Punch Club

 PC
Metascore
73

Mixed or average reviews - based on 30 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 18 out of 30
  2. Mixed: 11 out of 30
  3. Negative: 1 out of 30
  1. IGN Denmark
    Apr 6, 2016
    70
    25% point-and-click and 75% sports manager that starts out light-footed and turns into a heavy slugger towards the end.
  2. Games.cz
    Feb 16, 2016
    70
    Witty and undemanding game where the right tactics wins over the simple mouse-clicking your opponent to death. If you like Rocky or Blood Sport movies, and somewhere deep inside you lies a desire to become a champion, you definitely have to play the Punch Club.
  3. The Games Machine
    Feb 11, 2016
    70
    Punch Club is an enjoyable experience, with nice retro graphics and a lot of homages to the action movies of the '80s. The gameplay is captivating but pretty slow, though, and it works best on smartphones and tablets (where it's already available).
  5. Twinfinite
    Jan 22, 2016
    70
    While it wasn’t at all what I expected, I found myself enjoying it more than I probably would have, had it been the brawler I anticipated.
  6. Brash Games
    Jan 20, 2016
    70
    The presentation of Punch Club is great, with 16-bit like graphics, nostalgic references and chip-tune soundtrack. The colour palette used is vibrant and suits the game perfectly. The story is a bit empty, but I really enjoyed the satisfying progression and management aspects. I would recommend this game, but don’t expect a fighting game. Its more a life simulator, with turn based fights.
  7. ActionTrip
    Jan 20, 2016
    70
    Even though micromanagement style games have been a staple on PC for as long as the platform has existed, something about this game feels like it would be more at home on mobile, where the repetitiveness can be indulged in more approachable, bite-sized doses. That said, even on PC, this is still a time-suck that oozes personality and charm, while also simultaneously justifying its $9.99 sticker price.
  8. GameCritics
    Jan 14, 2016
    70
    If you can put up with the ever-present grind and can see through the frustrating moments then you’ll have a good time playing through Punch Club’s celebration of 90s action, if not then you may find yourself looking for a new keyboard, or worse, a monitor as a result of working through game related anger issues.
  9. ICXM
    Jan 11, 2016
    70
    Although I found that far too much time was spent endlessly grinding or waiting for fights to end, Punch Club has a certain charm that is hard to shake.
  10. IGN
    Jan 15, 2016
    65
    Punch Club is tedious at times, thanks to an unfortunate level-down systems that artificially extend the road to the championship with grinding repetition, but its upgrades, stat growth, and more compensate with satisfying depth.
  11. High-Def Digest
    Apr 10, 2016
    60
    While it makes a few missteps in some critical areas, for fans of life sims or boxing movies, this is definitely worth checking out.
  12. We Got This Covered
    Jan 27, 2016
    60
    Punch Club provides a parody-filled look at one man ‒ your man ‒ and his rise to martial arts stardom. Managing his hunger, training regiment, and social life contains all the appeal of The Sims franchise, but punishing stat decay and RNG-heavy fights cripple Punch Club’s lasting shot at fame.

Awards & Rankings

79
#79 Most Discussed PC Game of 2016

User Reviews

All reviews »
User Score
7.1

Mixed or average reviews- based on 165 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 89 out of 165
  2. Mixed: 51 out of 165
  3. Negative: 25 out of 165
  1. arnolddanko
    Jan 13, 2016
    4
    Interesting gameplay and design, cozy 80's atmosphere make this game fun at first. The problem is it get way too repetitive (annoyinglyInteresting gameplay and design, cozy 80's atmosphere make this game fun at first. The problem is it get way too repetitive (annoyingly repetitive and boring) pretty soon making you do the same actions over and over again. At the end it feels like one of those cheap browser games, what a letdown.… Full Review »
  2. samone
    Jan 11, 2016
    9
    Love it! A great combination of tycoon&rpg&strategy. After hundreds of fights, I still enjoy watching how the opponents are being crushed :)Love it! A great combination of tycoon&rpg&strategy. After hundreds of fights, I still enjoy watching how the opponents are being crushed :) The story created from pieces of all those Rocky-like movies produced in 80's, is exaggeratedly elementary, but it makes you smile a lot! The game is not so simple though, it took me about 10 hours to complete 80% of the game, and now I'm already thinking of re-starting my journey.… Full Review »
  3. blade01
    Jan 23, 2016
    3
    This game starts so promising with many hints to 80+90s culture.Why is this game falling flat to its face?Lets see:

    Sound:I really like the    This game starts so promising with many hints to 80+90s culture.Why is this game falling flat to its face?Lets see:

    Sound:I really like the sound of the game.The theme in the backround suits the retrotheme very well.No voiceover.

    Visuals:The game looks for it trys to achieve pretty good.The pixel-artstyle looks great and reminds me of a great time when i played games as a chil.The characters are memorable, the enviroment too.No assets have been used twice which is a good thing in the modern game-world.In the fights i think they could have done much better.Sometimes punches or kicks wont connect that well.Looks stupid.Might be a bug, i dont know.

    Gamrplay:Up to this point the game was an easy 7 or 8.With the gameplay everything is falling apart.The first 1-2 hours are great.You have enough progression an story to keep you interested.After that bad design kills every will to play more, at least for me because the game gets repetetive as hell pretty quickly.The core-problem is that you lose stats on a daily basis and the loss is very big.So after some hours youre just klicking your way through the game between work, gym and fighting.If you do the other possible activitys you punish yourself too much because you lose stats and because of that you will lose fight and so on.

    Conclusion:In the end the mechanics of the game are so flawed that they overshadow everything great in the game.The great visuals go into the garbage can, the nice sound too.What remains is a repeteive clickfest and time-waster.So much potential.The story for example is pretty interesting, funny and sometimes branching i think.With the flawed mechanics i was so bored i stoped playing and this is always not a good sign.For me the game is below average.Maybe they fix the stats decrease!That would help the game a lot and with that fix Punch Club would be a "must buy" for retrofans and fans of the genre.    … Full Review »
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