Do you like battling giant mechs but wish there was a less violent alternative? Steel Century Groove aims to give you that alternative by having giant mechs move their steel bodies in different ways. No, not in those ways. These towering machines throw down in the form of dance battles, grooving to funky beats. They’ll shake, strut, and generally cause a wreck in the location where the battle takes place.
Steel Century Groove is a rhythm RPG. Players pilot giant mechs called Tenzerks in deep rhythmic combat. Developed and published by Sloth Gloss Games, the game was released on January 28th, 2026. Steel Century Groove is not your typical rhythm game, as Tenzerks have their own unique abilities and combat tricks. Players will need to keep track of more than just the beat in order to continue on their journey to the ultimate dance championship. Players can boogie to the 20+ songs in the game, or add their own custom music.
The game is simple, but effective in what it aims to do. With the inclusion of strategy and planning, it becomes more than just a rhythm game. I enjoyed the game’s structure and was initially intrigued by the different Tenzerks. Gameplay did start to feel a bit repetitive after some time, but I think that’s just the unfortunate curse for most rhythm games. It could polish a few things, but it still offers plenty of fun and hits its intended mark. So, get ready to groove, because it’s time to discuss Steel Century Groove!
A Pilot’s Adventure
Steel Century Groove actually follows a very similar structure to that of a classic Pokémon game. Players receive a Tenzerk from the professor and head out on an adventure, defeating the four principal pilots to gain entry to the First Pilot Finals, and then to take on the pros in the championship battles. Players travel with their friend, Seny, the professor’s daughter, Chanda, and occasionally run into their rival, Gigi. During your travels, you will obtain new Tenzerks, gather plenty of items such as mods and simchips, and learn more about the game’s story. You will run into those who don’t have the best intentions, into the powerful thought-to-be-extinct Novox, and save the world from disastrous outcomes. It’s a simple story, but one that I believe is effective. I wouldn’t say that it completely had me hooked, but serves as a decent background for why we’re doing all this dancing.
One thing that I found pleasantly surprising was the writing itself. There are moments that I found it to be genuinely humorous and had a good chuckle. After each dance battle, players select something to post on the in-game social media platform called Rhymery. The amount of fans you gain from your postings will unlock new dance moves for your mechs to do. A decent bit of these potential posts and some of the comments made I found funny and akin to what I might actually see on my own social media. The humor is well done and a pleasant surprise, as I was expecting a lot more cringe. I greatly appreciate the few laughs I’ve had along the way as it helped keep my attention to the story.
Inclusive and Customizable…to an Extent
Another aspect to the writing that I enjoyed was it’s inclusion of many LGBTQIA+ themes. Players are not trapped by the binary of he or she, and can instead use they/them pronouns if they wish, including variations such as he/they or she/they. Every NPC has their pronouns next to their name as well which was a nice touch. There are mentions of different romances, including the not so secret romance between the professor and Seny’s uncle, as well as various small mentions from other NPCs. As a gay male myself, I greatly appreciate simple inclusions like these and consider this a huge positive. Though I myself identify with he/him pronouns, it is still a nice consideration by Sloth Gloss Games.
Steel Century Groove is customizable in a few ways. Players can choose different Tenzerks to use with their own sets of abilities, as well as including adding custom songs to the playlist. These I will discuss a bit later in the review. For this section, I want to talk character customization. There are many different body shapes to choose from with decent customization. There are plenty of hairs and a few facial features options such as eyes. Players can also change the difficulty in these screens, ranging from easy to very hard.
However, the one thing I thought was lacking here was clothing options. Players can only change the color of the outfit, rather than the outfit itself. We end up looking more like an NPC than the NPCs themselves, as most of them have unique outfits and accessories. It feels like an odd choice to not have different outfits and accessories for players to wear. This could even be something simple like different tops and pants. In the end though, it isn’t the biggest issue.
Groovin’ to the Music
Obviously, the highlight for Steel Century Groove are the dance battles. Like in Pokémon, a battle starts when you lock eyes with another pilot. Notes follow along a squiggly line, and players must tap or hold a button as they pass them, aiming for a perfectly timed beat. To win the battle, players must fill their acclaim bar faster than their opponent, which can be seen at the top of the screen. The game certainly does not hold back on the number of battles you will need to do as you progress. Routes, cities, and buildings are filled with NPCs, waiting to defeat you in dance. You can also re-battle NPCs as well, which is a nice way to practice or try out new strategies.
And yes, I mean strategies as there’s more than just mindlessly tapping away to the beat. As mentioned, Tenzerks come with their own moves, or abilities, to use in battle. Moves can be used to sway the outcome from hitting a note on beat. For example, my favorite Tenzerk is Aedonix-L9. They are all about raising the solo meter and gaining huge amounts of acclaim during a solo. I needed to press a specific button (K in the image above) on a note to start filling the meter across the next few notes. Once I filled my solo meter, a solo would start showing notes that my opponent couldn’t see. This would also allow me to use another ability (F in the image above) to score the large amounts of acclaim.
