Fight School Simulator Review (Xbox Series X|S & PC)

Fight School Simulator pledges to deliver the ultimate dojo-based hybrid experience, yet it ultimately fails to acknowledge the elephant in the room that sticks out like a sore thumb. It wants to live, breathe, and die in its own environment, yet it often forgets that it shares the ecosystem with hundreds, if not thousands of rival species that share the same generic genomes. Oh, the concept is there, as are, regrettably, the assets. It vies to be the ideal cocktail of business management and mixed martial arts, but it sadly stumbles more often than it should, and annoyingly, it demonstrates its lack of technical prowess in the first five minutes.

I’m all for the idea of a dojo-centric simulation game. Moreover, I truly believe that there is a good concept behind Fight School Simulator. Given that it minces and often orchestrates a variety of authentic martial art styles and traditions, it clearly has its heart in the right place. The execution is passable at best, as is the way in which it chooses to spend its time in the dojo. But, like most asset flip cases, it suffers from one of the most common issues: the delivery of a smooth and reliable product that is both visually appealing and mechanically sound. On that basis, it just falls flat and looks, I don’t know, clumsy.

There is cause for celebration here, of course. Despite the fact that Fight School Simulator looks somewhat wooden and barebones, it does feature a lot of jigsaw pieces that thankfully lean into the usual business simulation tropes. For example, it adopts a sizable collection of managerial features and customizable components. In a true rags-to-riches style, you can build your own dojo, orchestrate and create viable training programs, develop your students, and, above all, embrace the courtyard to showcase your own strengths and technical abilities.

As I said, the concept is great. Fight School Simulator knows what it wants to accomplish, and it does all in its power to convey it in a meaningful way. With that, you have an ambitious, albeit visually impaired model that bears a soul, but lacks a beating heart to enhance its palpitations. On paper, it offers you a good deal to work with—classes, fighting styles, customizable set pieces, tuition fees, and even rival dojos to squash. To that end, you have plenty to sink your knuckles into. Yet, it’s the technical aspect that sullies its execution. It might talk the talk, but it doesn’t quite walk the walk.

Due to its extensive reliance on AI assets, Fight School Simulator does struggle to find its own unique touch. While its world-building and managerial aspects are of a different breed, its character designs, textures and general animations all tend to hail from an oh-so-familiar catalog of second-hand assets. And, as much as it pains me say it, it doesn’t take all that long to find its similarities, either. That isn’t to say that it’s a bad game. Rather, it’s simply the case of acknowledging that it has an idea, but that it also relies a little too heavily on generative design elements to complete its image.

If you can brush over the fact that Fight School Sim is a borrower of used assets, then you shouldn’t struggle to enjoy it for what it is. Sure, it’s a little shoddy and mechanically incompetent, but it’s also a surprisingly entertaining game that manages to cram a lot into its palm-sized dojo. With a good amount of content to deal with, dual stories to unravel, and a Grand Master to lean on for all of your martial arts needs, there is a lot to shovel through here. Like a traditional business and shopkeeping-like game, it makes a decent effort to flesh out its canvas with dozens of options, skill trees and interactive avenues. But, again, it still fails to deliver a coherent experience that blends quantity with quality.

For what it’s worth, Fight School Simulator does more than the average business sim. It might not feel great to slug through, but it does provide enough material to keep you mindlessly engaged as you meticulously prepare and maintain your own dojo and tweak its finest features. To that end, I’d say that it delivers on its promise to provide a jam-packed, albeit slightly sloppy love letter to martial arts. In time, perhaps it’ll find the means to tighten a few of its screws to achieve maximum efficiency. At present, though, it’s fair to say that it still presents itself as an affordable asset flip-like simulation game.

Of course, if you enjoy management simulation games that grant you the freedom to simultaneously build, maintain, and develop your own portfolio, then you will probably find something to fall in love with here. That being said, it’s best to take it all with a grain of salt. Fight School Simulator might have the heart of a lion, but its roar is anything but magnificent.

Verdict

Fight School Simulator might pack a punch with its fully loaded martial arts, dojo-based campaign, but it also struggles to emerge from the shadow of a typical asset flip-like simulation game, mainly due to its extensive use of generative AI and second-hand set pieces. While it boasts a sizable banquet of content and fine details that can be tweaked, customized, and stitched into a complete martial arts program, it sadly fails to convey a finished product that comes across as both visually appealing and mechanically satisfying.

With all of the above said, Fight School Simulator has a good set of bones to it. Granted, it shares the same skeletal structure as most of its kin, but it clearly has the potential to prove itself as a quality standalone game in the simulation field. For that reason alone, I’d say that it’s worth keeping an eye on. It might not do enough to amaze you, but it does give you something to look forward to. And let’s face it, given that martial arts is a niche sport in the video game industry, that’s enough of an incentive to warrant your participation.