Royalty Free-For-All is a lovingly crafted four player fighting game in the vein of fighters like Super Smash Bros. albeit with its own flavor sprinkled atop that formula. Part of that seasoning and what separates Royalty Free-For-All from similar games in the genre is it’s gorgeous hand-drawn art style that felt as though you were playing in a Hanna-Barbera cartoon. With unique representations of characters and stages existing in the public domain– squaring off with original versions of Mother Goose and Dorothy amplified the aesthetic of this approachable fighter. Each fighter had a wide range of personality baked into their animations which really made them leap off of the screen and added to the chaos of four players smashing each other up.
A few inputs and some easy to execute combos set the stage for players of all caliber to have an enjoyable experience. Fighting games seem to almost always carry a stigma of being difficult to pickup so with Royalty Free-For-All making an attempt to lower that barrier it’ll be nice to see if that allows more players the comfort to hop in. Even though Royalty Free-For-All boasts its low barrier to entry for players of all ages and skillsets to hop on the sticks, there were signs of depth that poked through in our few sessions that more skilled players could hone in on to take bouts to the next level. That plus the promise of rollback netcode leaves me to believe this one could have the potential to pack a punch for casual players and fighting game fans alike whenever it makes its way to consoles and PC. I know we had a blast playing and can’t wait to duke it out again soon. You can stay in the know and wishlist on Steam so you’re ready to brawl in the future.
Pass The Controller 