There's a very long GDC talk here about locomotion and beat recognition lol! Long story short, we hope to do a short guide for new players that highlights all the mechanisms we're actually using to show the beat to the player. Its EVERYWHERE when you know what to look for (HUD, Enviro, Props/Decorators, Blastwave, Floorcubes, Texture Impulse, Gun distortion, Enemy brightness/distortion, floor rings distortion and a few other things
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The bottom line though; no matter what we do in the game to indicate rhythm, there is no "line-in-the-sand" here like other beat games and that requires some mental re-calibration. Survival/Lizard brain is real thing and most players don't clue into rhythm cues until they are past that "oh s*it I'm being shot at!" skill ceiling. Some people understand it instantly, some need time to level up to that. This is also why we don't even talk about rhythm in the tutorial (playtesters hated it and focused on things in the wrong order of importance).
Understand survival first, beat/rhythm second Both accuracy (center mass) and rhythm (how close to respective beats) are scored and accounted for, so it really comes down to player style.
It is also something we have plans to refine over time, so I'm sure this will be an ongoing conversation