Has-Been Heroes

 Switch
User Score
7.2

Mixed or average reviews- based on 133 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 81 out of 133
  2. Mixed: 29 out of 133
  3. Negative: 23 out of 133
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  1. TheSeahorse
    Apr 11, 2017
    7
    I read the reviews before trying this game and even though the critics gave it a 5/10 I trusted the public and bought it anyway. Definitely a good decision.

    Do not buy Has-Been Heroes if you're looking for a good story, stunning graphics or amazing music. However, if you're looking for a fun, rouge-like and very strategic game you're in the right place. The critics complain that the    I read the reviews before trying this game and even though the critics gave it a 5/10 I trusted the public and bought it anyway. Definitely a good decision.

    Do not buy Has-Been Heroes if you're looking for a good story, stunning graphics or amazing music. However, if you're looking for a fun, rouge-like and very strategic game you're in the right place.

    The critics complain that the game is too random and while the random part is true I have to disagree with them about it ruining the game. I've played through the game 6 times and completed it 3 out of those times. My first two deaths were me being a beginner and not understanding the game and the last death was by my mistake at the last boss fight. I definitely could 've won that run if I had played better.

    What I'm trying to say is that even though you may not be able to win every run even while playing perfectly you can definitely win most runs if you get good at the game. And isn't dying a part of rouge like games anyway?

    Has-Been Heroes has so far been fun for me but I feel like it might get a bit grindy after maybe 15-20 hours of play. Other than that it's a good well made game with a unique combat system that is very strategic. You will be spending most of your time in combat so I would recommend looking at some game play to see if you like it or not.

    To the critics complaining about the difficulty I only have one thing to say.

    GIT GUD    … Expand
  2. amihart
    Apr 6, 2017
    6
    I love challenge, Zelda 2 and Dark Souls are probably some of my favorite games of all time. However, people who compare it to Dark Souls are lying to you, this game is NOT skill-based but RNG-based. Roguelikes randomly generate dungeons each game, which is fine, but if the game is so brutally hard that winning comes down to a hair's breadth, that hair's breadth will purely be determinedI love challenge, Zelda 2 and Dark Souls are probably some of my favorite games of all time. However, people who compare it to Dark Souls are lying to you, this game is NOT skill-based but RNG-based. Roguelikes randomly generate dungeons each game, which is fine, but if the game is so brutally hard that winning comes down to a hair's breadth, that hair's breadth will purely be determined by luck. I don't say this game is "hard" because I'm terrible at video games and have no skill. Skill is irrelevant. Winning is based on luck. That's the problem.

    The game is so brutally difficult that I simply cannot progress. I unlocked two heroes and have been stuck replaying the game over and over again for 10 hours straight with no progression at all. When you die, you start at the beginning. Meaning you can spend an hour on a run, die, and lose everything. There's some sort of "unlocks" you get each run but they're worthless.

    Looking at the hero select screen, there appears to be 33 heroes you can unlock beyond the 3 you start with. I unlocked 2. And I'm stuck. I can't progress the game any further. The fact there is no progression and dying sets you all the way back, and the fact I constantly am replaying the same thing over and over again only to be set back again and again, it's too repetitive. It's repetitive beyond being fun. It's not the fun kind of challenge, it's the frustrating kind of challenge that makes you not want to play the game anymore.

    The game has a lot of potential if they balance it a bit through future updates. I actually quite love the battle system, despite being incredibly repetitive with zero progression, I still put a good 10 hours into because I kept wanting to fight more battles. The art style and characters are also pretty well done.

    Enemies creep from the right to the left of the screen and when they get to your heroes at the left side, they start attacking them. Some people have compared it to Plant's vs Zombies in this aspect, although this game is a bit deeper and more fun. You can switch heroes out, widdle away at their stamina to stun them, attack, cast spells, and you have the randomly generated dungeons to explore for shops and items.

    Although I can't get away from how unfair this game is. If you don't get good items and spells early on to quickly do away with the enemies, the 1st or 2nd boss will simply overrun you with little guys you can't possibly defeat in time. Once you get passed them, the 3rd or 4th boss I honestly have no clue how you're even supposed to stand a chance. With incredible luck with amazing spells and items I was barely able to keep all the enemies and the boss at bay, yet the boss was still using ranged attacks to slowly drain my HP until one of my heroes died anyways.

    There's a difference between a hard game and simply an unfair game. And at the $20 price tag, which is high for a small indie title, I can't actually recommend it. There are many better games out there for this price. This game was not properly playtested in my opinion. A simple balancing patch could easily bring this game from a 6/10 to an 8/10 or a 9/10. The game has great artwork, an incredibly fun battle mechanic, and decent music, but poor balancing makes it practically unplayable at a certain point.

