Jazz. Odds are you're either a fan of the music genre or dislike it. The same can be said of all things really but when it comes to jazz, improvisation, rhythm, experimentation, and freedom are all key. Which brings us to Ape Out, a top down Hotline Miami-style action game where you take control of an ape. Where the procedural jazz soundtrack compliments the frantic action and rush to freedom in a way that feels off-time, off-key, and brilliant.

Digging a little deeper though and Ape Out, when viewed as a whole, is as much an interactive jazz experience as it is an action game. Probably more so. In fact, that’s exactly what it is. A series of records where rhythm underpins the on-screen carnage, where bursts of violence and general momentum act as the instrumentation and improvisation that sits on top of the intricate rhythmic and frantic drum score. A saxophone solo here, one involving a guard strapped with grenades hurled towards another aiming their gun to have them both explode. A trumpet phrase over there, represented as a sneak attack on a patrolling human, pushing them into a nearby wall. Splat and cymbal crash.

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