Hi folks, 2018 [and now 2019!] has been a busy year for the Rock Band™ crew and we wanted to take a moment to celebrate all the new features and content that we’ve added to the Rivals expansion. It’s funny: because we have rolled so much out incrementally, it can be hard to find everything in one spot. So, here’s that one spot!
 

 

Rivals Mode

Let’s kick things off by digging in to the eponymous Rivals Mode. Rivals Mode is a competitive framework that rewards you and up to nine of your closest Rock Band friends for playing songs in Rock Band – no matter the mode. Whether you’re playing on Expert or Easy, anyone can help earn Rivals points you earn for their Crew. 

Rivals Mode is broken up into Seasons predominantly made up of 8 themed Challenges. For example, in Rivals Season 3, each week focused on songs from a different decade featured in the Rock Band song catalog. Over the course of each Rock Band Season, you attempt to climb the six steps from Bronze to Bloodstone by outplaying the majority of Crews in your tier each week. At the end of the season you receive a one-of-a-kind reward based on your Crew’s final placement.

Crews compete across 3 scoring metrics:

• XP: You get XP for each song you play!
• LP: Each song in the Challenge has a weekly leaderboard. At the end of the Challenge, leaderboard placement is converted into LP.
• Spotlights: Each Challenge has 3 songs that everyone competes on. A Crew's Spotlight Score is the sum of the top score for each instrument on each song.

For more about the mechanics of Rivals Mode, you can check out our detailed blog.

Joining a Crew is a great opportunity to explore your song collection and other game modes with friends while earning some cool swag for your avatar. That’s what we like to call a classic win-win-win-win scenario.

Online Quickplay

Online Quickplay is just that, you can join or invite people from far away to play Rock Band! Browse online sessions, 1-button matchmaking to quickly get into a game or host your own session with tons of configurable options.

• Online Hosting Options
  • Make your session Public or Private, or limit tojust the folx in your Crew or Friends List
  • Choose your objective - just for fun, high scores, or Full Combos!
  • Choose who gets to pick the songs in your setlist - everyone, session leader, or singer's choice (classic RB rule!)
  • Configure how many songs are in the setlist
  • Filter available songs to focus on Rivals Challenge songs
  • Toggle No-Fail on or off for the whole session
• Broadcast what kinds of songs you want to play, skill level of players you want to play with, and also the size of the DLC library you'd like
• Rivals perks: All song plays in a band earn Social Bonus XP!
• Custom communication tools that allow you to easily connect with your bandmates.

Rockudrama



Have you ever wondered what it’s like to be the subject of a documentary film? Well, wonder no more! Introducing: Rockudrama, the world’s first playable rock documentary. Featuring a mix of live-action video, in-engine footage and classic Rock Band gameplay, Rockudrama dynamically tells the story of your band’s epic, and often hilarious, rise to fame. As you progress through your band’s memorable and winding road to glory, you will be introduced to a series of new venues and character assets that will be unlocked for play across all game modes.

Missions



The Missions system rewards you with equipable badges for completing various feats of Rock Band across all of Rock Band’s game modes. Mission objectives span different instruments, difficulties, songs, and more. For example, you might be required to get at least three Unison Bonuses in each of 10 different songs, hit 250 notes in Overdrive in a single song, or get Gold Stars on a handful of tough songs. Those participating in Rivals Mode are able to accomplish even more, because some Missions are only available to Crews. Each Mission you complete will earn you a nifty badge and Mission Points which help unlock new missions for you to tackle.

Rock Shop Gear

Rock Band Rivals has added tons of new items to the Rock Shop. You can find outfit pieces that are punk- and metal-inspired, along with new instruments to go with them (The Literal Axe? Come on!) when upgrading to Rivals. Additionally, previous and future Seasonal rewards include clothing, allowing you to expand your collection further just by playing! You already play, so that’s easy.

Track Skins



Track Skins are a cool, new customization option to let you glam up that note highway and spice up your playing. There’s something for everyone, whether you’re looking for goofy or throwback or edgy or just something cool-looking, you’ll find it. Make your choice, then customize the color or randomize what appears every song. All Track Skins have been carefully worked to give the impression that the visuals are ‘under’ the highway, like looking through a glass pane, to prevent them from being distracting during play. And there’s more coming to expand your collection, both from updates and Rivals Seasonal rewards. More a fan of the classic black look (or just afraid of change)? No problem, you can keep your track standard and even enable a setting that displays all online players in the timeless classic. 