    Has-Been Heroes feels much more like an arcade game than an actual RPG. The unfair difficulty and cheap deaths just begs for an "insert quarter" screen after my team gets killed.

    This game also is buggy. Constantly my camera will zoom in during an attack and fail to zoom out, and I cannot see my heroes and tell what's going on in the battle. Many times has this happened and almost made me lose in a battle.    … Expand
  3. CorazonAzul
    May 25, 2017
    5
    We can't pretend that it's okay for a "learning curve" game to also be a mess. Straight away I deducted a point for the abilities that look like they were ripped from an MMO talent tree. What's all extra math doing here? Is this a paced strategy game or not? I deducted a point for the excessive floating numbers spam you would see in the average "phone rpg". Unless you still get a windsockWe can't pretend that it's okay for a "learning curve" game to also be a mess. Straight away I deducted a point for the abilities that look like they were ripped from an MMO talent tree. What's all extra math doing here? Is this a paced strategy game or not? I deducted a point for the excessive floating numbers spam you would see in the average "phone rpg". Unless you still get a windsock out of it, clear the screen and consolidate the relevant information. Much fat to trim already, but let's move on. I deducted a point for the constantly alternating between high action, and a complete pause. If, as a developer, you have to break pace to accomplish what you want to do, toss it and work something else out. Screwing with pace sucks in any game. I deducted a half point for the way that map navigation was presented. Having the heroes always sprint right- even if the map says you are heading north or otherwise- and even if the heroes are going to end up facing right anyway- was the cheapest way possible to indicate that you are moving and exploring. If that's the case, I'd have rather a few less cutscenes to develop a stronger sense of exploration. I deducted another half point for the font chosen for the dialog/etc- fat, wide and quite annoying to read. Rather careless decision here considering you have to see it all the time. Okay so this is where I'd deduct a point for the game's poor explanation of what's going on- however, it's my belief that by simply fixing all of the above, you'd be a lot closer to a game that's easy to pick up and hard to master: the holy grail of strategy/puzzle games, right? So we're at 6/10

    Praises: The core ideas are good- lane-changing/combos/stamina- fresh and interesting stuff- the real payoff for indie. The art, humor and sound effects suit the game well. I don't think music is an important thing for this type of game, long as it's not annoying and we're good there. I wouldn't ask more of an indie/budget game so let's wrap it up:

    Great ideas that the player should be enjoying right away, instead have the player clawing through shoddy pacing/execution and extra information just to get started. I can't give this game more than a 6/10 as is, and you gotta figure $20 is worth having to not see these common "indie" mistakes again (not discriminating- high production games carry their own infectious diseases). So we'll close at 5/10, because there are far worse and far better games out there    … Expand
  4. meme1337
    Apr 18, 2017
    7
    Much better than the "critic" reviews showed it to be: I had fun while playing and I'm not a fan of rogue-like games. Still it's my go-to game for quick and short trips **** you Snake Pass, what a waste of money!).

    Give HBH a chance!
  5. ConsumerBatman
    Nov 26, 2017
    7
    (I could've sworn I already wrote a review for this game)

    This game has SUCH potential. But it seems hidden behind a series of barriers, where the devs feel confident in projecting a message of "mad cuz bad". The difficulty curve is nice, but the game seems to not be protected against algorithms where you are literally thrown impossibly difficult scenarios. Even if you build up your    (I could've sworn I already wrote a review for this game)

    This game has SUCH potential. But it seems hidden behind a series of barriers, where the devs feel confident in projecting a message of "mad cuz bad".

    The difficulty curve is nice, but the game seems to not be protected against algorithms where you are literally thrown impossibly difficult scenarios. Even if you build up your heroes, you can be cut down by some absurdly OP, multi-hacking creep, reaping the benefits of a nearby speed aura.

    The devs feel this is appropriate? Fine. Make some way to continue the game. The absolute zero restart is a cheap and unconvincing way to punish the player, and to quote PlayerEssence, it just makes you feel like they don't respect your time.

