Pizza Hero

[h1][b] TLDR: A Vampire Survivors knockoff that copies the formula but forgot the fun. Clunky skills, terrible audio, and poor graphics/UI, make this feel like a 48-hour game jam project. [/b] [/h1] [h1]PROS: [/h1] ➕Decent (Vampire) Survivors-like mechanics [h1]NEUTRALS: [/h1] 🔹Like the pizza theme, but I’d like to see more pizza-themed levels instead of Survivors levels [h1]CONS: [/h1] ➖Feels cheap/clunky ➖Graphic settings don’t save - game is forced into full screen every time upon opening ➖Poor sound effects ➖Severe lack of sustain turns runs into more of a bullet hell instead of a Survivor-like [h1] [b] Content (Game world/Narrative) – [3/10] [/b] [/h1] The game world has a few different areas, like a graveyard and a forest. The levels seem infinite, similar to Vampire Survivors. Nothing too special here, but I do appreciate more attention on the levels than say Brotato. No narrative. [h1][b] Gameplay (Mechanics/Difficulty) – [3/10] [/b] [/h1] The mechanics here are pretty much a Survivor’s-like game that borrows heavily from Vampire Survivors (VS), with some slight differences. The biggest being obviously the entire game is pizza themed. Each topping does their own attack, but otherwise, it’s the same as VS - just with black olives instead of bibles. There is a pet system. You can find and unlock pets which help you pick up EXP. There’s also a dodge too. You can jet forward a little bit to better reposition. Nothing much else seems to be different though. I’ll say that the mechanics do feel much cheaper and clunkier here. Often upgrades are vague like “Increases damage by a bit” What’s a bit? I have no idea. But all the skills seem to lack the satisfying clearing of VS, making even the max level upgrades appear puny and dull. The difficulty is higher here, mostly because of a noticeable lack of sustain. The only way to heal HP is through the random heart-carrying enemies that seem to pop on screen every few minutes. This effectively turns the game into more of a bullet hell than Survivor-like. [h1] [b] Graphics (Quality/Technical) – [1/10] [/b] [/h1] Pretty bad, even when compared to VS. This is PS1-era fidelity. Animations are very simple. There is nothing about this game that looks good. UI is not great either. There are very few graphical options. Despite that, the game kept resetting my chosen options each time I started it up. I’ve had multiple times [i]during gameplay in the middle of a run[/i] where the game would minimize and show its weird little launcher. It makes me think this is some sort of malicious program or miner, but I have no proof, it could just simply be an awful technical side. 1440p @ 240hz | installed on SSD [h1] [b] Audio – [1/10] [/b] [/h1] Simple and generic. Music sounds very simple, like 8-bit. Also, the sound effects sound like they were recorded off of Discord using a mic. It’s bad. [h1] [b] Replay Factor (Longevity) – [6/10] [/b] [/h1] Decent, there’s the roguelite progression that is the same that VS has. If you can get past terrible everything else, there’s some good replay value here. [h1] [b] Final Verdict – [2/10] [/b] [/h1] Pizza Hero (PH) comes across initially as a Vampire Survivors-like game. It has most of the elements like the roguelite progression and borderline copyright infringement skills, but it’s lacking a major thing that VS has - defensive abilities, notably HP Regen. This small but simple change turns PH into more of a bullet hell than a true Survivor’s game. But PH digs the hole deeper than that. Between the clunky skills, terrible graphics/animations/UI, poor audio, and numerous technical issues, PH has a loot and feel of a game made during 48-hour game-a-thon event or a college capstone course. I understand that assessment can be a bit harsh, especially for an indie dev, so as someone who was given this game for free, would I have paid $2 for it? Probably not, no. I’d rather that money be put to Vampire Survivors and/or its DLC. So, I guess to be clear, I wouldn’t consider this game worth it in any world where Vampire Survivors already exists. I could understand if there was some passion behind this game, but there isn’t. It feels like abandonware that should be free. [h1] [b] Recommend? (Price) [Y/N] [/b] [/h1] [h1]No[/h1] This should really be free with an optional DLC for dev support. You can find my curator page here: https://steamcommunity.com/groups/Synik_GR