Drunkn Bar Fight Review (PC VR)

Drunkn Bar Fight provides the exact type of slapstick comedy that I often go looking for in the virtual reality headspace. It shows that nothing has to make sense to be impactful and give you a good old-fashioned belly laugh. Instead, it dials it back to primordial pleasures, with as little as a swaggering fist, a room of strangers, and a ruthless bar brawl. It doesn’t fill your head with dreams of grandeur, nor does it flesh out its narrative with twists and turns, fascinating character arcs or generic role-playing jargon. It just tells it how it is, with an iron fist and an open doorway that provides infinite access to mindless violence. If that isn’t a good game in the eyes of the intoxicated, then I don’t know what is. It’s pointless, and yet I absolutely love it.

I won’t beat around the bush with this one. Heck, the title says it all. Drunkn Bar Fight is exactly what you think it is: a VR-based brawling simulator in which you, the mischievous soul with an impenetrable god complex, wage unethical wars against patrons for no good reason other than to fuel your hatred for local businesses and social welfare. And if you think it runs a little deeper than that — eh, it doesn’t. There are no crossroads for you to face, and there are no characters to befriend. It’s just you, an open space, and a chance to wreak havoc on unsuspecting victims whilst they merrily consume their post-shift beverage. Oh, or speak their vows in the presence of an eagle-eyed priest. But that’s another story altogether.

It doesn’t take much to put two and two together here. In fact, if Drunkn Bar Fight is anything at all, it’s an opportunity to cave into your inner demons and run rampant. You do not have any real objectives — only an open-ended world that allows you to weaponize ordinary objects and obliterate establishments in any manner that you deem appropriate. A bottle; a chair leg; a rifle; a bride’s priceless wedding gown; or a good old-fashioned fist. It doesn’t matter how you choose to go about your duty as an unlicensed security contractor; it matters only that you appease your inner tyrant and fulfill your inhumane duties. And that’s sort of all that you’re doing here: causing trouble for the sake of it. Again, not a game, but an excuse to wax poetic with your blissful ignorance.

When it comes to gameplay and mechanics, Drunkn Bar Fight doesn’t exactly go out of its way to latch onto anything particularly revolutionary. Instead, it hands you an open palm, and a chance to transform the environment into your own private sandbox, be it through the use of an electric guitar or another guest’s left arm socket. Frankly, it doesn’t really matter how you go about achieving your goals here, because at the end of the day, as long as you’re causing mischief, you are more or less winning the game. Well, to an extent.

If you’re expecting an ironclad fighting game that features proper physics-based combat mechanics and lifelike responses, then I’ll be honest with you — this isn’t the game for you. If anything, you ought to expect sloppy graphics and rag roll physics, nonsensical movements and ridiculous behavioral patterns that make little to no sense to you or those involved in the brawl. But hey, at least it’s in tune with its theme of intoxication and slurred rage.

As I said, there isn’t really a storyline for you to dig your claws into here. Rather, you have a collection of areas to traipse—a dive bar, or a pompous rooftop lounge, for example—and a selection of tools and other items to unearth and utilize. The objective, of course, remains the same across all biomes: to bring a little rowdiness to the night. There isn’t an endgame, and there aren’t any “special” requirements for you to fulfill. It’s just you, a sandbox, and that all-important opportunity to ruin a wedding or a bachelor party. How you go about doing that, however, is entirely up to you.

As with most gimmicky VR games, there truly is only so much “joy” that you can squeeze out of Drunkn Bar Fight before the act of bottling a stranger transitions from a laughable experience to fodder fit for a smirk. Don’t get me wrong, it’s still a lot of fun, but with only so many locations and reactions, there does come a point where shameful drunken behavior transitions from a laughable exercise to mere fodder that’s only fit for a quick giggle. The only thing that counters this, thankfully, is its four-player co-op mode, which in itself brings a fresh perspective to the experience and gives you a little extra to explore on the side. It isn’t much I’ll admit, but being able to hit a friend with a decanter is a heck of a lot more entertaining than a cardboard cutout with flailing arms, at least.

Verdict

Drunkn Bar Fight captures the level of pettiness that I strive to imitate in a virtual reality environment. It’s silly, pointless violence on a silver platter—a mindless act designed solely to help you unleash your inner demons whenever you’re in the mood for something nonsensical and brash. It might not be a good game, but it certainly is a luxury that you can afford to lend your ear to as and when the desire to crack knuckles strikes. As for whether or not that’s worth the price of admission is another question. I suppose it depends on what you consider to be a “fun” experience, really.

Of course, if you have a VR headset and a few bucks to spare, then I’d recommend giving Drunkn Bar Fight a shot, if only for the comical value and the chance to wage a few unnecessary battles with soulless patrons. That being said, I wouldn’t expect a great experience with a lot of evergreen qualities here. It’s a quick solution for curing your boredom, nothing more, nothing less.