Another Tenzerk has you uploading AI into androids above you. One is about planting seeds and watering them. Even common enemy Tenzerks have abilities, such as leeching your acclaim or increasing cooldown timers for your moves. Tenzerks can range from low complexity to high complexity, though really it is up to the player to select which ones they like best. Tenzerks have their own stats and level, which will increase with more usage or through the use of simchips (experience candies in Pokémon). On levels 2, 6 and 8, passive stat bonuses will be unlocked that are for all Tenzerks.
Mods unique to a Tenzerk can be found during your travels, which can be equipped with various effects. You will unlock a total of four mod slots as you defeat principal pilots. There are plenty of different strategies and builds players can try for your Tenzerks. Steel Century Groove takes a standard rhythm game beyond just matching the beat of a song. It adds layers of strategy and planning. It is important to have a good understanding of what your Tenzerk’s moves are, and how the available mods can turn the battle in your favor. This helped make the game a lot more interesting and fun.
As an extra layer, you can also have a group of back-up dancers, or replicas, behind your lead. These backup dancers come with their own strategy and moves, though are much more simpler than the lead. Players can pair different leads and replicas together to further their strategy. Oh, and you can also collect different paint colors for your Tenzerks as well!
Funky Beats in Semi-Small Variety
Of course you can’t have a decent dance battle rhythm game without the music. Steel Century Groove features over 20 songs for your Tenzerks to get down to. A majority of the songs are fast, poppy, foot-tapping songs with little variation. Some of them include vocals. Some take slightly different styles of music. None of them are something I’d say is an absolute “banger”. Unfortunately, because most of them have the same style of music coupled with the sheer number of battles, this is when the game started to feel repetitive. After a while, the beat of the actual songs faded into the background as my focus stuck with the notes on the squiggly line. It would have been nice to have a bigger variety of song styles, but I can imagine this might be a lot to ask depending on outside factors such as time and money.
Thankfully, Steel Century Groove allows players to add in their own mp3 files to use as the soundtrack. How you obtain these files is up to you, but once you do obtain them (and hopefully no viruses), you can very easily add them into the game. The game analyses your file and builds a beat track for in‑game use. Players can adjust it whenever it drifts off‑sync. In practice, that adjustment is almost always necessary. I tried a handful of songs that should’ve produced clean, obvious beats, yet the generated tracks barely aligned with the beat.
I Probably Won’t Be Dancing All Night Long
As mentioned, the game at one point did feel a bit repetitive. This isn’t just because of the music, though that did play a big part in it. The fun in trying other Tenzerks and experimenting with different mods is somewhat fleeting. I found myself only really liking two of them with certain mods, and therefore only using those. Though there is a slight incentive to use different Tenzerks with the unlockable passives that benefit them all, I found myself able to reach some of those levels easily with the plethora of simchips given.
Overall, though I think Steel Century Groove is fun, I think it might be best played in small doses over time. It doesn’t seem like the type of game to spend a whole weekend playing, and having time away could help bring back some of the freshness.
I think it would also be nice if there was an online aspect to this game. Players could battle against other players (probably best in like a ghost format instead of real-time battles). Players could aim for high scores on a chart or share the custom songs they’ve fine-tuned, allowing for others to add it to their game. I can see many of these ideas fitting naturally into the Rhymery app, though I’m not a developer and don’t know how difficult that would be to implement.
Care to Dance?
Speaking of developers, apparently Steel Century Groove was developed by mostly one person at Sloth Gloss Games. This alone deserves some applause! I think my opinions are pretty in line with what other reviews had to say. I hope the developer is passionate about the game and wants to continue working on it. I’d love to see future updates expanding on the game’s online capabilities, on bringing more variety in both soundtrack and in character outfits, and maybe in bringing more of an incentive to use other Tenzerks. I’ve seen some people not being big fans of the art style, but personally, I have no issue with it. Some of the screengrabs I have showcase some lovely scenes. I also loved watching the actual dancing my Tenzerks did, as they stomped all over the items littering the dance floor.
Overall, I enjoyed Steel Century Groove and can definitely see myself continuing to play every so often. It isn’t the best game out there, but it certainly is not the worst. I would recommend this to players who are fans of rhythm games as it goes above and beyond what your typical rhythm game might look like. There is a demo, as well as a small spin-off called Steel Century Groove: Midnight that is free. If you are unsure if Steel Century Groove is for you, then there is no harm in giving either of these a try.
Thank you for reading and have fun grooving!
