Troublemaker demo review: A quintessential beat 'em up with room to improve

Troublemaker is probably my first entry into the beat 'em up video game genre that I've wanted to try for a long time. Thanks to Freedom Games for this opportunity to play the demo. It took a while to finish the demo, and it was a soothing experience for a casual time kill. However, the game requires some polish before it gets officially released.

Despite playing this genre for the first time, I did check out some gameplay videos of other brawler-type games, and Troublemaker surely has that essence. After diving deep into the game's world, I felt it does have a unique narrative that goes simultaneously with all the fights.

Here's a review of the recent demo that I've played.

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Troublemaker captures the essence of Indonesia in a unique manga-style storytelling device

Troublemaker perfectly captures Indonesian daily life (Image via Freedom Games)

With a backdrop of Indonesian suburbs, Troublemaker follows aspiring software engineer Budi. The game starts with him getting blocked by local delinquents on his way to school. Here, you can learn the tutorials and how to progress with basic movement and combat controls.

While the game focuses on hand-to-hand fights, it has a story to tell. With Budi constantly getting into trouble, local police threatened to lock him up, which is why his mother and stepfather decided to move to a different place.

Budi starts his journey at the new school. While the institution is one of Indonesia's finest, life within it is not easy. Our teenage protagonist moved away from his hometown to avoid conflict. However, this place is completely different, encouraging fights between students in a unique way.

It's not like the school lacks discipline. Rather, it's where you need to be a part of a fighting tournament to secure your place on the top of the social food chain. Troublemaker also explains why the school hosts a fighting tournament among students in the first place. Before Budi came here, the place was going through a difficult state.

Students weren't getting jobs after graduating, so several unemployed alumni wanted the school to take care of them. However, there wasn't enough funding for more than one class. Some alumni started mugging the students, and everything fell into chaos. Hence, the idea of a fighting tournament came into play. While the authorities initially objected, they couldn't find alternatives to stabilize the situation.

With Budi coming to school, the typical young-boy-protagonist theme lightens up. Now the question is whether he becomes the tournament's champion. The story dives further into him making friends, gaining love interests, and more. Various layers add to the narrative despite all the fights. After the demo stops, the free-roam option is available to play. I wait to see what will unfold in the full game.

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The in-game script felt repetitive and not worth the investment despite the interactions and manga-style characters

While talking about the story, one thing that intrigued me was the manga-style character introduction and the storyboard that helps you understand what's going on. There are also a lot of in-game interactions that might make your experience worthwhile.

While roaming around the school premises, I found clubs offering activities, which you can read and check in-depth. You can also interact with random students, although they'd probably be rude to you most of the time. This dynamic might feel interesting to deal with at the start of the game, but it gets repetitive. You'd realize that the dialog in the game can do much better.

Despite my interest in the story of Troublemaker, the script did feel like a setback that could have been delivered better, as far as my opinions are concerned.

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The combat feels smooth but has room for improvement

As for the combat mechanism in Troublemaker, it does feel smooth at the get-go. However, when I started getting the hang of it, some movements felt out of place or did not sync well. The 3D animations in the game were also not up to the mark in terms of quality.

Coming to the attack moves, you can use the Ultimate attack by constantly landing hits on enemies, and I enjoyed how Budi brought a chair out of nowhere and smashed it into his enemy's body.

Levels up acquiring various items (Image via Freedom Games)

One quick tip for players is always to keep wine or milk (scattered around the place) to boost your energy level. This step can give you the upper hand, especially during a boss fight.

The only thing I didn't enjoy about the combat was its lack of purpose. While how you fight in a video game can be a matter of preference, I like how some use specific movements to work when one wrong move can go sideways during combat. Troublemaker didn't feel serious, to begin with. When the full game releases, some combat mechanics need to be polished.

With some basic combat movements like blocking, dodging, and punching, it has various attacks. You can also unlock Sick Moves using the credits you earn from all the fights. However, it does not offer anything significant to make the game more interesting. Although the fighting mechanism lacks innovation, I hope the full release will focus on this matter.

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Troublemaker's visual fidelity and music are major attractions for the game

As for the graphics in Troublemaker, the developers did a pretty decent job based on the minimum system requirements. The basic color palette has a warm tone, which reminded me of some CGI anime that I watched recently.

Troublemaker's graphics and soundtrack are something to look forward to (Image via Freedom Games)

I've never been to Indonesia, but thanks to some YouTube vlogs and TV series, I have an idea of what a suburb in the country would look like. It's fair to say that the Troublemaker grasps the flavor. Sometimes the visual fidelity might feel washed out, and there are some optimization problems, but I believe it can be easily fixed with the official release.

Another aspect that needs praise is the beautiful soundtrack. The strumming guitar in the backdrop will constantly give you a feel of a lazy summer day, and that's another good reason to pass the time in the game.

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After playing the demo, I feel Troublemaker could surely be a potential spare-time indulgence, but it lacks content in some places to glue you to the seat. While it's interesting to see where the story goes and how Budi's school life rolls out in the forthcoming days, the script also needs some improvement.

Some of the English subtitles felt out of place. I can't be sure if those phrases were correct, but that is something the developers should look into.

As the beat 'em up genre goes, the game is true to its core, and I hope it will get better when it officially comes out in the Q1 slot this year. The Troublemaker's Steam demo is live right now.

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Reviewed on: PC (code provided by Freedom Games)

Platform: Microsoft Windows

Developer: Gamecom Team

Publisher: Freedom Games

Release Date: Q1 slot, 2023