No Straight Roads

 PC
User Score
7.4

Mixed or average reviews- based on 86 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 59 out of 86
  2. Mixed: 9 out of 86
  3. Negative: 18 out of 86

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  1. Sacchin
    Nov 16, 2022
    0
    I love the music! I found this game on a whim while listening to some game ost and to my surprise the whole game has only slaps.
  2. GregLobstery
    Jul 22, 2022
    7
    It's been said but yeah, the art style and soundtrack are pretty cool but the gameplay is the downfall of this game. Also all of the final boss cutscenes were just broken for me for some reason and the sprites remained onscreen at all times
  3. bornao
    Jan 24, 2022
    10
    I played steam release of this game since it's been a year from release of the game I didn't find any game breaking bugs.

    story is fine gameplay is fine and they handle what big companies failed to do this year, give us fun.
    for such a small development team this game is awesome and I really like it.
  4. Shimmeywill
    Feb 11, 2021
    7
    Good music fun art style and interesting concept. Execution is a bit lacklustre but its visuals and sound carry it quite far.
  5. akiri
    Dec 21, 2020
    8
    I love this game, I really do, but there’s a problem I’m having about the character models. You see, I’m playing the game on an Xbox One, and from what I’ve been seeing, certain characters have problems with their models. The best way I can explain it is that they look....incomplete? Like they haven’t been polished correctly (example: limbs look stretched out in certain places, body partsI love this game, I really do, but there’s a problem I’m having about the character models. You see, I’m playing the game on an Xbox One, and from what I’ve been seeing, certain characters have problems with their models. The best way I can explain it is that they look....incomplete? Like they haven’t been polished correctly (example: limbs look stretched out in certain places, body parts and outlines look rigid, parts of the body look kinda lumpy). Even when i updated both my game AND my Xbox, it still looks like that. I would like this issue to be fixed so I can enjoy the game properly :)… Expand
  6. cube2kids
    Nov 29, 2020
    9
    A really beautiful game, with awesome graphics. it's a bit short, but has awesome OST, and while the level between each bosses aren't great, each bosses are a pleasure to play, with personality. I would really recommend this game !
  7. Depression717
    Oct 30, 2020
    8
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Eu gostei bastante do jogo
    Por causa que ele é ritimado
    As músicas ficam na sua cabeça igual chiclete
    Vale muito apena se vc quiser se divertir Apreciando um boa música    … Expand
  8. Ar2RdevilPiNKy
    Oct 11, 2020
    8
    A true masterpiece, if you tune in to the wave of this game. Nice gameplay, amazing music, story, characters that are very interesting to watch and follow. And also really good jokes.

    Of course there are graphical bugs like when you can look beyond the city, or on the PC version there is a struggle with the interface in the menus. It would be great to have fixed bugs that prevent you    A true masterpiece, if you tune in to the wave of this game. Nice gameplay, amazing music, story, characters that are very interesting to watch and follow. And also really good jokes.

    Of course there are graphical bugs like when you can look beyond the city, or on the PC version there is a struggle with the interface in the menus. It would be great to have fixed bugs that prevent you from enjoying the atmosphere and exploring. I hope this happens.    … Expand
  9. SnarkyBee
    Oct 5, 2020
    9
    A fun, colourful game with cool characters and an amazing story! Game itself could definitely use some polish in spots but outside of that it's so enjoyable.
  10. aquiles1990
    Sep 21, 2020
    10
    This game is the most underrated gem of 2020! it's everything i wanted for battletoads. Beautiful and charm female character. Over the top music. Incredible animation and really funny jokes. No political correctness in any single sense. This game is a miracle
  11. Drogramirez
    Sep 20, 2020
    3
    Like other reviewers have mentioned, the story and music is good but the gameplay is very very bad.

    Combat is stiff and clunky. Hitting enemies feels like you are hitting a rock. They don't have any pain animation or hit feedback. They just continue doing whatever they are doing while you are hitting them which makes the gameplay feel really unsatisfying. Movement is also not tight and    Like other reviewers have mentioned, the story and music is good but the gameplay is very very bad.

