One of the most popular free rhythm games

Osu! is a free music video game wherein you have to tap, slide, and hold to the rhythm of the song in order to win a high score. Originally created by Dean “peppy” Herbert, this 2D rhythm game features classic and dynamic music gameplay mechanics—being heavily community-oriented with fanmade songs and beatmaps that you can easily download.

Similar to games like StepMania, DJMax, DEEMO, and Cytus, Osu! offers songs from different genres, as well as different difficulty levels to challenge players in earning high scores and perfect runs. This game is available on both PC, mobile, and other gaming consoles.

Is OSU a free game?

Heavily inspired by other rhythm games such as Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan, O2Jam, and Elite Beat Agents, Osu! Is a free-to-play title that uses three basic gameplay mechanics: tapping hit circles, following the sliding of a ball on sliders, and spinning a circle within a large button as fast as you can. The goal is simple as you just have to do these mechanics in time to the beat of the song and the slowly shrinking circles on the buttons. 

The interface is easy to follow during gameplay since there are visual cues you can follow such as the numbers on the buttons indicating the order in which you should tap them. The screen will also display UI elements like a health bar, your total score, accuracy, the timer, and the score multiplier. There are four game modes available: osu! or what’s unofficially called “osu!standard”, osu!taiko, osu!catch, and osu!mania. 

The first one is simply the normal gameplay, with dynamic placements of the three mechanics to challenge your reflexes. The second is a special version of the rhythm game, Taiko no Tatsujin. The third is a mode that lets you catch fruits to the beat of the music instead of tapping circles. Lastly, osu!mania’s gameplay is similar to Beatmania by default—although you can customize the keys and orientation of the playfield. 

Is OSU good for your brain?

What’s amazing about Osu! is that it’s highly popular due to its active online player base and the sheer amount of song selections available. This is all thanks to its competitive leaderboard, the option to play either Solo or Multi rounds with other players, and the innovative in-game editor. This makes the game heavily centered around its community fanbase, especially with the beatmap designers who create their own versions of levels for their chosen songs. 

Not only that but you can even customize your experience further by activating in-game mods that decrease or increase the difficulty. However, this game’s most promising feature is its status as a player aid for cursor aim. Osu! is actually recognized as a helpful game recommended by professional gamers for warm-up practices since it primarily uses mouse controls. The only major issue to be found is that it doesn’t have direct access to its song database without the premium osu!direct feature.

Groove to the beat

All in all, Osu! is a popular music game for a good reason. It’s highly customizable and offers tons of content—all provided by its dedicated fanbase. It has various different game modes and even allows you to apply handicaps or score boosters via the in-game mod feature. While you can’t even browse or search for songs through it unless you purchased the premium service, the official website is easy enough to visit. 

Osu! is a rhythm game based on the gameplay of the Nintendo DS series Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan! and its overseas counterpart Elite Beat Agents. With a fully functional in-built editor and a quickly growing library of beatmaps, there is definitely enjoyment waiting for both players and composers.

See what this game has to offer:

• Rank system improved
• Ability to review and replay achieved scores. (Click them on the song selection screen)
• Ability to insert breaks in edit mode (automatically detects silence between 2 far-away notes).
• Skip button added in play mode! Jumps to 4 beats before the first note.
• Pause button added in play mode! (hit Escape in-game)
• New graphic changes include ouendan-style feedback for spinners and a rotating ball for sliders.
• Song list improved. Unplayed songs now appear as green
• Tick rate option added for sliders in “TIMING” section of editor.
• New background features in design mode!
• Major amendments to make the game’s scoring and systematics to make it feel a lot closer to Ouendan.