Thirsty Suitors on PC
Thirsty Suitors has been certainly one of my most sudden gaming joys of 2023, with the title initially catching my eye for the parallels it drew to the Scott Pilgrim franchise. Nevertheless, as I quickly found once I was given the chance to play a preview of the game, Thirsty Suitors is totally unique and quirky and places a brand new spin on the entire ‘battle towards indignant exes’ factor.
As a result of I had discovered this preview to be such a blast, I used to be greater than excited to provide the finished recreation a run; and simply as anticipated, the wacky, chaotic enjoyable continued in full swing. Whereas Thirsty Suitors does share some traditional references to Scott Pilgrim, it additionally places a refreshing spin on issues to make the story really feel totally unique.
Most importantly, you don’t play as yet one more ‘thirsty suitor’ (sorry Scott, the reality hurts) however as a substitute because the ‘Ramona’ character, or on this case, Jala, who has returned to her hometown for the primary time in three years, solely to be met with much more bother. As Jala embarks on a journey to restore rocky relationships together with her household and buddies, she additionally finds herself attempting to fend off undesirable makes an attempt at attempting to win her again or make her life hell, from her exes.
Upon leaping into the sport, you end up as Jala on her bus experience residence. To kill a while, she takes half in a relationship quiz to find out your preliminary ‘Thirstsona’ – certainly one of three relationship sorts that present totally different stat boosts so that you can use in Suitor Battles. It’s additionally right here the place you’ll meet the character of the Narrator, Jala’s self-deprecating internal monologue who’s pictured with an uncanny resemblance to her older sister, Aruni.
The Narrator is there to antagonize Jala each step of the way in which, making sarcastic quips and brutal remarks to virtually all the things that she has to say; and it’s so hilarious that it had me laughing out loud your complete means by means of.
This Thirstona Quiz can also be far more interactive in comparison with others, permitting you to get a really feel for the skateboarding mechanics on the identical time by leaping, grinding, and wall-running your means between every platform, the place you’ll be introduced with the following query. After concluding this hilarious and weird expertise, you’ll lastly have arrived residence in Timber Hills and make your technique to the Diner searching for a experience residence.
Whereas the principle focus in The Diner is the primary Suitor Battle, I’d wish to briefly praise the inclusion of the best skater canine on the town. In Thirsty Suitors, petting the canine isn’t so simple as somewhat ruffle of the fur. Machan, who is maybe the most rad little pup in existence, will do a trick in your skateboard, offer you excessive fives and fist bumps along with his paws, and even full a private handshake such as you’ve been greatest buddies endlessly. Computerized bonus factors are deserved for positive.
Not lengthy after saying hello to Machan, you’ll be met with an look of Jala’s ex-boyfriend and supreme momma’s boy, Sergio. Suitor Battles are turn-based fight encounters with cinematic dialogue scenes between most turns, giving Jala an opportunity to confront the negatives of her previous.
There are lots of totally different Suitor Battles to come across within the recreation, with mysterious ‘Present or Grift’ encounters involving males that your grandmother has despatched your means with targets of arranging a wedding, and Jala’s exes serving because the boss fights of Thirsty Suitors, their reveals unfold out amongst varied Chapters of the sport.
In Suitor Battles, you’ll use a mixture of Assaults, Taunts, Expertise, and Objects to defeat the numerous Suitors. Assaults are fundamental blows that deal injury and earn you WP, Taunts place varied standing results on the enemy at the price of your WP, and Expertise are assaults that deal bonus injury to Taunted enemies or heavy HP injury each at the price of your WP. Objects are precisely as you’d think about, consumables that you should utilize to revive HP, WP, or achieve sure buffs.
Whereas Suitor Battles are pretty fundamental by way of turn-based fight, they’re totally uplifted and saved entertaining by the hilarious one-liners, baffling (and at instances cringe-worthy) dialogue, and energetic voice appearing. I discover myself excited to make use of an assault every flip, ready in anticipation of what harsh and sarcastic phrases Jala goes to drop on the enemy, or how the enemy will reply to such a maneuver.
Suitor Battles additionally use timed-button inputs to strengthen the output of your blows, or to cut back injury from incoming assaults. This makes dealing injury that rather more satisfying, there’s nothing higher than nailing an ideal assault, having Jala spit out some phrases of sarcasm, after which WHAM! Watch your poor ex get flattened by your strikes.
Jala returned residence to confront her previous and repair her rocky relationship together with her household and has now discovered herself compelled to face off and make amends together with her exes, too. Seems like quite a bit, proper? Effectively, sadly for Jala, that’s solely about half of the craziness. She additionally finds herself concerned with infiltrating and monitoring down the mysteries surrounding the cryptic skateboarding cult, led by Soundie, a wierd man in a full-on bear costume. Yep, it’s as wacky because it sounds.
