, the preview was optimistic about pretty much everything Groove has to offer:
I’m excited to see how the single-player offerings play out as you get deeper into them, and I look forward to busting this game out at future friend gatherings.
Pocket Tactics shared much of the same love, even to the new RPG ‘Beatspell’ mode — which, it admits, feels a little out of place despite its quality.
It wasn’t the most cohesive and did feel like I was playing a mostly separate game, but I like the ambition of it, and think that longtime fans of the series need crumbs of something else to chew on.
TechRadar‘s preview said that Groove is “on track to become my favourite Nintendo Switch release of 2026”. High praise indeed!
I can already see myself nipping back into its incredibly moreish beat-based minigames whenever I have a spare few minutes once it’s out.
The multiplayer mode got a particular shoutout in Metro‘s early thoughts:
Rhythm Paradise Groove is perhaps too low-key to ever be considered a Nintendo heavyweight, but for those clamouring for a light-hearted, cheap, absurdist cleanser to roll out at parties, this is shaping up to be a boon for the Switch’s multiplayer arsenal.
And finally, PC Mag praised the Beatspell mode’s uniqueness, hoping it’s enough to mix up the gameplay in the long run:
Since this was all rhythm-based, making those input choices in the moment while staying on beat felt like freestyling, a nice bit of creativity in a game otherwise about precisely following instructions.
So, just a small taste of the early impressions, but they seem rather positive! We’ll see what the full release holds when Rhythm Heaven Groove launches on Switch next month.