At the time of writing Retrorealms Arcade consists of two different videogames. Both are action platformers with plenty of gore and about ten levels each. One of the games is themed around the Halloween movie franchise and let's you hack and slash as Michael Myers. The second game let's you play as Ash from the Evil Dead franchise.

What's pretty cool is that you can replay the Evil Dead levels as Michael Myers and the Halloween levels as Ash. It slightly changes the story and collectibles, but not much else. Nevertheless, I think it's a fun concept.

At the moment both of these games sell for € 24,99 each and I do feel that is too much for what's being offered. The levels are challenging, but fairly short. You can replay the levels for high scores and to collect tickets that allow you to buy collectibles (like Michaels Mask and knife) to showcase in the Arcade museum. Not much else here at the moment.

The reason that I'm still recommending Retrorealms is that I hope they can expand on this concept with more games and different horror villains. Having Freddy Krueger and Jason Voorhees as playable characters with their own levels would make this the horror game crossover I always wanted. If the devs can expand on this idea I have high hopes that it will be a game I will be replaying every Halloween.

If that doesn't happen: both games are fun enough to buy on a sale.

I'm so conflicted with this. Here's the good news, I think this game will be an easy buy if the devs fix a couple things, but with a "recommend," or "not recommend" system I have to say "not recommend" right now.

The main reasons,

Content:

This is going to be reviewed as 2 25 dollar games, because that's what it is, and let me tell you for 25 dollars a game there is not enough content. The mix and match feature is amazing and will be great if they get a couple more franchises but some key features are, and still will be missing. This can be remedied with a couple things, difficulty modes, a "ranking" system for each level (F-S or something like that), maybe more specific challenges with each character per game. As of right now if you beat the game you only really have to play again for collectibles (which I like don't hear me wrong).

Again just a difficulty mode or an "arcade" mode where you start on 1-1 and have to finish the game with only a certain amount of lives would be GREAT for replayability. Add a couple stat screens to show individual character clears, specific challenges done, character specific stats (kills with this special, etc.) and the game would be in a much better place.

The issue with this is that this is bare bones and while I understand the price is probably 90% rights for these franchises, a little would go a LONG way.

Pacing:

So this game is somewhat.... off. It looks to play as a fast paced side scrolling beat em up but boy when I tell you start up frames on attacks are very slow, movement can be clunky, and there isn't much "speed" to your character, I definitely don't consider this game to be how its advertised. Again this could be fixed, there's a bit to the actual input that feels laggy, but even still I wish combos were quicker, attacking in general was quicker. I feel like I have to react 1.5 seconds before I actually need to, which again just feels bad and clunky.

Character Specifics:

This is more wishful thinking but boy oh boy would I love just a LITTLE more to make each character feel different. Something like an ultimate, specific finishing animations for bosses, a slightly deeper combo system. If I compare this to most other beat em ups its missing a LOT to make each character really stand out outside of being like "oh hey thats Michael Myers." An ult per character, one more attack (like light/heavy) a combo system (only about 3-5 each), and a unique cutscene finishing each boss would make my inner horror dweeb fanboy all over the place.

Like I said at the beginning this one is a BIT more wishful thinking especially adding a light/heavy attack because I understand that would cause a lot of changes, programming, and art. I do however think its worth considering if this series wants to continue strong.

Overall, I can't recommend this, but I want to. I will definitely play more, I'd like to beat everything I currently have on it, and I will definitely keep an eye out for ANYTHING to make this game better. I will definitely change my suggestion if I see the game going in the right direction.

Too expensive but Laurie Strode can double jump, canonically.