Rocksmith: All-new 2014 Edition – Muse Song Pack

Rocksmith: All-new 2014 Edition – Muse Song Pack is a downloadable content expansion for the guitar and bass learning rhythm game Rocksmith: All-new 2014 Edition, featuring five dynamic tracks from the British rock band Muse: Hysteria, Muscle Museum, Stockholm Syndrome, Supermassive Black Hole, and Time is Running Out. Released across multiple platforms including Windows, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Macintosh, Xbox One, and PlayStation 4, each song includes authentic tones designed to provide players with an immersive and realistic rock performance experience.

Rocksmith: All-new 2014 Edition – Muse Song Pack: Review

Introduction

Imagine plugging in your real electric guitar, firing up a console, and suddenly finding yourself riffing through the blistering basslines and soaring solos of Muse’s Hysteria—not with a plastic toy, but with your own instrument, the game adapting to your every strum. This is the magic of the Rocksmith: All-new 2014 Edition – Muse Song Pack, a 2013 DLC that elevates Ubisoft’s revolutionary guitar-learning simulator into the realm of progressive rock mastery. As the successor to the groundbreaking 2011 Rocksmith, which dared to ditch plastic guitars in favor of authentic play, this pack builds on a legacy of democratizing music education amid the post-Guitar Hero crash. My thesis: While modest in scope as a five-song bundle, the Muse Song Pack stands as a pinnacle of Rocksmith‘s DLC strategy—offering technically demanding arrangements, faithful tones, and a gateway for players to conquer one of rock’s most virtuosic bands, cementing its place as essential for aspiring shredders despite looming delisting threats.

Development History & Context

Developed by Ubisoft’s Montreal studio—the same team behind the core Rocksmith: All-new 2014 Edition—this DLC emerged from a visionary pivot in the music gaming genre. Launched on December 17, 2013, for Windows, Xbox 360, Macintosh, and PlayStation 3 (with Xbox One and PlayStation 4 versions following in 2014), the pack was published by Ubisoft Entertainment SA and Ubisoft, Inc., as a commercial download priced at $11.99 for the bundle or $2.99 per song. Ubisoft’s creators, led by producers who refined the original Rocksmith‘s Real Tone Cable technology, aimed to sustain long-term engagement post-launch through weekly DLC drops, countering the rhythm game’s decline after the 2008-2010 Guitar Hero and Rock Band boom-and-bust.

The era’s technological constraints shaped its design: Early next-gen consoles like Xbox One and PS4 were nascent, limiting initial releases to last-gen hardware, while PC and Mac versions leveraged Steam for seamless updates. Gaming in 2013 was dominated by open-world epics (GTA V) and indies, but music games struggled with oversaturation and plastic peripheral fatigue. Rocksmith 2014 innovated with dynamic difficulty adjustment, session modes, and Note Flight minigames, positioning DLC like Muse as “authentic expansions” with custom tones derived from the band’s gear. Muse’s inclusion—tracks spanning Showbiz (1999’s “Muscle Museum”) to Black Holes and Revelations (2006’s “Supermassive Black Hole”)—reflected Ubisoft’s licensing savvy, negotiating with Warner Music for high-fidelity masters amid expiring deals that would later haunt the series (e.g., 10-year cycles leading to 2023 delistings).

Narrative & Thematic Deep Dive

Rocksmith eschews traditional plots for a meta-narrative of personal growth: the player’s transformation from novice strummer to stage-ready guitarist. The Muse Song Pack amplifies this through curated discography slices, weaving a thematic arc of rebellion, dystopia, and virtuosity mirroring Muse’s oeuvre. No characters or dialogue exist—your “protagonist” is your fret hand—but the progression from “Muscle Museum” (a raw, aggressive early track evoking youthful angst) to “Supermassive Black Hole” (groovy funk-rock seduction) and “Stockholm Syndrome” (chaotic riffage symbolizing captivity) crafts an unspoken story of musical evolution.

Delve deeper: “Hysteria” (2003) embodies frenzy with its iconic tapping intro, thematically exploring hysteria as emotional overload—mirroring the player’s frustration-to-triumph arc. “Time Is Running Out” pulses with urgency, its piano-guitar interplay underscoring time’s tyranny, while “Stockholm Syndrome” rages against oppression via Matt Bellamy’s polymetric riffs. Collectively, these songs probe sci-fi alienation (black holes, syndromes), aligning with Rocksmith‘s empowerment theme: mastering Muse’s complexity democratizes “elite” rock, subverting gatekeeping. In extreme detail, the pack’s order (if session-played sequentially) evokes Muse’s career—from indie grit (Muscle Museum) to arena anthems—fostering emergent storytelling absent in plastic-plastic rhythm games.

