Harmonix is making a musical shoot 'em up called A City Sleeps

Rock Band and Dance Central creator Harmonix is making a musical shooter — no, not that other musical shooter. The developer's latest game, A City Sleeps, looks like a shoot 'em up developed in the style of Cave or Treasure, but with the studio's trademark musical hook.

A City Sleeps is a twin-stick shooter for PC that gives players control of Poe, a "dream exorcist" who can "enter the minds of sleeping hosts to rid their dreams of demons." Using a sword named Heartstrings and a gang of ghost familiars as sidekicks, Poe battles colorful enemies through dreamscapes while dodging bullet hell-style swarms of projectiles. Her ghost familiars can possess inanimate objects in the world, which will then assist her in battle.

The game features an original soundtrack, Harmonix says, that drives player projectiles, enemy spawning, movement and bullet patterns.

A City Sleeps is coming to Windows PC and Mac in October via Steam and is available for pre-order now at a discount.

Here's the game's first teaser trailer.