Games you may wanna try : Party Hard

Party Hard is an interesting fun little game which perfectly fits the context in which the game was conceived : during a Game Jolt game jam. The developers, Pinokl Games were able to expand on this concept and even get it to be published by tinyBuild. The story is inspirational for us beginner game designers. But Party Hard has more than a couple of interesting design choices to speak of.

Neon blood

The visual and sound design of the game are probably the best parts. The game uses pixel graphics, an 80s aesthetic and a hammy overly-acted detective story, which is at the same time hilarious and gruesome. Plus the bright neon colors combined with the thumping synth-heavy music really allows the player to be entranced while playing the Party Hard killer, a man who has had enough of loud parties and has decided to go on a road trip, killing all party goers on his way. The gameplay is simple but the system is reactive, you can move, stab, hide bodies and activate traps to try to kill every one at the party. There are a dozen locations with each a different song. It is varied visually but they all play the same way; activate traps and use the phone calls to have more or less beneficial interventions from allies. The player always has the whole level on screen but because of this your character model can blend in so much that you have no idea where you are. There is a dance button which activates a halo around the character, allowing you to not be completely lost.

The satisfaction in this game is when you are able to chain kills and actions fluidly. You start the level, the party is going hard and there are many possibilities offered to the player. The interactions can be funny and absurd, pretty soon there are killer dancing bears at the party, aliens and even an actual Sharknado. This can be undermined by the fairly brutal difficulty. If your character runs into a single bouncer, a cop, special forces member even once it's an immediate game over and you have to restart.

Twitch game

The biggest feature of this game is undoubtedly Twitch integration. Viewers can influence events in the game, control NPCs, say things in game, it's quite substantial and impressive. The issue is Party Hard has become mostly a game for streamers, the developers have preferred to tap into that market instead of perfecting the gameplay and fixing certain bugs. I've never had anything game breaking but the game does lack a certain amount of polish in the animations and level design.

There is a lot of potential in this game as can be observed in the DLCs released for the game and the Steam workshop integration, user-generated content can be quite inspired. There are many ways the game can be improved upon mechanically and visually. This is probably what the developers thought because they are currently working on a sequel, Party Hard 2 (their last game, Party Hard Tycoon having been unsuccessful). Party Hard 2 seems to be shaping up as a true development of the concepts and ideas they had at that game jam.

I have only played Party Hard on Steam but I am aware of the mobile version which seems very much the same. But as is, I recommend trying out this game if only to experience a game with potential still to be unlocked.