Crown & Applause

ROYAL ENTERTAINER WANTED

Must be small, musical, and comfortable receiving feedback from a dragon.

Congratulations! You are the mouse jester in Crown & Applause, a narrative rhythm game with medieval bardcore music and a court that takes entertainment far too seriously. The King needs the people distracted, so they stop asking how the kingdom is actually run. You need to get through the next show.

YOUR DUTIES

Hit notes arriving from both sides as they meet in the center. Hold the long ones. Catch the simultaneous ones. Keep up as performances spread across three lanes. Pressure from the Crown above and the crowd below, closing in from every direction.

Good timing keeps your stage candles burning. Let them all go out, and your shift ends rather abruptly.

CUSTOMER FEEDBACK IS ENCOURAGED

Play well and the crowd cheers. Lose your rhythm and discover how many opinions fit into a village square. Some members of the audience have brought produce. Just don't get them clapping together without a herald. Around here, that counts as suspicious organization.

Offstage, meet the kingdom's inhabitants through conversations full of awkward loyalties, royal absurdity, and jokes that may have traveled further than you intended.

The conversations are skippable: pass on them, and you'll still finish the game. Play them, and you just might find extra endings when the curtain comes down. Not a rhythm player? Narrative mode makes the performances easy, so you can enjoy the story worry-free.

COMPENSATION AND BENEFITS

Performances earn coins. Spend them on cards and upgrades between songs: protect your Spotlight, make good hits more rewarding, or squeeze a little more money out of a strong combo. You can also save your coins for cheat codes and new Free Play songs.

Purchases influence your allegiance too. Apparently even shopping is political here.

A BRIEF QUESTION OF LOYALTY

The jester has always been the one person in the room allowed to say what no one else can, because everyone assumes they're harmless.

Will you flatter the Crown, side with the Crowd, or look after Yourself? Your dialogue choices and purchases steer the story toward different endings.

Try another path, revisit unlocked performances in Free Play, and give your personal best a suitably theatrical beating.

The position remains open. Please bring your sense of rhythm.

STREAMER SAFE

Every song in the base game is original and owned by us. Perform in front of your audience without fear of the black knights of DMCA. (Custom songs you import are your own responsibility. We cannot save you from the pillory.)

FEATURES

• Two-sided rhythm: Hit notes arriving from both sides across up to three lanes, with sustained notes and simultaneous hits to master.
• Medieval bardcore: Perform to a soundtrack of lutes, hurdy-gurdies, and folk instruments.
• Player-created content: Add your own songs to the court's repertoire and create custom charts with the charting tool.
• Keep the Spotlight alive: Accurate hits keep your stage candles burning. Lose the last flame, and the performance ends.
• Reactive crowds: Win applause with a strong performance, or face heckles and tomatoes when your timing slips.
• Cards and upgrades: Spend your hard-earned coins between songs on cards that protect your Spotlight or boost your performance rewards.
• Branching allegiance: Dialogue choices and shop purchases draw you toward the Crown, the Crowd, or Yourself, shaping which ending awaits.
• Theatrical storytelling: Discover royal absurdity, political tension, and awkward loyalties through visual novel scenes between performances.
• Narrative mode: Not into rhythm games? Play through the story with easy performances and enjoy it worry-free.
• A colorful cast: Play a mouse jester among eccentric animal characters and a demanding Dragon King.
• Built for encores: Revisit unlocked performances in Free Play, improve your personal bests, climb the leaderboards, earn Steam Achievements, and take on Endless mode.