    Combat is stiff and clunky. Hitting enemies feels like you are hitting a rock. They don't have any pain animation or hit feedback. They just continue doing whatever they are doing while you are hitting them which makes the gameplay feel really unsatisfying. Movement is also not tight and the jumping is floaty. The camera is fixed during battles and often placed at poor angles that looks cool to watch but doesn't play very well. One of the main mechanics in this game is that you can play music to transform objects but you don't really do much with this mechanic. There are not many objects that you can transform. Most of the time, the transformed objects will either shoot something or do something that is not clearly explained to the player - either way they will do some damage to the enemies. It's not as creative as say, Nintendo games where you must use the the core mechanics to solve puzzles. Here there are no puzzles to solve, you just need to hit everything. There also isn't much gameplay involving rhythm - sure the enemies all attack to the beat but that's about it.

    There's also a city hub which you are supposed to explore that feels very weird. The game is called No Straight Roads but all of the roads in the city are straight. The whole city is basically one straight path from start to end. There also isn't much to do in the city unlike other games where you can buy items, help npcs, play mini games, find secrets etc. Wish there was more more stuff you can do in the city that could expand on the world building. In local multiplayer mode, the camera only focuses on the first player which means that the second player cannot explore the city.

    Not to mention, the game is very buggy and unfinished. Although a lot of the bugs are visual, it really detracts from the experience because I would expect more polish from a $40 game. In almost every stage, there's always objects clipping against walls, textures that look muddy and objects popping in while missing vfx. In some cases, cutscene and dialogue audio is out of sync and sometimes the game crashes. Some gameplay sequences end abruptly leaving you to wonder whether there was supposed to be more but was cut out.

    The level designs are also very bad, especially for the security levels. A lot of the segments are repeated and the placement of the props feels awkward. Like for example, there are trees on top of a concrete floor, spotlights appearing out of nowhere, street lights not arranged properly, giant props that are not meant for human-size characters and many more. It looks like the level designers just randomly put props around the levels without thinking. The lighting is also very rough and the colors are off in certain sections. For example, the Sayu stage on the first platform, you can tell that the color saturation is very different from the rest of the stage. In addition, a lot of the levels have this extremely flashy colors and mirror-like reflective floors which makes it very difficult to focus on the gameplay.

    Overall, this game is either a hit or miss with some players. If you play the game for the music, visuals and the story, you might have a good time. For me, its a miss though. Because I prefer a much better gameplay when I'm playing a game and I expected more from this game. Like many people said, this game actually looks more fun to watch on YouTube than it is to play. Also it would be better if the game is $20 instead of $40.    … Expand
  12. SuperkenGaming
    Sep 12, 2020
    8
    No Straight Roads
    No Straight Roads is a 5 hour long beat em up game that can be played either solor or local coop where you play as Zuke and Mayday who set out to bring rock back to vinyl city
    and to do this you have to take on NSRs top EDM musicians and gather new fans and a following. There are 5 main artists here, all with their own unique feel to them which is no straight road’s    No Straight Roads
    No Straight Roads is a 5 hour long beat em up game that can be played either solor or local coop where you play as Zuke and Mayday who set out to bring rock back to vinyl city
    and to do this you have to take on NSRs top EDM musicians and gather new fans and a following.
    There are 5 main artists here, all with their own unique feel to them which is no straight road’s best accomplishment.. its world building, its character building, its story… this is such a fun world to exist in.. I couldn’t wait to take down the next boss in this game after beating one… and in between these boss battles is a little hub world full of collectables you can use to boost your weapons or upgrade the town a bit to gather new fans.. which in turn helps you unlock game boosts and abilities in your skill tree, making it that much more important to do your best in these boss battles… as primarily this is a score chasing game, unfortunately though the gameplay isn’t nearly as great as the rest of the game and its presentation is…
    on your way to each boss is a series of security levels, here youll take on robots that attack to the beat of the song, but it really is just an unengaging button mashing fest from each floor until you eventually get to the boss, and this is no straight roads biggest flaw, the gameplay, the combat, the platofmring.. it’s all a dud.. youre bashing square, occasionally shooting enemies in the distance and collecting power cells to upgrade the hubworld which is these sections saving grace… I enjoy the collecting more than I do every other aspect outside of the boss battles, and even the platforming is annoying thanks to a lack of any camera control… thankfully though these lackluster levels are worth getting to for the grand finale, the boss battles…
    As a score chasing game, its all about score.. so this isn’t really a game that sets out to give you a challenging boss to beat, but rather beat this boss in the fastest time taking the least amount of damage as possible, a even if you fail youre given the option to continue from that spot but forfitting any chance of a great score, which means lower amount of fans earned by the end.. but I feel this sortve defeates the purpose.. the only point of getting a good score is to get more fans so that you can be more powerful, but whats the point of being powerful if you have infinite continues to get through the games story…
    really making all of the skill tree and rpg systems in this game pretty pointless…
    Overall though no straight roads is a plesent surprise, it’s a unique experience with a great world worth visting, and some of the best characters this generation of games has to offer,
    I give no straight roads
    a 7.5/10    … Expand
  13. Noctircus
    Sep 11, 2020
    10
    The first game by Metronomik is really promising and breath-taking. While the gameplay may be a bit average but the music itself are indeed praiseworthy.
  14. Wqrt
    Sep 7, 2020
    10
    Really good everything. Good music, good voice acting, good character design,etc.
  15. CreepyAmy
    Sep 7, 2020
    9
    One of the most creative games I have played.The style, characters and story make up for the gameplay which can be buggy at times.My only problem is that the Switch version of the game has too many bugs but I know that the team is working hard to remove them.
  16. Cryslyn
    Sep 7, 2020
    10
    fun, vibrant, and unique. the game is has very charming characters and seeing them interact makes me happy
  17. Shinoluigi
    Sep 5, 2020
    5
    A Game with a nice idea, but bad execution , the Style, the music, the characters are all 100/100
    But, its demise it's the gameplay, and the stages , movement is way too clunky making the most simple platforming such hell, the stages, while they look pretty well, are very simple with literal no range of normal "minions" to defeat, its always the same 3 enemies repainted with a small    A Game with a nice idea, but bad execution , the Style, the music, the characters are all 100/100
    But, its demise it's the gameplay, and the stages , movement is way too clunky making the most simple platforming such hell, the stages, while they look pretty well, are very simple with literal no range of normal "minions" to defeat, its always the same 3 enemies repainted with a small tweak.

