Review: Aaero

Aaero is one of those indie games that completely took me by surprise. I always joke that it feels like the “OSU 3D” we never knew we needed. It’s not just a rhythm game, and it’s not just a shooter either. It’s a fusion of music and mechanics that somehow works so well, even years after its release.

In Aaero, you guide a small ship through glowing ribbons of light that pulse to the beat of electronic music. As someone who loves rhythm games, the concept was already appealing, but it was the execution that really blew me away. The way the game syncs every movement, every shot, every enemy spawn to the beat of the music feels so immersive. When I first played it, I ended up spending hours just trying to perfect a single track. It’s that addictive.

The soundtrack is a mix of dubstep, drum and bass, and other high-energy electronic genres. Every track is intense, and the level design adapts to match the feel of the music. The moment a drop hits and enemies flood the screen in perfect sync, you know you’re in for a ride. That said, my biggest complaint—and probably the only serious one—is the limited song selection. Compared to games like OSU that offer an almost endless catalog, Aaero feels small. After you’ve played through everything a few times, it starts feeling repetitive. That’s when I started wishing for more DLCs or even some community content tools.

It’s a bit of a shame because the gameplay is so strong that it deserves a bigger spotlight. I honestly believe that if Aaero had a community editor like OSU, it would’ve become a cult classic with a much longer lifespan. The mechanics are solid, the design is clean and stylish, and it runs beautifully even on low-end hardware. But with no mod support, no online leaderboards with social features, and no way to share content, it ends up feeling more isolated than it should.

One of the aspects I love most is how intuitive the gameplay feels once you get into it. At first, it’s a bit of a learning curve—you’re trying to follow the ribbon, aim and shoot enemies, dodge obstacles, and stay on the beat. But the game doesn’t overwhelm you. It introduces concepts gradually and keeps the difficulty curve smooth enough that it never feels unfair. Mastering each track becomes a rewarding challenge. There’s always that feeling of “just one more try,” especially when you’re a few hundred points away from hitting an S-rank.

And speaking of rankings, Aaero does a great job of encouraging replayability. The global leaderboards give you just enough of a competitive edge, and even though it lacks deeper community integration, you still feel the drive to improve and beat your previous scores. It’s a game that quietly pushes you to get better without nagging you about it. Every miss teaches you something. Every perfect run gives you a rush that makes you want to jump right into the next track.

Visually, Aaero is a feast of minimalist brilliance. The environments aren’t over-the-top detailed, but they don’t need to be. The focus is clearly on rhythm and reaction, and the game supports that by giving you clean, smooth visuals that pulse with the music. From dusty desert landscapes to abstract cosmic battlefields, each level feels unique without distracting from the core gameplay. The camera movements are fluid and cinematic, especially during boss fights, adding to the sense that you’re not just playing a level—you’re performing it.

What also impressed me was the performance. I’ve run this game on different machines—desktop, laptop, even on handhelds—and it always performs like a champ. The file size is small, loading times are almost nonexistent, and it doesn’t demand a super powerful system to run smoothly. For an indie title made by such a small team, this level of polish is something I deeply respect.

Now let’s talk about the developers. Mad Fellows is a tiny studio with a big heart. You can tell they poured everything they had into making this game special. There’s a level of attention and care here that you don’t often see anymore. And that’s why I want this game to succeed even more. They nailed the hard part—making something unique and enjoyable—but they need more reach, more resources, more tools to expand what they’ve built.