If you are like me, you are a fan of brawler style games. There is something about just picking up the controller and laying waste to whatever happens across your screen. No complicated controller motions to remember to pull off cool looking moves. No having to wade through a bullet hell that makes you wish for the days of unintentional slow motion. No “Sorry, the princess is somewhere else banging the bad guy”. Nope, none of that. Vengeance Hunters seems to remember the good old days of brawlers. The days of Streets of Rage 2 and Final Fight.
Image Credit - Nalua Studio website
Simple is Sometimes Best
Brawler games, by nature, are simple games. Pick a character that you like based on basic things like attack, defense, overall look and prepare to mash buttons.
Vengeance Hunters gives you more of a visual option rather than straight up telling you this character is stronger than that one. The girl, Candy, is quicker but weaker when attacking. Golem, the robot, is stronger but will be slower. That leaves Loony as the all-around character that doesn’t excel, or fail, at any one category.
Graphics Matter More Than We Like to Admit
Most retro gamers will say graphics don’t matter, or not as much as most people think. While I have no problem firing up something like Asteroids on the Atari 2600, I do enjoy better graphics as much as the next gamer.
Vengeance Hunters has a high watermark for graphics to stand up to when you mention Neo Geo hardware.
Unfortunately, from the game play video John Hancock over on YouTube posted (embedded here), I don’t think Vengeance Hunters holds up to the standard SNK and others created.
The reason I am pointing the finger at the Neo Geo version is, well, honestly the physical edition starts at $349. I am just not feeling Vengeance Hunters is worth that asking price.
Not my video, that credit is John Hancock on YouTube
Calling Back to the Classics
Vengeance Hunters does do one thing quite well from what I have seen. The aesthetic is awesome and more in line with what I think gamers wanted out of that Night Slashers Remake (another brawler with a horror theme).
This genre is not well represented anymore on Neo Geo which is a shame. Back in the day there was a brawler called Mutation Nation that caught my eye and was the reason I started following the Neo Geo. Nice to see something like Vengeance Hunters carrying on that overall theme and going farther with it in many ways.
Vengeance Hunters is available for the PlayStation 4 and 5 and Nintendo Switch for $20, as well as the Neo Geo.
If you have deep pockets and must own EVERY Neo Geo game released then time to add another brawler to your collection. For everyone else, that digital copy on PlayStation or Nintendo Switch is priced just right in my opinion.