    If this game would have focus a lot more into the boss rush mode, with the double or triple the bosses and leaving the normal enemies out of it could have been amazing!    … Expand
  18. Shiemi
    Sep 5, 2020
    10
    Ce jeu est génial et à recommander, non seulement pour sa music qui est entraînante, les personnages qui sont tous attachant, le graphisme qui est magnifique, l'histoire est unique. Je suis aussi contente, car Julien Chièze Youtubeur à donner sa voix à un personnages qui est juste parfait
  19. KoreanOgre
    Sep 5, 2020
    9
    I was watching this game for a long time. Glad it came out. Definitely one of the best indie games to come out for a couple of years now. Sound track is great. Character design is great. Art is beautiful. Only things I would feel iffy on is the level design for pre-boss fights, and how certain bosses you just stand around half the time. For example 1010 got those shields and in the harderI was watching this game for a long time. Glad it came out. Definitely one of the best indie games to come out for a couple of years now. Sound track is great. Character design is great. Art is beautiful. Only things I would feel iffy on is the level design for pre-boss fights, and how certain bosses you just stand around half the time. For example 1010 got those shields and in the harder difficulties, you kinda have to sit around waiting for the parry. Besides that, I wish there was just more to the game and story. It was great. I would've loved to see more interaction between the characters. More DJ Subatomic Supernova being a snob. He could've been talking on an intercom as you progress through a level or something. Multiple levels. More moves. These are things I wished would've been in the game. But, it's an indie passion project, and it is definitely something I can't even get close to creating if I had the same tools. I just wish to see more work by these same developers and artists. James Landino and Funk Fiction especially. I look forward to future games with such colorful and beautiful environments.… Expand
  20. Rhaeleden
    Sep 4, 2020
    0
    I really hope the developers take the time to fix all these gameplay issues because they are hard to justify given the $40 price point of this game. Even without all these bugs, the price for the game is still questionable given the relatively short and unpolished gameplay.

    Some people are saying that this game is made by a small team but if you pay attention to the credits, there is at    I really hope the developers take the time to fix all these gameplay issues because they are hard to justify given the $40 price point of this game. Even without all these bugs, the price for the game is still questionable given the relatively short and unpolished gameplay.

    Some people are saying that this game is made by a small team but if you pay attention to the credits, there is at least 100 people and several studios involved in the making of this game. It's certainly not AAA but that is a MASSIVE budget for an indie game. Additionally, the Metronomik team has assistance from a big publisher and has also received the Epic Games exclusivity grant.