New DLC Songs

And of course, it’s not a Rock Band release without songs. Below is the complete list of the 44 (as of 10/10/19) free tracks exclusive to Rock Band Rivals players, along with 17 more all Rock Band 4 players can access.

AUTOMATICALLY IN YOUR SONG LIBRARY

• Animal Flag – “Sink”
• Bearstronaut – “Shadow”
• Bent Knee – “These Hands”
• Black Beach – “No Place For Me”
• Creaturos – “History Repeats”
• Dutch ReBelle – “RudeBoys”
• Goddamn Draculas – “Bethany”
• Julie Rhodes – “Hurry Up (& Wait For You)”
• Littlefoot – “Casablanca”
• Michael Christmas – “Cross That Line”
• Nemes – “Black Streak”
• Newfane – “I Recognize”
• Parlour Bells – “Never Let ‘Em Hold Ya Back”
• Party Bois – “True Confessional”
• Petty Morals – “Mean Girls”
• The Red Chord – “Hour of Rats”
• Ruby Rose Fox – “Pain Killer”
• Ruby Rose Fox – “Skydiver”
• Skratch’N Snyf – “S.O.M.P.”
• STL GLD – “Good”
• Tigerman WOAH – “Alone Time”
• The Warning Shots – “Closer, Closer”
• When Particles Collide – “Constant Disaster”
• Worshipper – “Black Corridor”

DOWNLOADABLE FROM THE IN-GAME MUSIC STORE

• Discover: KROQ Locals Only Pack
  • Assuming We Survive – “Open Water”
  • HUNNY – “Shy”
  • In The Valley Below – “Bloodhands (Oh My Fever)”
  • Nightmare Air – “Who’s Your Lover”
  • No Small Children – “Radio”
• Discover: ReverbNation and Firefly Music Festival Pack
  • The Bergamot – “Forget About Tomorrow”
  • Dolly Spartans – “I Hear The Dead”
  • The Eiffels – “Body Like That”
  • Fly By Midnight – “Vinyl”
  • Jocelyn & Chris Arndt – “Shame”
• Discover: ReverbNation Pack 01
  • Barely March – “Thinking Emoji”
  • PREACHERVAN – “Love That Hurts”
  • Ships Have Sailed – “Let’s Just Dance”
  • tiLLie – “Save Yourself”
• Rock Band 10th Anniversary Pack*
  • The Acro-Brats – “Hair Trigger”*
  • Anarchy Club – “Collide”*
  • Bang Camaro – “Blood Red Rock”*
  • Bang on a Can All-Stars – “Shadowbang (Head)”*
  • Dance for the Dying – “Thug Love”*
  • Freezepop – “Doppelgänger”*
  • Graveyard BBQ – “Cheat on the Church”*
  • Honest Bob and the Factory-to-Dealer Incentives – “Soy Bomb”*
  • The Main Drag – “How We’d Look On Paper”*
  • Symbion Project – “Exploited & Exposed”*
• 4th Anniversary Free DLC Pack*
  • Duck & Cover - "Two Shots"*
  • Newfane - "Don't Let Her Go"*
  • ORION - "Time For Crime"*
  • Shocked Laura - "Fall Apart"*
• Arctic Horror – “Black Seas”
• The Black Cheers – “(You’re) Breakin’ Up”
• Jeff Williams ft. Casey Lee Williams – “This Will Be the Day”
• Parks – “Sweater Weather”
• Permaband – “Killing is just a means”*
• Permaband – “Wrecking Machine”*
• Spirit Kid – “To My Romeo”
• Steve Pardo – “Super Beat Sports Big Baos Battle”*
• The Warning – “Survive”

*accessible to all Rock Band 4 players

All of this information makes up Rock Band Rivals to date (10/10/19). If you buy the expansion right now, you get EVERYTHING included here. It’s a ton, as you’ve learned by making it this far. It’s only grown since October 2016, and we’re not done yet.