Harmonix has released its music driven shoot ‘em up A City Sleeps

Harmonix has released its music driven shoot ‘em up , A City Sleeps, through Steam and the Humble Store.

Available for Mac and PC, the side-scroller stars a young woman named Poe who is a member of Silk, an “ancient clan of dream exorcists”, and she can enter the minds of those who are sleeping. Once inside, she can cast demons out of their dreamworld.

Poe is tasked in the game with rescuing the residents of SanLo who have fallen into “and endless slumber, and a never-ending nightmare.”

Here's a list of game features pulled from Harmonix:

Music/Gameplay Synchrony: Level design and song authoring is done in parallel, ensuring a hand crafted and utterly unique audio-experience. Music drives player projectiles, enemy spawning, movement, and bullet patterns.

Idol System: Use Poe’s ghost familiars to possess inanimate objects of the dream world; these “Idols” will assist you against an endless enemy horde. The soundtrack builds as you leverage a range of both offensive and defensive abilities including AOE damage bursts, and healing bullets. Experiment with different ghost combinations to compliment your own personal play style.

Give Up the Ghost: Reverie, Lucid, Nightmare; multiple difficulties for all skill levels. Need backup? Buff Poe with equip-able relics and unlockable ghosts types for a tactical advantage, or take a stab at the re-mixed “Cursed” variants for an even greater challenge! Compete against friends and the world in the global leaderboads.

Right now, the game is 10% on Steam and according to the description, an Xbox 360 controller or equivalent "is strongly recommended."