Hyper Scuffle

Enjoyed this a lot with my 2 friends, beware online only works if you know how to port forward, or have something like hamachi or tunngle.

A fun and odd little fighting game that i would reccomend to anyone who likes local multiplayer games like gang beast or overcooked.

For the price it's set at, Hyper Scuffle is a great little experience to check out for a couple hours and leave smiling. I'm in love with the aesthetic of the game, which seems to take notes from the retro stylings of games like VVVVVV. The vibrant colors of the characters and text really pop when set against the usually black and white backgrounds, and while at times I was left wanting for just a tad more visual interest it's definitely fun to look at. You'll not find much in terms of settings or configuration, but to be fair the game doesn't really need it. With a download size of under 50MB and charmingly simplistic graphics any computer that can run Steam should be able to run it. It did support my XBONE controller natively, but I didn't have a PS4 controller with me to test so I can't speak about that compatibility. Gameplay is a bit wonky in some ways. The nine characters are very unique and each have a different set of abilities - Speera can charge with her spear to a previously set point, Echoblade throws a ranged chakram type weapon he can switch places with, Fistikov punches and charges, etc. However, for the most part I felt like I was incapable of using the diverse capacities of each character effectively. Perhaps that's something that would lessen with more practice, but even then I still get the feeling that the AI would outclass me more often than not. The exception to this is Fistikov, who is very simple to use with his directional punches. I feel as though the gameplay might improve if all characters had such a quick, short ranged attack to go along with their specials, but that would require a rebalancing across to board to accomodate. Overall, I find the gameplay fun if a bit tricky to understand. There is online multiplayer but I haven't tried it yet as it requires port-forwarding to function. Local multiplayer is available as well but I've got no one to test it with :/. I think that facing other humans would make the minute to minute gameplay lots more fun, as everyone will be more or less on the same level. The music in Hyper Scuffle is utterly fantastic. Seriously, if nothing else buy it for the soundtrack. There's several tracks and they're all absolute bangers in tune with the aesthetic of the game. It's an absolute joy to listen to and possibly my favorite aspect of the game. At the end of the day, for $1.99 or less there's really no reason not to pick this up. For a lazy afternoon or maybe a couple nights with friends, Hyper Scuffle offers quirky, stylized entertainment with clear heart and soul that's hard to find these days.