Barbearian

Genre: Isometric Action-RPG

Players: 1

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Review:

Barbearian, released in 2018 on PC and ported to Nintendo Switch in 2020, is an Isometric Action-RPG with some light Strategy elements where players take the role of an axe-wielding warrior in a bear skin zapped to another plane of existence to fight hordes of skeleton warriors, along the way freeing prisoners who will take up arms in support of your fight.

The presentation here makes use of decent cartoony 2D visuals in a 3D space, with some nice lighting and water effects. It looks good, though everything is zoomed out so you may miss some of the smaller details in the midst of battle with hundreds of enemies. This is all backed by a very energetic soundtrack that seems maybe a bit too energetic, as it can distract a bit from the action at times.

When it comes to the gameplay, I’m reminded somewhat of the game Undead Horde, which similarly has players fighting in battles with lots of smaller troops in your entourage. Unfortunately, the comparison doesn’t work well in Barbearian’s favor – this game’s Action-RPG side is let down by a lack of upgrades for your character and monotonous combat with a simple three-hit combo made tedious by the fact that larger enemies all tend to attack you between the second and third hits.

Meanwhile, the more strategy-focused side of things represented by your collection of troops is let down by your inability to command or organize them in any way – they pretty much just do whatever they want to do. This is far from ideal when what they want to do is walk right up to a large enemy you’re currently fighting and get slaughtered.

Overall, I just did not enjoy my time with Barbearian, as nothing it did was something it seemed to do all that well, and I just cannot see myself playing this when undead Horde is similar, and also better in nearly every way. I suggest you play that game instead.

tl;dr – Barbearian is an Isometric Action-RPG with some light Strategy elements that has you playing as a warrior in a bearskin fighting off hordes of enemies using your axe and recruiting other fighters to your cause. This game tries to juggle multiple elements, but doesn’t do any of them very well, and in any case the similar game Undead Horde does this sort of thing much better. I suggest you play that instead.

Grade: C-

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