    Other than that, the game is well-structured. The reward tree could throw you a bit more. I've still put an ungodly amount of time into this game.    … Expand
  6. Stlouzilla
    Jun 21, 2017
    5
    The innovative controls, addictive gameplay loop, and interesting presentation of Has Been Heroes are all wasted because the game is impossible and most players won't ever get pass the second level. The difficulty can't even be attributed to the "git gud" culture and instead just feels broken and unbalanced. It's a shame because Has Been Heroes had the ingredients to be something special:The innovative controls, addictive gameplay loop, and interesting presentation of Has Been Heroes are all wasted because the game is impossible and most players won't ever get pass the second level. The difficulty can't even be attributed to the "git gud" culture and instead just feels broken and unbalanced. It's a shame because Has Been Heroes had the ingredients to be something special: hopefully they can polish the formula in a patch or sequel.… Expand
  7. The_EpicGamerYT
    Aug 8, 2017
    5
    The concept of this game is all well and good, but the execution is baffling. The difficulty spike is way too hard for any reasonable person to grasp. Anyone playing this needs to spend good, long hours trying to master the controls of this game to barely get past the first level of the game. If you say that games on the Nintendo Switch are too easy, pick this game up. If not, try lookingThe concept of this game is all well and good, but the execution is baffling. The difficulty spike is way too hard for any reasonable person to grasp. Anyone playing this needs to spend good, long hours trying to master the controls of this game to barely get past the first level of the game. If you say that games on the Nintendo Switch are too easy, pick this game up. If not, try looking for a more forgiving roguelike game like Tumbleseed.… Expand
  8. inimical
    Jul 13, 2017
    6
    Although I do see the fun in this game, there are major things holding it back. First off, there are bugs on the Switch. I've had the screen locked in a zoom-in mode several times already making it very hard to play, and the game has even crashed twice now. Second, there are random jumps in difficulty in some stages where it goes from rather easy and manageable to impossible. Third,Although I do see the fun in this game, there are major things holding it back. First off, there are bugs on the Switch. I've had the screen locked in a zoom-in mode several times already making it very hard to play, and the game has even crashed twice now. Second, there are random jumps in difficulty in some stages where it goes from rather easy and manageable to impossible. Third, restarting is soooo monotonous at times. Truly burdensome to get near the end, lose to a boss, and have to start the same easy grind again until you're further in, hoping you get as lucky on good items and spells as last time. It's a $5 game at most, and they need to fix the bugs still.… Expand
  9. StevenGreen
    Jun 6, 2017
    7
    Has-Been Heroes is a super solid rogue-like that deserves a look from anyone who is into the genre, or is looking for something that is addictive and will soak up a lot of your time on your newly purchased Switch. The game does have it's short-comings as it has quite a steep learning curve and no real good way to learn the mechanics beyond trial and error. Also, the slow, plodding natureHas-Been Heroes is a super solid rogue-like that deserves a look from anyone who is into the genre, or is looking for something that is addictive and will soak up a lot of your time on your newly purchased Switch. The game does have it's short-comings as it has quite a steep learning curve and no real good way to learn the mechanics beyond trial and error. Also, the slow, plodding nature of progress is barely noticed, making for a frustrating game at times. However, the game displays fun gameplay, and some cool ideas, that are worth a shot. I would recommend this game to anyone who enjoys games like The Binding of Isaac or Rogue Legacy, but remember this game really doesn't hit that level of precision, or greatness.… Expand
  10. Boxo
    Jul 17, 2017
    7
    I got this game pre-packaged on my switch.

    For a rogue-lite, its not bad. Plenty of items and spells to unlock, a bunch of hidden characters to get, and some decent variety in enemies. The game isn't that difficult to control or figure out. The learning curve definitely isn't impossible, as tricky as it may seem at first. Once it clicks in your mind you'll be beating level after level    I got this game pre-packaged on my switch.

    For a rogue-lite, its not bad. Plenty of items and spells to unlock, a bunch of hidden characters to get, and some decent variety in enemies. The game isn't that difficult to control or figure out. The learning curve definitely isn't impossible, as tricky as it may seem at first. Once it clicks in your mind you'll be beating level after level in no time.

    The problems come at a technical level. Throughout my 5-10 hours of play, I have encountered many glitches in the switch version. The biggest one being the camera zooming in so far that I can no longer see any of the action happening. There's no way to fix this, and it ultimately leads to a run ending unceremoniously, which can be especially frustrating the later on in the run I get, and on particularly good runs as well. There seriously needs to be an update patch that keeps that from happening!

    Overall, its not the best game I've ever played, nor the best strategy rogue-lite/like I've ever played, but it gets the job done and is thoroughly entertaining.    … Expand
  11. jbthegamer
    Sep 20, 2019
    7
    Has-Been Heroes is an action roguelike strategy game developed by Frozenbyte and published by GameTrust.

    Has-Been Heroes is like no other game I have played before. The best way to describe it is it reminds me of The Darkest Dungeon. The reason for this is the fact that if anyone of your party members die, you have to start all over again. And you will die a lot in this game. At first    Has-Been Heroes is an action roguelike strategy game developed by Frozenbyte and published by GameTrust.

    Has-Been Heroes is like no other game I have played before. The best way to describe it is it reminds me of The Darkest Dungeon. The reason for this is the fact that if anyone of your party members die, you have to start all over again. And you will die a lot in this game. At first this can be annoying, but once you get over it, the game becomes almost addicting. I found my self saying, just one more play through....five hours later I am still playing.

