Fallen City Brawl

Ok, so, this game is interesting. I think a lot of the critisicisms here in other reviews are definitely valid, I feel the game is being misunderstood. First off, it has been designed with score chasing in mind. So lots of enemies with low health that you are meant to juggle around and attempt to get as many hits in on as possible before they die to get your combo meter high to net you more gems and coins. Gems fill your super meter. There are 3 levels of supers. The first does a screen wide attack and gives you a 3x score multiplier. Once active, the meter ticks down from where you activated your super and for the duration, you have the 3x score multiplier applied. Level 2 super is basically a screen clearing attack (like a bomb in most bullet hell shmups). You also get a 5x multiplier to your score for the duration of the super. Level 3 super spawns in 4 ninja enemies. You also get a 5x score multiplier and you have the duration of the full gauge where the score multiplier is active. You basically don't need the first 2 supers. You want to be getting level 3 super and activating it immediately every time. Doing this means you get more enemies to get your combo up. As soon as your combo reaches over 50 and your super meter is full (or super is active), enemies spawn red coins instead of super gems. Red coins give you health and increased points. So you want to keep your combo going up at all times to get the most points. Once your combo reaches 399, enemies start spawning crazy amounts of coins and when your super is over, the next enemy you get a combo on, will drop enough gems to get your level 3 super again. So the goal is to get to 399 combo and keep using level 3 super to spawn more enemies to get you the highest score. This is all easier said than done because the combo will reset pretty quickly if you leave too much of a gap between hitting enemies. Collecting items on the floor however will keep your combo count refreshed. So you always want to leave some items on the floor for situations where you accidentally knocked down all enemies on screen. So you can tactically keep your combo alive while waiting for enemies to get up or for giving you time to reposition. This game is mostly about that system of scoring and it is refreshing to see a best em up trying to focus on scoring mechanics. So yes, playing for the 1CC, the game is extremely easy, even on hard mode. That isn't what the game is about though. A 1CC of this game is nothing basically. Everyone will be able to get it. What does make the game a challenge, is trying to get as high of a score as possible and the steam score leaderboard, is where this game is at. After the first hour or so, you are now playing to move up on then leaderboards. This won't be to everyone's tastes and I commend the developer for taking a risk on something different for the genre. There is jank here like others have said and definitely some bugs that need resolving (I'm not 100% sure if the intention was for your forward forward attack move is meant to drain health since it only drains health every 2nd time you do the move. Also moves that drain health do so regardless of whether you hit an enemy or not). The game has real heart and real potential. I hope the dev keeps updating and refining the game because this could end up being something quite special and unique for the genre. With all that said, I'm having a blast trying to beat Iconoclasts score (I'm currently 6th on the leaderboards) and I think people should give it a shot and attempt to learn and engage with the scoring system before they make up their mind about the game because it's quite fun score chasing when ridiculous amounts of coins are flying around the screen. Strong arcade game vibes and strong bullet hell style scoring vibes here. I'm a big fan!

[b] Review After 100% Achievements [/b] Choose between four characters and two difficulties (default & hard) before you set out to clear seven stages of bad guys. This is a simple beat ‘em up that is clearly inspired by games like Streets of Rage & Final Fight. Hitboxes need a little work, but as a whole, I didn’t experience any crashes or game breaking bugs. Short and simple game to 100%...I knocked out all achievements in 1.5 runs which took roughly an hour or so. The different characters were fun to check out, and the combos are pretty sick. Boss fights aren’t anything special but the online leaderboard feature is a nice touch. I liked the music, and the art style is what really drew me in. Steam Deck performance was great, and the ability to quit out and come back to an existing run makes this game a good one to play on the go. Achievement Count: 19 Time to 100%: ~1hrs Difficulty: ★★✩✩✩ Genre of Game: 2D Fighter, Side Scroller, Beat ‘em up Fun Rating: 6/10 Checkout my YT video review or my [url=https://steamcommunity.com/groups/twigmastergaming] Steam Curator Page! [/url] https://youtu.be/82U0t9MP6ns

