Punch Club

I ended up having to get this title refunded. It's a good game and I wouldn't have bought it otherwise but I was noticing a few bugs that would result in buttons that were un-clickable and just being unable to interact with the elements on the screen. I don't normally play simulators but this was the kind of game you could kind of just kick back to and enjoy without a tremendous amount of effort but with a lot of unfortunate grinding. It has some good nostalgia in both the form of 16bit visuals & references to 80s & 90s pop culture for e.g. the 2 dudes sitting the pizza shop from Pulp Fiction, or the mutant Crocodiles in the sewers who happen to be like the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles & there's a lot more. The gameplay & RPG mechanics were fairly in depth, being able to pick your fighting style, train & earn skills was a nice touch. The story on top, albeit a bit cliche (like a typical 80s/90s movie) was actually decent. I had watched a group of YouTubers playing it prior to buying it and noticed that my version of the game was very different from theirs, primarily the fast forward button that lets you speed up the fights. After investigating to see whether there was a patch in the works, I noticed that the Steam version was still being updated & was a good few months/patches ahead of the GoG version. Digging deeper it seems the developers didn't want to update the game because to sum up what they're saying: "GoG supports & contributes to piracy of Punch Club." what's ironic is that you can pirate the LATEST version of the game... which would mean it was the Steam version. It's a real shame the developers decided to live up to the first word in their company name, otherwise I would have kept this game. I'm sorry GoG have to be the 1s to foot the refund though & hope they get reimbursed.

Old version without updates. Don't buy games from lazy developers. At least they are honest with their company name.

No recommendation. It's an old buggy version. The publisher doesn't update the game on GOG.

Double Dragon. Final Fight. Streets of Rage. River City Ransom. Every arcade game where Chicken was the pickup for health and GO -> Was your only plot motivation. Often it was ham fisted and you honestly never cared because it was all about the pallet swapped McDojo Brothers kicking ass and taking names until the sequels ran out, or the quarters vanished. If you loved ANY of these, then you deserve this game. References so far- Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Mortal Kombat. Under Siege. Jay and Silent Bob. Fight Club. Dragon the Bruce Lee story. Cobra. Rocky. Chuck Norris. These are a few of the in game references that I noticed having just started and being unable to stop, except to shout that everything so far is GREAT. It plays like Broken Sword and River City Ransom had a baby. The Combat is exhaustive and detailed, but not in your direct control. You pick a series of learned moves, in between bouts and rounds (like a coach in a UFC match). You can train at home, underground, in a gym, with a buddy, or go full street. This game I will say is probably, accidentally I might add, every Mixed Martial Arts fans wet dream (the one with blood) because the combat is like watching a match, only YOU build one of the fighters. It's got that old school Pokemon feel with a 'Bruce Lee hyphenation'. Whoever did this, loves martial arts. Mixed, street, traditional, modern, competitive, all of it. Boxers will love that combination hand fighting is in, Muai Thai will love that low kicks matter. Street types will love that there are tactics only learned the hard way. Traditionalists will love discovering the true masters. UFC fans will love that you can match them all and that it actually simulates the slow crawl to the competitive top. (fighting underground will get you injured for example) Music is fantastic, 8 bit excellence. It reminds me of Stick RPG from Newgrounds but with a sheer depth that will keep the 90s kids nodding. Affectionate parody incarnate with STRONG play.