Heatwave

Just hopped on this game within the past few weeks, and immediately I fell in love. Some of the cleanest gameplay I've had with a fighter in a while, this has instantly jumped up to one of my favorites of all time gameplay-wise. Aside from two characters that are perfectly fine, just not my style, I've had fun with the whole roster and all three of the main modes. The pixel art is beautiful all-around, though I and some other people I've played with have had issues with move readability on first impression. (I've found more time in the game has reduced this issue significantly, but it should still be noted). Music is a bit rough - like these are perfectly fine songs in isolation, but very few feel like the scores for a battle, and none have stuck in my head outside of the game. Sound effects are stellar though, every hit feels crunchy in just the right ways. A lack of online multiplayer outside of Parsec or Steam Remote Player is a massive downside for any fighter in this day and age, and has made this game a hard sell to some of my friends. With all that said, I'd say the game's story alone makes it well worth the $10 price tag. Will be bringing to my local for many weeks to come.

I'm surprised with how robust the roster is, you can unlock several characters in the Story Mode. The story is nice, the gameplay is fun, the art style is a bit weird (many characters have weirdly small heads that contrast with their large bodies), but I do love how this is shamelessly queer, every character is queer and there is a LOT of gratuitous sexiness from the masc side of the roster. Excellent, especially for this price.

absolute gem of an indie fighter. even without online, i find myself coming back to it again and again to discover and grind out new combo routes. so much self expression!! just play it :))

the last blade but it's an arcsys game

No online versus. No plans for online versus. I thought that these were the only problems, so I wasn't going to leave a negative review, but after actually getting the chance to play against someone in person, I realized the lack of easy multiplayer was serving to mask the underlying issues Heatwave actually has a fighting game. If you truly do not want to engage in any kind of multiplayer and just want to get the single player experience stuff, you're a fundamentally different gamer than I am, but Heatwave seems fine. If your fighting game experience requires other people, Heatwave will not make that easy, and it will be disappointing when you do manage.

Has a playable goose.