After beating the game three times in about 90 minutes (plus the tutorial, playing in the options, and watching the seemingly unskippable credits) I wasn't sure if I would recommend this game or not. Ultimately, is the game fun? Honestly, kinda yeah; the combo system gives you a huge window to deal damage to make up for low damage of each hit, the weapon system is a good way to differentiate characters, and the Gem/Coin system is genuinely really smart risk/reward design that gives the player the ability to go for 1CCs in multiple different ways (either dealing with enemy groups with Riots or pushing for maximum coins to get Lives). When the game works, it feels good, and the good OST helps punctuate that. That said, I'm not recommending it because I think the bad outweighs the good here, but I enjoyed it enough to not refund it because I can tell the devs care about this genre. Consider the following constructive criticism. Firstly, I need to be honest: this game is UGLY. The sprites are large, but have messy & inconsistent detail, awkward posing, limited & janky animation, clashing visual styles, unreadable backgrounds, and odd UI. I wrote this game off because of the visuals until I saw people praising the mechanical design (both of which happened to be in this game's Special Thanks). The only thing I can praise is the Riot mode where the stage goes monochrome except for the rainbow ninjas, the red coins, and the score. The shaking and zooming effects only exacerbate this while making the game even harder to read during combat which is already a problem even after your turn off those effects. Enemies have either nonexistent tells, hitboxes that appear before it looks like their attack started due to limited animation, or wind up from far away which makes the Counter mechanic extremely awkward to use which is exacerbated by how picking up weapons supersedes the counter due to input overlap leading to you getting hit by an attack you actually had the foresight to counter (and that's when their attacks don't just reach further than the sprites do). Speaking of overlap, having a run while also mapping specials that eat your health to a SoR-style Blitz attack input is baffling, and that's compounded when some characters (but not all) have dash attacks that are different from those specials. As for inconsistency, characters who drop their weapons when knocked down are put at a huge disadvantage in certain instances and can have their strings interrupted by the automatic pickup animation; I get that the shotgun & wrench are strong but the pistol is just as good and the molotovs can probably trivialize certain encounters with enough foreknowledge. Bosses are also extremely poorly designed, either hitting you with no windup for 60% in one blow or being launched & comboed to death in one unbroken sequence; the final boss while being an anti-climax feels like a joke with his giant flamethrower that reaches 90% of the screen before the flame particle effects have even traveled that far. This game feels like it had all of its dev time put into designing the mechanics and little put into the presentation, balancing, or actual game feel. It reminds me a lot of Ninja Kamui in that regard (a game almost nobody played with single-digit reviews on here so I doubt anybody gets what I mean by that). I sincerely hope that the devs are as passionate as I feel they are and are willing to tune this game up into something way better. That's why I'm not refunding, even though I can't recommend it.

Fallen City Brawl is the little Beat Em Up that could, in context of being developed by one person the game holds a lot of potential and for the low price is a recommend from us!! Visual Shock (Graphics: 3/5) Pros: - Charming aesthetic if you fancy a trip back to mid 90s pc gaming with MS-DoS games, you know what I'm talking about! - usage of score pop ups, visual effects gives the game some the extra pop it needs - characters stand out in front of the backgrounds clear enough to see the action Cons: - There are times where things get a little messy visually, more notable during the super mode - obviously if you're looking for a cleaner pixel art style or hand drawn this isn't the place - animations are quite stiff and sometimes don't fully convey what's going on Speed Shock (Gameplay 3/5) Pros: - the mechanics in this game tie together pretty well, with the incentive to keep your combo going for score and all the attacks complementing that goal and even the super mode adding multipliers - levels are short and sweet, keeping a pacing that doesn't overstay it's welcome - Enemy count is dense, keeping you pressed in most encounters Cons: - Enemies have a lingering attack box allowing for attacks to damage you even if you stop them from happening - Dropping your primary weapon seems inconsistent among the characters, Sgt Clay is at a huge disadvantage with having this along with the ammo system, Ricco at the biggest advantage having a gun that doesn't drop for example - defense mechanic feels out of place with the ability to megacrash and the super mode intact. the button itself could have instead been dedicated to megacrash as well as the dash special - adding to this the dash special takes health which on it's own isn't an issue but when it's tied to the attack button it can be very problematic Sound Shock (Audio: 5/5) Pros: - The SFX in the game are hard hitting and nice on the ears - Music is fantastic, no notes. Cons: - the tutorial music is the best track in the game, give us a survival mode that uses it! Score Shock (Overall 3/5) we'll give this a 3 out of 5, it has a lot of potential going for it and at 15 bucks it's worth a quick run or two from time to time. With some updates to the mechanics and maybe even some added modes it can easily be a classic entry to the genre!

