Key Cascade

Key Cascade is a music and rhythm game built on one simple idea: the falling keys are the melody. Black keys slide down four columns, five on a wide screen, towards a glowing line, and every time you tap a column as its key crosses the line the game plays the next note of the tune. Hit them all and you hear the whole song, with bass, pads and drums playing along. Long keys ask you to hold the note, linked double keys ask for two columns at once, and a miss simply lets the key slide past with a soft thud and resets your combo. A song never stops early.

There are twenty-four original songs in four styles: slow lullabies to relax with, bouncy pop, neon synthwave and fast orchestral pieces, each style a little quicker and busier than the last. Every song has its own tempo, a chart shaped from its melody, a par score and a best score saved in your browser, and earns up to three stars from the score. Songs are quick, about a minute each, and First Steps teaches the keys in half a minute. When you want more, Cascade is the endless mode: the tempo rises every sixteen bars, the style changes as it goes and your high score is kept.

Play with D F J K (Space is the middle column when there are five), the number keys or the arrows, or tap the columns on a phone or tablet, each one wide enough for a thumb. A beat pulse on the line, moving bar lines and a little metronome that nods on every beat keep the game fully playable with the sound off, and a short tap-along calibration remembers the delay of your device. P pauses and M mutes.