«Previous post | »

Press release:
Detroit, United States – June 30th, 2026 – Five Houses LLC are thrilled to announce that their acclaimed music-based RPG Deathbulge: Battle of the Bands has today launched on Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4|5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series consoles for $19.99 USD*. Get ready to kick down doors and fight with music as a trio of goofball musicians!

Originally launched on PC in 2023, where it currently has 98% positive reviews on Steam, Deathbulge: Battle of the Bands puts players in the combat boots of Faye, Ian and Briff, a 3-piece band of dysfunctional friends who unknowingly stumble into a cursed battle of the bands contest where all entrants can attack with music and must fight to the death.

Utilizing a state-of-the-art “Measure Effects” combat system that merges real-time decision making with turn-based combat, players must make active choices between turns that influence the flow of combat. Swap out your frontman to speed up your turn, but also be careful not to put the same band member in the line of fire more than they can handle. This is a team after all, and staying in the limelight too often will come with its fair share of consequences.

Kick down every single door you come across. If you’re gonna rudely enter every RPG house despite lack of invite, might as well enter in style. Customise the band with 9 musically-themed classes to choose from, each with their own attacks, perks and COOL OUTFIT. Inspire your bandmates as a BUSKER or recklessly deal huge damage at the cost of damaging yourself as a HEADBANGER.

This console conversion adds all new content not included in the original PC release, including new items, an “Easy mode” option at save points, as well as new harder variants of bosses for those striving for a tougher challenge. Don’t despair, PC players, for all this new content has just been added to your preferred platform as a free update!

“Deathbulge: Battle of the Bands is a blast from the past, drawing on our experience of being teenagers and playing what are now thought of as ‘retro’ games while dreaming of one day making a game ourselves,” said Dan Martin, Solo Artist of Deathbulge: Battle of the Bands.

“That said, we’ve learned a lot about game design in the intervening years and have created something unique that merges classic games design with modern sensibilities for something entirely singular – at least we’ve never seen anything with a combat system like it. Having it on consoles, where you can play it on a couch – or handheld on Switch wherever you like – just feels so right for Deathbulge’s unique twist on semi-real-time RPGs.”

What critics are saying:

“This game has no business being as funny, charming, and whimsical as it is.”

9/10 – GameGrin

“Deathbulge’s greatest trick is making me enjoy turn-based combat.”

– Rock Paper Shotgun

“Deathbulge: Battle of the Bands is a good game whose small development team has big talent. The music alone is worth the price of admission. “
83/100 – RPGFan

Features:

Roughly 15-20 hours of game time.

Late game dating segment.

Sew patches of band logos onto your BATTLE JACKET for extra perks in battle.

No Random Encounters! Monsters will be shown on the field for your avoiding leisure, and 3 different FIELD ABILITIES with which to avoid them.

Unique item system. Say good bye to individually stocking up on consumable items! Once you get a piece of MERCH, you keep it forever, and it simply costs STOCK to use, a refillable global resource for all your merch.

Original soundtrack that’ll make you say things like SIIICK and OH RIGHT ON.

Incredibly rich world boasting a wide variety of colourful characters whose dialogue changes as you progress through the game. Every single NPC is unique, armed with their own dialogue portraits to express themselves TO THE MAX.

Even the ITEMS have personality. Say bye bye to the generic “health potion”. Local NPC Barry Friendly is taking care of the soothing beverages around here. Sink into a warm cup of BARRY FRIENDLY’S TEA whenever your health is low. Maybe you’ll even have the pleasure of meeting Barry at some point.

Based on the popular webcomic Deathbulge, by moatee creator Dan Martin.

For more information on Deathbulge: Battle of the Bands:

Get on Steam
Deathbulge official website
Follow Deathbulge on X / Twitter
Follow Deathbulge on Blue Sky
Deathbulge official Discord

About Five Houses LLC:
Five Houses is a game studio founded by Scott Walenty and Kyle Jenkins, two childhood friends who have been building games together for most of their lives. We focus on reimagining classic game systems, asking what they would look like if they had been thoughtfully refined over time instead of abandoned. Many of the design principles that once made games feel intuitive, rewarding, and complete have been lost or diluted. Our goal is to pick up where those systems left off and innovate on them in a modernized and accessible way, built with the expectations of today’s players in mind.