Beatstar was an essential app that tonnes of people had. A game that was addicting to play, with it being released and then heavily advertised during COVID lockdown, it took off in app-stores. A fantastic gameplay, but with an unexpected and twisted ending.
Beatstars parent company, spaceape/supercell announced the game would be coming to an end on 31st of October 2025. Ceasing all gameplay and use of the app as it was an online based game. Duolingo, had decided it wanted a slice of this cake, taking the lead game developers with them.
When the announcement was made, I made it a mission to find a way to continue playing the game. With copies of the game popping up all over the app stores I thought they may be worth the try. After playing a couple…I can safely say they are horrific compared to the original game. This forced me to continue looking. In a last minute desperation, I stumbled across something on Reddit that seemed to be exactly what I was looking for.
Introducing – BeatClone.
BeatClone is a modified version of the original Beatstar app with a couple of modifications, notably an internal redirect to a custom server. This custom server was immune to the shutdown as it was outside the control of Spaceape. Not only was it a way to continue playing the existing game, there’s also a MASSIVE workshop of talented charts who are making NEW SONGS?! I found this completely crazy, so I downloaded the game, followed the steps, and joined the discord.
Blown away, it doesn’t even describe the efforts that have went into keeping this game alive. Even with Spaceape cancelling their AWS subscription, there was already a way to import the entire asset library manually. “External” (lead developer) has poured countless hours into this project, with the server having existed as far back as 2022.
The game continues, with extended support entirely run by a community discord server. An incredible feat which remains unmatched by ANY copy of the original game (looking at you SuperStar). Undefeated, to the point that other game developers join the community to steal workshop assets for their own games (looking at you again SuperStar).
The discord server is a vibrant community, with a recently created “Wiki” of the notable mod members (myself now included). I would HIGHLY recommend to anyone who played the original game, or anyone looking for an incredible music based game – head to the subreddit r/beatclone!
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