Drunkn Bar Fight is a four-player, virtual reality (VR) party game developed and published by Leaper. It was released on the Oculus Quest on April 22nd, 2019 for $9.99 USD and requires an Oculus account to purchase.
The core gameplay of Drunkn Bar Fight focuses around melee-based combat between two teams of four, similar to other party games such as Gang Beasts or Nidhogg. Players can punch and kick each other with their hands and feet respectively, as well as throw projectiles found around the map. There are a variety of different stages a player can choose from to fight in, all of which have varying environmental hazards that can affect gameplay.
The graphics in Drunkn Bar Fight are cartoony and simple looking but maintain high quality. The sound design is also high quality despite being potentially repetitive. In my opinion, the art style doesn’t quite fit the theme of fighting drunken humans at a bar but I’m not opposed to it either.
Drunken Bar Fight’s main draws are its four-player multiplayer capabilities and arcadey action gameplay. I found that the game was enjoyable for a few minutes but lost its charm quite quickly due to the repetitive nature of the gameplay. However, if you have friends willing to play with you, Drunkn Bar Fight can be an entertaining party game.
GAMEPLAY 6/10
The core gameplay of Drunkn Bar Fight is simple and straightforward. Punch other players to make them lose health while avoiding taking damage yourself. On top of this, there are environmental hazards that can be triggered or activated by players such as trapdoors or lasers. While it’s easy for beginners and newcomers to the game, the main challenge comes from playing against another human rather than an AI due to the lack of any skill ceiling whatsoever. As a result, I believe that the gameplay gets stale quickly and doesn’t offer much in terms of depth or strategy.
PRESENTATION 7/10
Although simplistic in nature, Drunkn Bar Fight does have decent graphics which maintain high quality despite being simple in design. It has similar sound design to that of Nidhogg which is high quality but potentially repetitive. Despite this, Drunkn Bar Fight’s presentation isn’t bad unless you’re looking for complex VR visuals.
LONGEVITY 5/10
While the game is fun with friends or a group of people, I, unfortunately, do not believe that single-player games have much playability within them. As a result, I think that there will be a hard time keeping players invested for extended periods of time if they do not have any friends to play with on a regular basis. There are leaderboards so it does keep things competitive between players but–in my opinion–that isn’t enough to keep me entertained for longer than 20 minutes at a time sans multiplayer.
POLISH 5/10
Many of my issues with the game stem from its lack of polish and depth. Although I understand that this is a party game at heart, the little depth within the combat system feels amateurish in comparison to other similar games on the Oculus Quest such as Stand Out or Dead and Buried 2 . In addition to that, many of my issues with gameplay stemmed from bugs such as getting stuck inside objects when spawned during a match. While I’m willing to give Drunkn Bar Fight a pass for being an early access release, it needs more attention paid to it before I can recommend it in its current state.
FINAL SCORE: 5/10
Drunkn BarFight is a simple party game with arcade combat elements. While it has decent graphics and sound design, the lack of depth within its gameplay leaves much to be desired. If you have friends or other people to play with on a regular basis I would recommend checking this out as it can be fun for a few minutes at a time but other than that, there isn’t much here for single-player gamers.
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