Skating is the principle methodology of transport for the sport, permitting you to kickflip, wallride, and grind your means round city; and the Skate Park gives distinctive challenges to check and construct your abilities alongside the way in which. These are normally enjoyable little stunts that contain studying new tips or finishing time trials to gather as many Neon Burger Tokens as potential. Finishing challenges will win you bonus rewards to make use of in battle, cash to buy some goodies from the varied shops on the town, and even new jackets, skateboard decals, or sneakers to customise Jala’s look.
These challenges are comparatively easy, too, not being too simple or too troublesome. For instance, I discovered that I needed to retry one of many Neon Burger runs a few instances to find out the very best pathing, however as soon as I had that labored out, I used to be capable of deal with the problem like some kind of skate professional.
The skateboarding mechanics on the whole are fairly satisfying, with a wide range of totally different tips you possibly can pull off everytime you really feel prefer it, even bumping into individuals like a real skatepunk. These little trick mechanics and challenges remind me of the chaos that was Skate 3, simply on a smaller scale with far more toonish influences.
Thirsty Suitors could seem to be a weird, quirky, chaotic mess, however that’s precisely what makes it so particular. By no means have I skilled a recreation that may so constantly catch me off-guard and make me snigger out loud with ridiculous one-liners and character interactions. The story is straightforward, hilarious, and simple to comply with alongside, making it an gratifying story to discover. The soundtrack additionally creates a singular vibe, combining Hip-Hop tunes with South-Asian music influences to create some intense battle themes and catchy skateboarding tunes.
The characters themselves are brilliantly endearing, and intriguing, and showcase nice illustration and variety, with each serving to Jala to study new classes and make peace with a few of her greatest flaws. Between the entire chaos and craziness, there are additionally some totally heartwarming moments in Thirsty Suitors, comparable to Jala’s relationship together with her father.
Whereas her bond together with her mom is finicky at greatest, with them solely actually seeming to speak by means of the Cooking exercise, and her sister refuses to talk to her, Jala’s father is at all times there to encourage her. He helps her by having discussions about hardships her exes have confronted each at her hand and in her absence and is even there to hold her to mattress when she falls asleep.
Total, Thirsty Suitors is a lovable recreation with a really gratifying narrative to comply with. With every Suitor Battle, it actually does really feel like Jala is transferring ahead in her journey to confront her previous and are available head to head together with her actions and flaws, quite than merely working away once more. Each character you meet brings one thing to the desk and has their distinctive power – from confidence, persistence, or independence, to kindness and selflessness, which makes every battle really feel very rewarding to finish.
There are a few minor bugs within the recreation, however this didn’t have an effect on gameplay efficiency an excessive amount of. The primary was a small audio hiccup/bug that occurs continuously when sure sound results or voice strains play, each inside and out of doors of Suitor Battles.
The second is a bug with the Suitor Standing menu, by which some character portraits don’t seem on their profile together with their backstory. This can be a disgrace, as I actually benefit from the 2D portrait artwork of Thirsty Suitors, so I used to be wanting ahead to seeing every ex illustrated on this model. Oh nicely, hopefully, a repair can be out for this quickly. Or possibly a few of Jala’s exes are simply taking a web page out of her ebook and going full ghost, who is aware of?
Aside from these minor cases, Thirsty Suitors has been an extremely gratifying expertise with an endearing, quirky story and unforgettable characters. It’s an excellent recreation to play when you simply need to relax and revel in amusing or two, as I discovered even the skateboarding challenges to be pretty stress-free to play as soon as I had the fundamentals down.
It’s additionally comparatively quick to finish as the sport solely has a number of Chapters, that means you possibly can wrap up the story in between 10-15 hours. This makes it the proper recreation to choose up and play on a weekend, particularly when you’re on the lookout for one thing that mixes simplistic and enjoyable gameplay with a robust narrative and a unusual plot. Belief me, taking up Jala’s function of an ex-battling skater lady within the early 2000s is a wild and entertaining rollercoaster experience, positive to have you ever laughing alongside each step of the way in which.
Professionals
An entertaining story with nice humor that additionally entails navigating frequent points in life.
Lovable and intriguing characters.
Sensible voice appearing and dialogue that’s able to making gamers snigger out loud.
Some good character growth alongside the way in which that makes every milestone really feel well worth the time.
Sensible character variety, with every particular person being simply as fascinating because the final.
Superior soundtrack that mixes Hip-Hop influences with conventional South-Asian music.
Cons
Some slight audio skips/hiccups, however this doesn’t have an effect on gameplay too considerably.
Small bug by which some character portraits wont seem within the Suitor Standing menu.
Some sections of repetitive gameplay are closely carried by the entertaining dialogue and voice appearing.
Launch Date
November 2, 2023.
Developer
Outerloop Video games
Writer
Annapurna Interactive
Consoles
PC, PS5, Xbox One, Nintendo Swap, PS4, Xbox Collection S/X.
Copy supplied by Writer
Concerning the creator
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