    The story of the game is rather simple. A rogue is on her way to the castle hoping to run into the heroes of legend. The warrior and wizard have been summoned to the castle for a task ordered by the King. Of course the rogue meets up with the has-been heroes and they agree to allow her to join them. The King then tasks the heroes with escorting his daughters to school, as the road there has been crawling with monsters. So the five of them set off on their journey to the school. Along the way an evil spirit sets loose many monsters to attack the Has-Been Heroes and thus the game begins.

    Each area is procedurally generated and the game starts off with only two areas to conquer. The goal of said area is to reach the boss and defeat him. Along the way you can run into merchants, camps, spell vendors, and treasure boxes. Each of these will have random items you can buy or find. Collecting said items can help you survive the many battles that you will have along your path to the boss. Once you reach and defeat the boss in an area, another area opens up and you guessed it another boss to kill. If you are successful in defeating both bosses the game ends and starts over from the beginning. This can also happen if any of the three party members die during your travels. Yup, you only get one life and once you die the game starts all over again losing all spells and items. A fresh start to say the least. This may sound annoying, but like I said before once you die the first time or beat the first two bosses you quickly understand what Has-Been Heroes is all about.

    Tactics and strategy is the heart of this game. Plan your moves wisely, and take full advantage of the pause button. See, during any battle with the many enemies you can encounter or bosses you can fight, the combat is simple. The rogue gets three hits, wizard two hits, and warrior one hit. Of course the warrior is the strongest of the three and hits pretty hard. But items can help raise the damage of the other two party members. The interesting thing about the combat is when one party member attacks the game pauses, letting you switch party members and move them around the three lanes. How this helps is knowing the enemies that are attacking you down those three lanes. It is very similar to Planets vs Zombies. Enemies attack down all three lanes, and you can move your party members depending on which ever enemy is closest. But the strategy is to match the party member with the enemy of similar stamina. Monster's can have a range of stamina from one point to five points. What you want to do is switch around your party members to knock out the stamina matching their attack number and then switching in another party member to deliver the final blow. If done correctly, you can combine some deadly combos this way. So it is always best to plan your moves and attacks. Of course the game doesn't make this easy. It throws in some randomness to make things harder and thus ends up with you dying a lot.

    Though dying is ok in this game, whether you die or defeat all the bosses your reward is unlocking more Heroes, Items, Monsters, and Areas. To unlock these you must collect souls, and souls are only collected by fighting the battles in an area. So if you mess up or the RNG is unfair, the souls you collected are totaled up and you see what you have unlocked. Starting over from the beginning is not so bad, because now you have more chances of getting better items in which you just unlocked during your next play through. It is hard to describe, but once you play this game it can become very hard to put down. You'll always end up saying to your self, just one more time and then before you know it five hours have past.

    At first glance it may seems there is not much to this game. Go through random areas, fight monsters, collect souls, die or defeat all the bosses and then rinse and repeat. But the more you unlock, the cooler the items become and monsters you fight. Adding to the challenge of the game.

    Conclusion:

    Overall the game is fun and can get pretty addicting at times. I found it hard to put down once I picked it up. But the RNG can be very unfair at times and can leave you demoralized. I really liked the combat style, it is unlike any I have seen before. If you are looking for a roguelike strategy tactics game, then pick up Has-Been Heroes.    … Expand
  12. Lefty9088
    Jul 3, 2021
    6
    Has-Been Heroes is not an objectively horrible game and if you really want it I would recommend you get it. However, I find only a small amount of enjoyment while playing this game. I do somewhat like the art style, but the gameplay seems somewhat boring to me.
  13. Degheww
    Nov 11, 2022
    6
    very difficult game and definitely not for everyone. don't expect quick win in here.

Awards & Rankings

28
#28 Most Discussed Switch Game of 2017
40
#40 Most Shared Switch Game of 2017

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
53

Mixed or average reviews - based on 20 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 2 out of 20
  2. Mixed: 11 out of 20
  3. Negative: 7 out of 20
  1. XGN
    Aug 13, 2017
    70
    Has Been Heroes is a tough game and not for everyone. The longer you play, the more items and stuff you will get. But you will suffer. Just hang in there and keep playing.
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  2. App Trigger
    Apr 21, 2017
    45
    Has-Been Heroes is a brilliant idea that overreached itself in difficulty. A mix of incredibly complex strategy, RNG, weak tutorials, poor UI explanations, and a limp story drag a strong concept into the mud. If you’re patient, skilled, and attentive, you might be able to master the core concepts of Has-Been Heroes and relish the goodness hidden beneath the bad design choices. But had I not been reviewing the game, I would have been done after just a few hours. I just don’t like skeletons that much.
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  3. New Game Network
    Apr 18, 2017
    65
    Has-Been Heroes is a solid tower defense experience that borrows attributes from Plants vs Zombies, while putting its own twist on the formula. Plenty of repetition and frustration - exacerbated by too many randomized elements - but the addictive and enduring gameplay shines through on occasion.
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