Gameplay Mechanics & Systems

At its core, the pack integrates seamlessly into Rocksmith 2014‘s loop: plug in via Real Tone Cable, select a song, and engage adaptive note highways that scale from easy (single notes) to lead/rhythm/bass arrangements at 100% difficulty. Each of the five tracks shines with bespoke charts emphasizing Muse’s hallmarks—hyper-speed alternate picking (“Time Is Running Out”), two-hand tapping (“Hysteria”), dive-bomb whammy abuse (“Stockholm Syndrome”), funky chord scratches (“Supermassive Black Hole”), and palm-muted chugs (“Muscle Museum”).

Core Loops Deconstructed:
– Mini-Games & Progression: Songs feed into Riff Repeater (looped practice), Session (jam with AI band), and Guitarcade modes. “Hysteria”‘s bass path teaches slap techniques; guitar leads demand precision timing (triple-digit BPM runs).
– UI Excellence: Clean, color-coded note streams (green strum, red hammer-ons) with tone sliders for Bellamy-esque overdrive. Authentic Tones—modeled on Muse’s rig (e.g., Vox AC30 for crunch)—elevate realism, auto-applied for immersion.
– Innovations: Dynamic Difficulty ramps per section; Mastery Bars track streak accuracy, unlocking tones. Flaws? No bass-specific pack focus, and delisting risks (noted in 2023 Steam threads) disrupt redownloads—purchased DLC persists in libraries but requires foresight.
– Progression Systems: Songs contribute to Guitar Teacher missions, Sound Check calibration, and career Soundgarden, blending compulsion loops with skill-building.

This pack’s genius: It challenges intermediates (e.g., “Stockholm Syndrome”‘s 7/8 sections) without alienating beginners, fostering 60-day proficiency as Ubisoft claimed.

World-Building, Art & Sound

Rocksmith‘s “world” is minimalist—neon-lit stages with crowd silhouettes—but the Muse pack enhances atmosphere via song-specific visuals: swirling black holes for “Supermassive,” frantic lights for “Hysteria.” Art direction prioritizes functionality: HD note projections on PS4/Xbox One versions pop vividly, with customizable backgrounds (e.g., cosmic voids evoking Muse’s aesthetic).

Sound design is the star: Real-time input latency under 10ms, layered with Muse masters minus vocals (your play fills gaps). Authentic Tones replicate gear—Marshall stacks for distortion, Big Muff fuzz for “Muscle Museum”—yielding godlike feedback. Atmosphere builds through escalating band AI (drums lock to your tempo), crowd cheers scaling with streaks, and post-song replays showcasing your performance. These elements immerse without distraction, prioritizing tactile joy: the pack’s sonic fidelity turns living rooms into Wembley, contributions amplified by Rocksmith‘s cable bridging digital/analog realms.

Reception & Legacy

Launch reception was muted—no MobyGames critic scores or user reviews, overshadowed by core game’s 80-90% Metacritic praise (e.g., GodisaGeek’s 9/10 for Rocksmith 2014). Polygon and GameGrin hailed it as a “must for Muse fans,” spotlighting $11.99 value amid packs like Disturbed and Oasis. Commercially, it bolstered Rocksmith‘s DLC ecosystem (hundreds of songs), sustaining sales into remasters.

Legacy sours with 2023 delistings: Steam threads decry Ubisoft’s opacity, with Muse pack targeted December 17 (10-year mark), sparking backlash over vanishing libraries despite purchases persisting offline. Influentially, it pioneered real-instrument DLC, inspiring Rocksmith+ (subscription pivot) and competitors like Yousician. In history, it exemplifies digital fragility—preservation via tools like TheRiffRepeater—while affirming Rocksmith‘s industry shift toward educational sims.

Conclusion

The Rocksmith: All-new 2014 Edition – Muse Song Pack distills Rocksmith‘s brilliance into a ferocious five-track assault, blending pedagogical depth with Muse’s pyrotechnics to forge guitar heroes amid 2013’s genre wilderness. Exhaustive in mechanics, evocative in themes, and haunting in its impermanence, it earns a resounding 9/10—a definitive DLC triumph, urging delisting-dodgers to snag it for eternity in video game history’s hall of playable pedagogy. If Rocksmith redefined rhythm games, this pack redefined rock mastery; snag the tones before the black hole swallows them.