This game need a little more work. However, this is a great beat'em up overall. A lot easier than other beat'em up games I have played. I played it like Street of Rage. Using the Blitz attack not realizing I was losing health by doing so and I still obtain over 100 lives by doing combos on hard mode. It is only one thing I hate about this game and that is the homing missiles. Even if you are knocked down to the ground before the missile hit you. they will hover over you until you get up and hit you. Not sure if you can even avoid it or not. It might be a skill issue on my part. Also you can obtain all achievements on your first playthrough not difficult at all. If that is something you are interested in?

I really like this game. I've played through with two characters so far, and will definitely go through with all four at the very least. I love the art, music, combat-- pretty much everything. Seeing the chaos erupt when summoning the ninjas with full gems is glorious. Launching enemies into the walls and then juggling them never gets old. I kind of moved away from this genre after the 16-bit days, finding most modern entries kind of repetitive and boring. But this game just clicked with me. I think it's the combat system. It's just so fun launching and juggling enemies. I also really appreciate that the game isn't too long. Two nights in a row I played on SteamDeck (which it runs great on) before bed and just beat the whole game in one sitting. Reminds me of the 16-bit days in the best possible way. Anyway, if you're a fan of beat 'em ups, indie games, pixel art action games, etc., definitely check this game out. Between playing with all the characters, getting higher and higher ranks on the Steam leader boards, and getting good at the combat system, it's totally worth the asking price.

There are worst beat'em up on Steam but that doesn't mean this is a good one. Other reviewers made a good list of all the shortcomings it has but imho the worst was its absurd timing and hitbox system: there are many times you can't even get up from the ground without being beaten again. Anyway it' less than 1 hour long so you can just play it, see for yourself how bad it is and then refund it. I would recommend it only on a strong sale and if you really run out of options on other beat'em ups

Very fun game! Some might say it’s short, but personally, I don’t expect a beat ’em up to last 50 hours. The controls are smooth and intuitive. It’s all about brawling. You’re not here to overthink things and that’s exactly what I’m looking for in this kind of game: a fun, cathartic experience to blow off some steam. The art style is interesting and the visual effects are cool! The music is good overall and really adds to the atmosphere. Obviously, the three-continue system, combined with stage select up to the highest level reached, was designed so everyone can finish the game. However, the scoring and ranking system gives it great replay value. I think it’s a well-balanced setup overall.

Score attack meets brawler. That's how I look at the game. The game is very retro arcade and doesn't even hide from it. The over exaggeration of the score count getting bigger as you light up the score gives it the immediate impression. While you can play it as a simple beat em up, the game actually encourages you to grab all the gems to unleashed level 3 supers so you can get the 5X score multipliers. Positives 1. The hit mechanic is satisfying and has weight. 2. The soundtrack has that late 80's inspired urban style synth. 3. The pixel art is reminiscent to Samurai Shodown with the camera zooming feature. 4. There is a weapon feature, a parry counter, a ground pound, 3 types of combo string enders, 2 types of specials and 3 riot level supers to go with the basics you see in other beat em ups. 5. Online leaderboard to challenge yourself and others for the highest score. Negatives 1. The pixel art can be a bit rough around the corners. 2. There is some jank in some of the character move set and could have used some more frames of animations. 3. There are no unlockables, different endings, or cheat codes. 4. Some of the hitboxes are questionably big or don't make sense. 5. Enemy variety is somewhat limited with many of them being repurposed with a slightly different AI behavior. Overall the game is worth it. But it comes down to how you personally feel about content. There will likely be post DLC for this game. But currently at the time of this review once you play and beat the game with all the characters, there isn't much to do except playing for a higher score. The game can take anywhere from 35+ mins to over an hour to beat, depending on playstyles. If your into retro arcade beat em ups that prefer quicker games to run through, then this is a great game to have in your collection. At 15 dollar it's price just about right to me. But if your unsure, wait for a sale.

Game runs great on Steam Deck. 2 play-throughs w/ 2 different characters. Zero issues. If you appreciate Streets Of Rage/Final Fight then chances are you'll enjoy playing Fallen City Brawl.👺👍🏼