Guts and Glory Review on Steam

Time waster games are nothing new. Indeed, many might say that’s the primary purpose of video games to begin with. Typically, optimization and glitch removal take a back seat to interesting mechanics or the realities of small-team indie development. From QWOP to Goat Simulator these games are often more fun broken than fixed. Bad controls and deliberately unfixed bugs easily generate random moments of hilarity, lending themselves well to streamers and YouTube compilations. Happy Wheels was one such game. In this 2010, browser based, ragdoll racer players are tasked with driving former British Prime Minister David Cameron on a Segway, a dad and son on a bike, Santa Claus and more, through a death defying (though typically death inducing) obstacle course. Mortal injury was not a possibility, but a bloody gibbed certainty. Little has changed in Guts and Glory, a new spiritual successor by HakJak Productions and tinyBuild Games.

Billed by both critics and fans alike as Happy Wheels but 3D Guts and Glory tasks players with surviving to the end of the end of a deadly course. A similar cast of characters, each with their own absurd vehicles make an appearance. Hover boards, motorcycles and propane tank jetpack chairs all provide new ways to die with each carnage strewn level. With unresponsive controls bloody collisions with spiked walls, crossbow bolts or mines is an inevitable occurrence. As is gory dismemberment. Some players might enjoy the frequently hilarious deaths while others might be frustrated by their inability to stop them. In a game like Dark Souls every death is brutal but fair, in G&G it is both brutal and frequently unfair. Finding joy in the latter is key to enjoying this game.

Guts and Glory is enjoyable, not because the gameplay is fun, but because the ever present sense of danger invades every second of it. Hurtling down a hill while cannons fire stones and explosives is difficult and tense. Reaching the end of a map, after countless deaths, gives a feeling of accomplishment few other games give. However, rarely does it feel like much skill was involved. Rather, perhaps you hit a corner “just so” that it gave you the angle to jump up a ramp while avoiding spinning buzz saws. Similarly, deaths are equally, if not more, random, with projectiles flying in from varying directions each run. Often getting hit by an object skews your controls and makes completing a level even more difficult. There comes a line were G&G passes from fun and silly to frustrating and unfair. With progression within the different worlds locked until you finish a level, it’s easy to become trapped on a particularly brutal stage. Yet there is joy to be had in the simplistic game.

My best experience with this game has been when I put the least amount of effort into it. Playing a song or podcast as I zone out and attempt the same level again and again induces a kind of zen-like state. With tanky and frequently unresponsive controls I often found myself playing better when I didn’t fight back against them, letting myself careen haphazardly through the course. Community maps, scoreboards and a strong screenshot taker all lend long term playability to an otherwise short game. A lucky (notice how I don’t say skilled) player could make it through within 5 hours. In an era of games with compelling narrative experiences and tight gameplay one must decide whether this is the experience they desire. Guts and Glory is the equivalent to a b-movie game. A fun popcorn flick that doesn’t ask too much of its audience but promises a fun time instead.

7.5 out of 10

Check Out the Guts and Glory Launch Trailer:

Guts & Glory is available for PC, Mac, and Linux via Steam as well as Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One.