Harmonix’s Chroma wants to make the term ‘killer riffs’ literal

The Ministry of Sound have apparently armed themselves.

Okay, I’m going to do my best to describe this terrifically strange sounding game that Harmonix has just announced. It’s called Chroma, and it’s a first-person, multiplayer arena shooter. That part is easy to cope with. Are we all happy with that? Great.

It’ll also be free to play, which can be a bit rubbish but Harmonix claims the only microtransactions present will be for cosmetic stuff. So hopefully that’s okay too.

Now the fascinating and strange parts. In Chroma, music is intertwined with the traditional aspects of a shooter. Capturing points on the map, firing your weapon, all of that will generate music. The very maps themselves will morph and alter with the music. Sometimes, in order to fire your weapon at all you’ll need to partake in a mini rhythm game. If you jump on the down-beats of the music, you’ll leap higher and further.

Right now, that makes Chroma sound extremely demanding and complicated, but also potentially hilarious and great.

You can sign up for the alpha, over here. Here’s a trailer, which isn’t all that revealing.