River City Girls Reviews
While it was a slow start I enjoyed my time in River City with Misako and Kyoko. The hand drawn art is incredible and the song list adds to the pacing and overall vibe. The move list eventually gets into enough depth to feel like a new addition to the genre. I’m eager for River City Girls 2. We’ll see how Wayforward changes up an already strong entry on the next go-round.
With the problematic screen transition issue fixed and some other tweaks implemented since launch, River City Girls is in better shape than ever no matter what format you play it on. But factor in a sprinkling of PS5-centric improvements, and you have what is undoubtedly the best version of the game yet. If you’re a fan of side-scrolling beat ’em ups, consider this a must-have.
I'd classify River City Girls as a fun, anime-inspired romp that's worth the time if you're looking for a balance between the visceral satisfaction you get from pummeling enemies on-screen and some of the off-center humor one can find in pieces like "Scott Pilgrim vs The World." It has that kind of vibe, and it's a great change of pace from the more heavy-handed stuff out there.
Smash through hordes of enemies in a stylish beat'em up, where getting in the way of two cheeky teenagers is really not a good idea.
Review in Slovak | Read full review
River City Girls is like a sweet treat of the beat 'em up standard and does not overstay its welcome.
River City Girls may have been full of walls for me but I can still wholeheartedly recommend it to just about any player, especially those fond of the beat-em-up genre. Just be warned that going without help is a lot tougher than expected.
We had fun with River City Girls, almost as much as with the old titles of the franchise and expecially in coop mode, but we're not sure purists will appreciate some of the new ideas. It's a pity that the game is a little bit pricey, too.
Review in Italian | Read full review
River City Girls feels like a genuine return to an experience that, three decades prior, played an integral role in kick-starting my love for the RPG genre.
I’m not the only one disappointed in this ending. It was the topic of discussion shortly after the game launched on message boards and on Twitter. Many people have had very colorful things to say about Wayforward when it comes to this ending and their portrayal of female characters. Despite my last two paragraphs, I’m not here to attack Wayforward or Arc System Works for this. I think they made an excellent game that hits almost all the right notes but just couldn’t fully nail the landing. I encourage them to revisit and expand on this story in a sequel, because I think the biggest reason the ending doesn’t make a lot of sense to me is that it’s very abrupt. It feels like there was more story to be told about these characters and I would love to hear and see it. Also I just want to play more River City Girls! Some of you might think the $29.99 price tag for the digital release is a bit high, but aside from the ending, this was one hell of a good time. If you are interested in a physical copy, Limited Run Games had a standard edition available to preorder until September 27th. If you were unable to preorder a copy by then and are still looking for a physical copy, Play-Asia also has multi-language physical copies for both PlayStation 4 and Nintendo Switch.
Old school game in terms of graphics and mechanics, but that has adapted very well to the new times, bringing freshness to the genre with its humor and its rpg touches.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
I wanted to love River City Girls. A modern side scrolling beat 'em up, from a proven developer like WayForward, with bright, bold visuals, and two kick-ass heroines should have been great. Instead, thanks to way too much repetitive grinding, River City Girls is a bit boring. Something I never thought I'd say about a game that has high school children hitting zombie cheerleaders with wrenches.
It would be a lie to say River City Girls is not a good game. This game is full of charm and style, it is really fun to play and the high production values clearly show themselves. But the problem is that it misses some quality of life features to solve many of the recurring flaws in most of beat'em up games (like keys being set to perform multiple commands), and those same flaws have lowered the quality of this game's overall experience as well
Review in Persian | Read full review
It’s fantastic to have a couch co-op game that takes all of the classic elements of beat-’em-ups and gives them an upgrade that feels modern and fresh.
If you’ve got a friend and some free time, I think there’s a lot of enjoyment to be had here with River City Girls, and the amazing art and music certainly enhance that.
I hope WayForward gets to follow this game up so they can tweak their gameplay a bit and explore their take on the world of River City a bit more.
River City Girls is a 16bit beat’em up à la Streets of Rage, Final Fight where players roam around levels beating up enemies to earn money and XP. The latter differentiates it from other beat’em ups as most games of the genre do not feature levelling up features.
Before long, you will notice that the sweat you once poured trying to get through brawlers like Streets of Rage and Final Fight is absent here.
River City Girls' fisticuffs, stellar presentation, and RPG-elements make it an exciting and fun entry in the long running River City/Kunio-kun series, but a few missteps prevent it from achieving PC gaming greatness.
While it’s gameplay may not stand out as anything unique, it’s a lot of fun. Learning how to pull off a one-two-three punch/kick combo, allotted with an awesome finisher is such a gratifying feat that ultimately displays how a combo string should really be delivered. River City Girls is unmissable, and is one of the best arcade based experiences this year.