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.
This roguelike’s cool combat system is held back by a terrible structure.
Despite all of these complaints, Has-Been Heroes isn’t a terrible time.
Has-Been Heroes is a game that is full of great ideas but gets dragged down by poor execution. The way it combines RPG and roguelike elements with basic tower defense gameplay has so much potential that it unfortunately can't live up to in the face of imbalanced difficulty curves and unwieldy controls. It feels much more like a proof of concept that, with time and updates, could some day lead to a great adventure.
Hard and unforgiving, Has Been Heroes has the potential to create the videogame equivalent of Jack Torrance in anyone who plays it.
A tedious trawl through the worst aspects of roguelikes, turn-based strategy, and bad interface design. Only somehow less fun than that sounds.
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.
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.
Has-Been Heroes is an initially appealing title that quickly becomes bogged down by a lack of good instructions, too much luck-based randomness, and permadeath that never quits.
The world of Has-Been Heroes is too frustrating due to the same type of enemies, random difficulty level and lack of motivation to run it more than once a week. The only exception is the version for the Nintendo Switch, which can be good for short sessions in buses, subways and trains, replacing no less monotonous games for tablets and mobile phones.
Review in Russian | Read full review
Has-Been Heroes is as tough as nails and built for people that like to lose over and over again. The combat offers an interesting twist on a familiar mechanic, but never really evolves beyond that initial learning process. Some of the whimsy present in the Trine series has been carried over here, but not enough to balance out the punishing difficulty.
The roguelike genre is a game genre I've never bothered to explore. There was just never a game that caught my eye. Admittedly, Has-Been Heroes was no exception. The trailers didn't stir much interest in me and my initial demo of the game turned me off even more because of a control scheme I felt was confusing at the time. Now, with over 10 hours of gameplay under my belt I have to admit that Has-Been Heroes has become one of my most recommended titles for the Switch.
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.
Has-Been Heroes is a challenging and charming indie adventure
An addictive and entertaining roguelite, Has-Been Heroes has some novel ideas that makes it an absolute blast for when you have 30 minutes to kill for another run.
Has-Been Heroes, best enjoyed in short bursts, is a clever take on roguelikes and a strong argument for the Switch's easy portability.
Has-Been Heroes isn't a bad game, but I wasn't excited to start over after my first loss. After coming to understand the mechanics and strategy better, I am enjoying it to some degree, but I don't feel any less frustrated every time I lose. The only thing driving me to play more is my inner completionist, but if you're looking for a game with a compelling story and more to it than just unlocking more in-game items and spells, then this might not be the title for you.
Without narrative hooks, valuable prizes and more diverse in-game situations, Has been heroes overstays its welcome after just a couple of hours, also let down by horrible difficulty spikes and an unfairly procedurally generated maps. Try it again, Frozenbyte.
Review in Italian | Read full review
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.