    With the amount of people involved as well as the pricing of the game, I feel that this game needs be compared with other action games of similar price points especially if games like Psychonauts ($20) and Child of Light ($15) are considered non-indie. I wouldn't mind paying $40 for this kind of game if the gameplay actually is good. But as it is right now, the lack of content and quality in NSR's gameplay makes it difficult to give this one a pass.    … Expand
  21. inenai
    Sep 3, 2020
    10
    No Straight Roads is a fresh, colorful and energetic new IP. The art design is superb and the music is amazing. The game is not too long, but it has replayability value. It is not exactly a rhythm game, but you will play way better if you listen to the music and understand how the enemies behave, as they all follow the beats in some way. I don't get all the fuss about the camera issues, ifNo Straight Roads is a fresh, colorful and energetic new IP. The art design is superb and the music is amazing. The game is not too long, but it has replayability value. It is not exactly a rhythm game, but you will play way better if you listen to the music and understand how the enemies behave, as they all follow the beats in some way. I don't get all the fuss about the camera issues, if you get how the game works then there is no need for the camera to not be fixed at times. I've also ready people saying the game is a bullet hell at times, I just believe they haven't fully understood the mechanics. Once you understand how the enemies work, they can all be avoided. It's hard, but not chaotic.
    The story is not too deep, but the characters are charming and relatable to the point where I'd watch an animated series of it, if it were to exist. Definitely recommended. It made 2020 way better for me.    … Expand
  22. ikabeer
    Sep 3, 2020
    9
    This game isn't a perfect game, but it's a great piece of work, very ambitious and full of passion.
    This is an indie game? Are you kidding me? Great!
    Aside from the game's great background music and engaging characters, a great feature of the game is that it has been translated into many languages. The Japanese dubbing in particular is superb and I was very much entertained by the    This game isn't a perfect game, but it's a great piece of work, very ambitious and full of passion.
    This is an indie game? Are you kidding me? Great!

    Aside from the game's great background music and engaging characters, a great feature of the game is that it has been translated into many languages.
    The Japanese dubbing in particular is superb and I was very much entertained by the uncompromising acting.

    The battle system is also innovative, and when you defeat a boss character to the rhythm of the music, you feel like you're one with the game. I really like that feeling.

    There are some bugs, glitches, and a very few unreasonable difficulties, but that's not the game's fatal flaw.
    The game's music, characters, and world are enough to make me want to play other games that the studio metronomik will make in the future.    … Expand
  23. KennKun
    Sep 2, 2020
    4
    As it stands, No Straight Roads is not a $40 experience. In short, it seems like the aesthetic was given way more attention than the game itself. The game feels like it had heart put into it, which makes me sad to leave this negative review, but I hope it will inspire the developers to learn from their mistakes.

    The music is great and adapts to what's going on in the gameplay. The    As it stands, No Straight Roads is not a $40 experience. In short, it seems like the aesthetic was given way more attention than the game itself. The game feels like it had heart put into it, which makes me sad to leave this negative review, but I hope it will inspire the developers to learn from their mistakes.

    The music is great and adapts to what's going on in the gameplay. The character designs are creative and their animations are expressive. The writing is funny and entertaining. These things make the game look polished at first glance, but underneath, it's riddled with bugs and poor gameplay.

    The voice acting is a little rough. The characters have heavy accents, which isn't inherently a problem, but a lot of voice lines are unintelligible or delivered with an unnatural intonation. Some lines are delivered fantastically. Some are absolutely awful. It is worth noting that every line of dialogue in this game is voiced.

    I encountered visual and dialogue-related bugs constantly throughout the game. I encountered a black screen bug frequently in the home base area. If you manually skip lines of NPC dialogue early, whatever system automatically advances the dialogue ends up affecting the next line of dialogue instead, possibly skipping the next line. Characters in cutscenes sometimes start speaking too early, causing them to talk over each other and breaking the lip sync. This happened during the cutscene right before the final boss, so I quit the game because I didn't feel like I was experiencing it properly.

