Spoilers for Hi-Fi Rush ahead.Underneath its humor and corny dialogue, Hi-Fi Rush is, at its core, a story about a bunch of rejects rebelling against a corrupt company. Chai and his allies have all been wronged by Kale Vandelay in one way or another, and it's up to them to set things right by exposing Kale's nefarious plan to the entire world. In lieu of a stealthy approach, Chai's newfound powers and brashness have the whole team diving headfirst into trouble with their weapons at the ready, all the way to Hi-Fi Rush's endgame.
While it isn't the ideal way to fight a company with thousands of employees, this method gives Hi-Fi Rush an excuse to flex its rhythm-based combat. Player mix light and heavy attacks with grapples, partner attacks, and special attacks while timing their button inputs to the game's soundtrack. Should they prove successful, they can take out multiple Vandelay robots with a couple of well-times moves, But despite its colorful and vibrant aesthetic, Hi-Fi Rush can be exceptionally brutal when it comes to dealing with human enemies.
Vandelay Robots Help Justify The Violence in Hi-Fi Rush
Hi-Fi Rush's combat pits players primarily against different types of Kale Vandelay's robots. These range from simple close and long-range variants to more specialized foes like the SEN-C0, which can shield its allies by plopping down an umbrella-like gadget in the middle of the battlefield. Players may have to employ different attacks to defeat Hi-Fi Rush's special enemies, but all of the robots end up dying in more or less the same way: with large explosions followed by a small shower of robot parts and Gears (the game's currency).
By making the majority of its enemies robots, Hi-Fi Rush's combat sidesteps some of the more mature elements found in other action games. Robot parts can be ripped, exploded, and otherwise torn to pieces on screen without censoring the violence or showing any gore. It fits the game's aesthetic better than fighting human enemies and helps paint Chai as a more morally-justified character who only destroys robots and not other living beings.
Hi-FI Rush's Bosses Aren't Safe From Chai's Wrath Either
Of course, the idea that fighting robots would make Chai a paragon of righteousness can only work if he exclusively fought and destroyed robots. Unfortunately, Hi-Fi Rush's big bosses aren't safe from the guitar-wielding rebel either. Chai hits them just as hard (if not harder) as he does their robotic underlings, so much so that they end up either exploding or dying from likewise horrible fates. Rekka, Zanzo, Mimosa, and Kale himself are hit so hard by Chai's guitar that they either explode or become unable to make subsequent appearances for the rest of the game.
The only two bosses that manage to survive an encounter with Chai's guitar are Korsica and Roquefort. Korsica survives because Chai has to pull his punches and talk to her through Hi-Fi Rush's dialogue to get her to tell him a password. This in turn leads the red-haired Head of Security at Vandelay University to abandon her post and join up with Chai, Macaron, Peppermint, and CNMN. Roquefort is a different story. Because of his Hulk-like ability to get stronger whenever he gets angry, he meets his fate at the hands of his dearest ally: money. While fighting Chai in the Vandelay vault, a transformed Roquefort gets buried underneath a mountain of gold and coins. This avalanche leads to the boss's apparent death, as he is never shown surviving the encounter afterward.
Hi-Fi Rush may be cartoony on the outside, but its human-on-human violence paints a rather grim picture of finality. This is most jarring in the case of Kale, as his familial relationship with Peppermint and Roxanne Vandelay is one of the cruxes of the game's story. But because the game is filled to the brim with bright colors, a vibrant soundtrack, and cartoony animations, one may not delve too deep into how Hi-Fi Rush kills off its bosses.
Hi-Fi Rush is available for PC and Xbox Series X/S.