Do you everfind yourself in need ofan effective way to vent some steam after a hectic day?Instead of punching friends or fellow students/colleagues, game developerAdribehhas kindly created a forum to allow you to safely punch your friends to a bloody pulp withKnock’em Out.This early-access game was released on 4th April.At the momentthere’s a sale on reducing the price to £3.99. The developer provides a simple description on its Steam page, “Keep a cool head to knock out your opponents in the most violent and fun way!” I got the chance to get within punching distance with fellow Thumb Culture reviewersStuartandKyleto give the game a fair whack. See what we thought below.
A Smash Hit That’s Hard To Beat!
Nothing beats the adrenaline when clutching a win in a fast-paced multiplayer brawler. This fun party brawleris the latest in a line of games where the premise is simple – defeat your opponent in a fight to win the match. Some favourites of mine through the years have been Smash Bros, Gang Beasts, and Pummel Party. Are you a fan of the brawler party game genre? If so, what’s your favourite game that you have good memories of playing?
Gameplay
The game tries to ramp up your adrenaline by featuring dancing characters raving to techno dance music. It’s fair to say it worked.The music and menu screenwasenough to get the blood pumpingprior toentering battle.The settings and controls seemed easy enough to learn and change to my liking. When entering the hostingscreenyou are put in a changing room where you can customise yourown fighter. There are also different battle modes and arenas to choose from. As it is still in early access, this is just a glimpse at the game’sfull potential.
With our party of fighters assembled and adrenaline at an all-time high due to the music, we headed out into our first death match. After a false start due to Kyle losing his connection, we regrouped and set about punching each other to victory. The setting is a fully functional factory with conveyor belts, tubes, hazardous drops through holes in the floor, and more. We used these first few battles to get to grips with the controls. We discovered the more advanced attacks and tactics as we progressed. Soonenoughwe started winning battles and progressing up the leaderboard.
Bomb Voyage!
We introduced more play modes to our fightsincludingTitle Champion and Bomb Tag. These added another level and source of tension to the battles. The Title Champion mode gave opponents a title beltwhichthey had to get and hold onto to win. It soon became a mad dash to punch the title holder to get it for yourself and win. With Bomb Tag, it was pretty much the opposite. Whoever had the bomb had to punch someone to pass it onandwhoever was left with it blew up. Outof all of themodesI gelled with this one the mostmanagingto avoid contact and pass on the bomb with ease if I had it.
To complicate things further, various melee weapons were dropped into the arenasto makeit nearly impossible to get near whoever wielded them.These weapons included a battle axe, a toy squeaking hammer, a land mine, a box with an extendable punching glove, and others. These made dismembering your opponent very easy. Oh, did Imention,the arenas are bathed in blood, arms, legs, and heads by the end of every battle. It is very graphic in battleandeverything is made sothat yourfighting warrior gets pulled apart. Oftenyouwill find yourself without arms and legssoyou would have to resort to headbutts.
Graphics & Audio
The whole look of the game is vibrant and fun to look at. No colour is safe when the developers are choosing colour pallets. This lends itself well to the theme the devs went for, a comic/cartoon look. A good amount of time has been spentfurnishing every sceneprior tothe game with items both colourful and quirky.The arenas have had just as much attention paid to them. Forexampleat the fun house level, the wrestling arena has been given a colourful overhaul with fun vacuum tubes, conveyor belts, and hazards. At thehigh-rise level, there’s a helicopterwhichis abighazard for anyonebeingpunched into its propellers.
The music throughout can only be described as quirky, high-energy, and up-tempo dance synthmusic. A throwback to early 00s games for sure.As mentionedearlierit did serveas a way to get you in the zone for the intense battlesto come.The sound effects throughout were well done and in the style that suited the visuals,i.e.a cartoon/comic-like look. Nothing seemed out of placetakingyou out of the gameandI enjoyed the satisfying noisesmadewhen battling it outtoo.
Interview
I reached out to the game developer Adribeh to find out more about the development process and the game in general:
Mal:Do you have any big plans for the future ofKnock’em Out?
Adribeh:I want to grow the game much more with a lot of maps, game modes, andskins during Early Access, and on the fullreleaseI would like to port it to all consoles if it’s possible.
M:There are three arenas on offer in Early Access. What other arenas will be introduced to the game?
A:FornowI’m working on a new arena that will be released in thenextweeks. I can only say that the theme is based on pirates.
M:What was your inspiration behind you creating the game?
A:I’ve always liked playing partygames,it’smy favouritegamegenre. The main inspiration was Gang Beasts because it has been one of the games I enjoyed the mostandalwayswanted to make a similar gamebutwith something more unique. I also had inspiration in other fighting games like Super Smash.
M:There aresomegreatpower-upsin the gamefromtoy hammersto more deadly axes and mines.Can you give a sneak peekas towhat’s planned to be introduced to the gamein the future?
A:Fornowmost of them are melee weapons. Iwould liketo add somepowerupsthat give the players temporal abilities like super jump,superspeed, or similar things.
M:Knock’em Outis quite bloody compared to other beat-em-upsgivingit a unique spin. What caused you to introduce that to the game?
A:I needed to differentiate my game from others, and Party Animals was released near my title, as the most unique thing this game had wasextremely cuteanimalsItried to do the complete opposite, extremely violent and bloody characters.
M:I wasquitegood at bomb tag. What other modes are planned for the game?
A:I haven’t done a brainstorming for new game modes yet, but I have in mind a game mode called Countdown where the players must stay inside the ring because if they leaveacountdown will start for themandif it reaches 10secondsthey will be eliminated.
M:I’ve read ittook you around a year to create the game, which isamazing. What are some highs and lows from the development of the game?
A:Actuallyit was around 2 years. Lows beginning from zero knowledge about ragdoll physics and multiplayer, which are the core of this game, and being the only developer, having no one to share ideas with. Highs are all the experiences learned during the process about all the phases that make up a video game that will be helpful for mynextprojects.
M:Plans for the future? Any more games in the pipeline?
A:FornowI don’t have any game in mind, but obviously, I would like to keep making new games, so I’ll need to have something in mind forthe timeKnock’Em Outleaves Early Access.
Final Thoughts
This quirky, vibrant,andgruesome party brawler game was so much fun. Likewithevery early access game, it needs a few things ironing out before it becomes the game it is meant to be. There is promise therethoughfromthe detailed arenas, it’sthe unique gruesome injuries you get to inflict on the things yet to comelikecostumes, more arenas, and even more weapons. A solid effort from the developer and a strong contender in this growing genre of beat-em-up games.
I award Knock’em Out Thumb Cultures Silver Award!
Disclaimer: A code was received in order to write this review.
I’ve been playing games for most of my life; whether it be from playing Arkanoids with family around the Atari all trying to get high scores, entertaining my niece and nephew while babysitting playing an array of games, going round friends to play the latest split screen games, playing for my son as he grew up influencing him to become an avid gamer himself. Its in my DNA.
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