subpar pool

I'm glad to say Mr. Grapefrukt and his collaborators have done it again, combining pool, golf, and roguelite-esque gameplay with charming visuals and music to create an absurdly fun little time sink, much like Holedown, which I've played and replayed to completion on every platform it exists on. I tried to stay unspoiled on the details of the game mechanics before going into it so I could experience everything totally fresh, and I've been delighted by mixing and matching challenge cards and the different ball types that impact how you play. The whole thing is charming, and aside from being an obvious extension of Holedown's best design sensibilities, it feels like a fair bit of its ethos took cues from Triband's fresh, novel, and light-hearted takes on sports like golf, baseball, and racing. I really enjoyed What the Golf, and eagerly look forward to the next time Triband makes a game that's on a platform I own, so that inspiration is extremely welcome in Subpar Golf, haha. It's hard to put a number on all of the work that goes into a video game over time, but I can say confidently that $10 is more than fair for a really fun game that's been in the works for... I think half a decade (give or take). I say skip the sale and get it now; reward the devs for doing a great job if you have the means! 😊

Works great on Steam Deck (turn off UI scalling). Perfect cozy pool game with fun twists in the mechanics.

Lovely game, doesn't quite have enough meat on the bones for me. Art, animations and design are very good. UI is a bit clunky (in-game top menu, bullet time, aiming vs dragging ball all feel a little off). Pacing of challenges feels off to me, not sure why. 6/10 that is so close to being a 9/10

Such a neat concept! Clear the table under so many "strokes". Where it really shines, however, is all of the surreal bits you can add into your game like giant balls, conveyor belts, or balls that split when hit. The game always has many challenges to complete that will require you to use the indicated table/ball/modifier and meet its requirements on your run (like make 3 long shots in a single run or pot multiple balls in a single shot). Complete enough of these challenges and you'll unlock the next feature, but the game gives you a lot of freedom in which modifers you'll use in your run to increase your odds of completing the given challenge.

I normally like weird and whacky takes on “normal” games so I thought this one would be right up my alley. Sadly it gets stale really fast. About an hour in you can unlock all there is to unlock (levels, modifiers, etc) and then you’re left doing the same repeating challenges or to grind for achievements. The sound design seemed cute at first but got quite grating as I was grinding for the last of the achievements. It’s more of a mobile game than PC. Great if you can pick it up for £2 or less but I wouldn’t pay full price again.

A simple and fun mashup of pool and mini-golf, with cards and challenges adding more chaotic variation to the mix. Cheerful, cleverly made, and works great on Deck (as another reviewer says, you may need to tweak the "UI scaling" setting in game). Well worth pocketing.

this game is fine, so take this as a mixed review. (5/10) admittedly i am not a massive fan of roguelikes - i have probably only ever enjoyed one or two. but i do like golf and pool games, so there was more of a shoe-in than a typical roguelike would have. the game for me stales pretty fast - i feel this is less this game's specific fault and more of a gripe i have with the genre overall. subpar pool does a great job of taking the ingredients of a roguelike (customizable generation, variables that affect the player/environment/rules, changing objectives) and making a game out of it - i just happen to not enjoy those ingredients. there is no overarching objective so to speak - it's very much just playing rounds of 5-hole pool endlessly. i did experience a few bugs with the cursor between runs - disappearing from view or straight up not being able to interact with the game at all. it was always solved by closing and re-opening - so only a little annoying. the flawless mechanic is a bit weird. you can self-pocket and maintain flawless... but only if you don't take any additional shots afterwards? it also fails if a black ball is pocketed. this killed a few runs where a flawless objective was active as there is a non-zero chance on courses 2/3/4 for black balls to spawn and ruin the stage esp. where balls spawn on moving tracks, near teleporters or on non-active holes, which would cost additional shots that you don't have to move them out of the way. in some cases, they could even pocket themselves before i had a chance to react. my personal highlight is definitely the art style and presentation. i would totally have some stickers or physical merch of the ball types as they are very cute. :) if you're someone that enjoys roguelikes and pool, and you just want something casual to play then yes - recommended! if you're more ambivalent like i am, then no.

Really fun game. This scores extremely high on Ben Brode's "High-Depth / Low-Complexity" scale.

Surprisingly satisfying for such a simple game

Once you get past the clunky UI, there's just barely enough game here. Good to just knock out a few minutes at a time if you want something bite sized, but don't expect to be returning to the well for long.