    The concept of the core gameplay is great, but it was not executed well. The gameplay claims revolve around the idea that enemies attack to the beat of the music, but their attacks are not grouped and patterned in an intuitive way. This makes it very difficult to track the pattern of more than one or two enemies at at time, and there can be over 5 at once. As a result, the enemy attack patterns don't feel learnable. Sometimes the enemies can be out of your vision, but you may still be in range of their attacks or very close to being in range. Enemies that shoot projectiles are especially bad; the trajectory of their projectiles is not clearly telegraphed, and the projectiles will probably hit you before you even realize the enemy exists. Some boss attacks don't feel like they are synced to the music well; visual cues tend to serve you much better than audio cues. Attacks often come out on musical beats that aren't noteworthy, making them feel like they're "off". Others have noted a lack of enemy variety, but given the game's inspiration from rhythm games, more intuitive arrangement of enemies and obstacles would have made the attack patterns more engaging and made the lack of variety a non-issue.

    The game is also very short, consisting of only 6 or 7 bosses and around 4 or 5 gauntlets. You'll get maybe three hours of real gameplay, and the rest of the game is filler. If you don't plan on replaying the game at the higher difficulty levels or to achieve a higher score, then there's not much content. The poor gameplay mentioned in the paragraph above makes replaying the game at a higher difficulty a very unattractive option.

    No Straight Roads is full of bugs and has unintuitive gameplay, making playing the game a pretty rough experience. The game is also extremely short. The game looks pretty on the surface, but it's unpleasant to play. I don't feel like the experience was worth $40, even if there weren't any bugs, due to the game's short length and its failure to cleanly implement its core mechanic.    … Expand
  24. WFLV
    Sep 1, 2020
    10
    Simply wonderful game... creative sparks of joy... team is open to fan feedback which is a huge plus. Has a good moral of the story, gameplay is outstanding and simple enough to follow. Worth the money for the creativity alon... still can’t believe it was made by a small indie company... blows my mind!
  25. jjumble
    Sep 1, 2020
    8
    Fun, flashy hack n' slash with groovy tunes and a memorable cast. Gameplay falls a bit short of the bar set by the art, but that's not saying much- this game has style to spare.
  26. LeonJohnson
    Sep 1, 2020
    0
    Ambitious idea but really bad execution. There's just too many hiccups in this game to let this one pass...
  27. DoresThoms
    Sep 1, 2020
    3
    This game has great music and characters but sadly falls short on almost every other aspect.
  28. Benlol98
    Sep 1, 2020
    9
    One of the best music and sound design I've ever heard while playing the game. Most of the voice actors did a great job in portraying the vivid personalities of the characters (though sometimes it's difficult to get used to the Malaysian accent in some characters, though I enjoyed most of it). Definitely not the best fighting game as it is quite easy to miss hits if your character is notOne of the best music and sound design I've ever heard while playing the game. Most of the voice actors did a great job in portraying the vivid personalities of the characters (though sometimes it's difficult to get used to the Malaysian accent in some characters, though I enjoyed most of it). Definitely not the best fighting game as it is quite easy to miss hits if your character is not positioned properly, but I believe that most people bought the game for the music and to support the Malaysian Indie Game Development Industry.… Expand
  29. Sipisipi
    Sep 1, 2020
    8
    El juego es muy divertido y bueno, el problema son los bugs que espero que arreglen pronto
  30. Thisismew2king
    Sep 1, 2020
    10
    The game is epic. Super awesome music! Great animation and very original style
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Awards & Rankings

70
#70 Most Discussed PC Game of 2020

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
73

Mixed or average reviews - based on 12 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 6 out of 12
  2. Mixed: 6 out of 12
  3. Negative: 0 out of 12
  1. GameSpace
    Nov 22, 2022
    75
    No Straight Roads is a game with beautiful visual and musical design, filled with side-tickling humor and banter, spectacular battles but with a pretty average gameplay overall. It will take you roughly 5 to 7 hours to beat the game, but you will likely get a lot of enjoyment out of it.
    Read full review
  2. Malditos Nerds
    Sep 3, 2020
    60
    The art, the music and the characters are all beautifully composed to deliver a pleasant audiovisual experience, but it's in the gameplay aspect that this game starts to fall apart. No Straight Roads has a lot of ideas, but most of them don't go well with each other, especially in combat, and when they do go well together it can be a bit difficult to understand what's going on on screen.
    Read full review
  3. GameSkinny
    Aug 31, 2020
    70
    You really need to play No Straight Roads. While the gameplay isn't amazing, the presentation is, and it's flawed in some truly interesting ways.
    Read full review
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