Has Been Heroes Reviews
There are some good ideas in Has Been Heroes, such as the way it uses multi-lane battlefields to make us use strategies that involve switching between the strengths of three different heroes to achieve victory. It's a recipe for fun that manages to last for a while. Eventually, though, the heavy emphasis on the luck of level generation, the frustrations of enemy repetition, the poor tutorial, and the tendency to overrun you with tough enemies spoil the whole. Hard games are great, but there are limits.
People keep saying the Nintendo Switch is light on launch games. I think they mean it’s light on big AAA games, because the Indie titles like Has Been Heroes are a bright shining light for great content on the Switch. Even if you don’t have the console, I’d suggest checking out the other versions of Has Been Heroes. If you like games like FTL, Darkest Dungeon, and other unique roguelikes that focus on strategy you’ll be more than pleased. It’ll be nice if Frozenbyte adds more and more to this game, but even if they don’t it’s a great experience. Recommended.
I wish I would have gotten an opportunity to meet more of the Has-Been Heroes, like the anthropologist who became a luchador, and someday I will get there. Most roguelikes cause me to give up in frustration, but Has-Been Heroes is fun enough that I want to keep playing and someday have "teh urn".
As a console game, I can't recommend it, but if you're the type of person who plays your Nintendo Switch on the go, it at least is something you can pick up and play for a bit without much thought. Has-Been Heroes would benefit greatly with touchscreen controls on a mobile device, as the gameplay seems tailor made for it, but alas it doesn't support the Switch's touch capabilities and isn't available on phones. But hey, at least it features HD Rumble, which is easily the most over-hyped and overrated feature of the Switch, so there is that.
Overall, Has-Been Heroes is a very enjoyable experience, despite the difficulty level. While I wouldn't recommend this game for younger gamers as they will probably get too frustrated, this is definitely something players with patience can really sink hours and hours into.
Permanent death and randomized everything might prove too unpredictable for some. The lack of a robust story might turn off others. Players who adjust to the steep learning curve, however, will find an engaging title full of action and strategy with high replay value.
Has Been Heroes is a fun yet flawed rogue-like. The steady flow of unlockable content and frantic strategy are engaging, but the brutal boss encounters that often rely on luck from pickups can be infuriating.
Has-Been Heroes is a challenging and charming indie adventure
I'm not sure if the game would work as well for such an extended period of time if I were tethered to an Xbox One or my PC to play, but the Nintendo Switch appears to provide for the best gameplay experience.
Simply put, Has-Been Heroes is one of the most engaging strategic gaming experiences on the market.
Maybe I'm just a "kick me while I'm down and I'll still get up" kind of guy but the best compliment I can pay Has-Been Heroes is that it scratches an itch I never even knew I had, and I don't come along games like that often enough. Depending on where you are on the challenge-loving scale will likely determine where you'll stand, individual results will likely vary.
Has-Been Heroes has a genuinely inviting and involving combat system that requires real strategic thought to master. However the rest of the game just doesn’t pull together to form a cohesive whole, with brutal difficulty, frustrating permadeath and an under-utilised premise all serving to taint the end product. It does at least benefit from the Nintendo Switch’s portability, and this is where it’s at its best, but at home you’ll likely be turning it off far quicker than Frozenbyte were hoping for.
A heavy dose of randomness coupled with a lack of permanent progression makes Has-Been Heroes a chore to keep playing. Though there's a good strategy idea buried in its multi-lane gameplay, the high-risk, no-reward setup isn't satisfying enough to make up for its otherwise mediocre aspects. Coupled with repetitive enemies, forgettable assets, and bizarre controls, Has-Been Heroes is a game that can go right back into retirement.
Like its titular characters, Has-Been Heroes may look like nothing new, but has a charm and unique style of gameplay that should not be overlooked
Maybe I'm just a "kick me while I'm down and I'll still get up" kind of guy but the best compliment I can pay Has-Been Heroes is that it scratches an itch I never even knew I had, and I don't come along games like that often enough. Depending on where you are on the challenge-loving scale will likely determine where you'll stand, individual results will likely vary.
The core concept of Has-Been Heroes is excellent. I love the theory behind the combat, and I love the exploration. In practice, though, Has-Been Heroes is confusing and fiddly in ways that make it frustrating to play, rather than challenging.
Despite all of these complaints, Has-Been Heroes isn’t a terrible time.
Has-Been Heroes is an interesting attempt at a new kind of puzzle/strategy/brawler hybrid, but it’s never as much fun to play as it looks like it should be. It’s a game that has good ideas and strong visual design in its favour, but it never manages to balance the high difficulty level with rewards that make the hardship worth your while.
Overall, Has Been Heroes is...ok. If the RNG was fixed up a bit and the difficulty curve was altered so you're gradually introduced to the game, it would be a pretty good rogue-like. As it is now, it's simply too frustrated and luck-based to be up there with other great rogue-likes like Rogue Legacy or Darkest Dungeon.
Has-Been Heroes could be better if it had more depth, far more addictive if it wasn't as repetitive, and, most of all, an unquestionably worthy purchase if the gameplay didn't rely on randomness as much as it currently does so. Long story short: very one-more-try-ish, but also in definite need of some tweaking.