There was a time when a KPop Demon Hunters tie-in video game would have been a given. Netflix would have partnered with a studio to create a probably terrible game based on the K-pop group Huntr/x’s music-powered demon-slaying adventures that kids could rent at their local Blockbuster for the weekend after they saw and became obsessed with the movie. Nowadays, movie studios are much more precious about quality control, so we don’t get waves of tie-in video games haphazardly dropping on the eShop or PlayStation Store. And yeah, it’s probably a good thing we don’t have a KPop Demon Hunters video game months after the musical blew up on Netflix, but I wouldn’t be surprised if someone at the streaming company has been considering throwing some money around to get one made. What such a game might look like down the line is anyone’s guess, but fans are already creating mock-ups of a KPop Demon Hunters game, and I hope one day a studio gets to make one a reality.

JHN Studios is a YouTube channel that creates 8-bit versions of K-pop songs, and while most of their videos are reimaginings of tunes by real-world groups, they are now working their way through the KPop Demon Hunters soundtrack. Each of these arrangements is accompanied by retro-style animated videos of a hypothetical KPop Demon Hunters rhythm game that recreates the songs’ respective scenes from the movie. I’m obsessed with the excellent sprite work. I want the Rumi as a keychain or pin. 

The actual rhythm gameplay of these mock-ups isn’t that complex, but it does make for a good proof of concept. A rhythm game seems like the obvious choice for a KPop Demon Hunters game, and the movie’s incredible tunes have already started worming their way into the mod scene for games like Beat Saber, Friday Night Funkin’, and Dead as Disco. That being said, I also think the movie would be a natural fit for a retro-style beat-em-up like the projects coming out of Tribute Games, such as Scott Pilgrim EX and Marvel Cosmic Invasion. Give me a three-player co-op brawler that lets me and two friends smack around some demons while JHN Studios’ chip-tune arrangements play in the background. 

While a game is probably still a pie-in-the-sky dream for the moment, it does sound like Netflix fully intends to capitalize on KPop Demon Hunters’ success with a sequel.