Butterflies

About

Butterflies is a single player and multiplayer action adventure game. It was developed by Le Crew and was released on May 22, 2023. It received neutral reviews from players.

Butterflies is a video game about inline skating and graffiti. Apparently some people did that before, but they don't seem like they'll be doing it anymore.

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53%

Audience ScoreBased on 36 reviews

music5 positive mentions

story6 negative mentions

The game has a distinct style and atmosphere, serving as a heartfelt homage to Jet Set Radio with a raw, melancholic mood and a diverse cast.
The soundtrack is strong, featuring bold sampling of classic tracks and enjoyable unique songs in each episode, adding to the game’s identity.
Once players get accustomed to the mechanics, the momentum-based movement and trick system offer satisfying flow and a sense of actual skating.

Controls are notably clunky, slow, and sometimes frustrating, with a steep learning curve and inconsistent responsiveness making navigation difficult.
The episodic structure and confusing purchase setup frustrate players, with each episode feeling like a separate product rather than part of a cohesive experience.
Missions are repetitive and lack variety, often focusing heavily on slow, mandatory tagging minigames, with weak level design and insufficient tutorial guidance.

story
27 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
15%
63%
22%
The story in the game is generally considered light and minimal, offering little context or world-building especially in early episodes, with deeper narrative elements and mission variety emerging more noticeably in later episodes. While some players appreciate the gradual engagement through missions and collectibles, others find the plot underdeveloped and missions repetitive, detracting from overall immersion. Despite these critiques, the game's characters and music receive some praise, contributing to an enjoyable if somewhat simplistic experience.
- “However, episodes 2 and 3 definitely pick up the slack with better designed worlds, missions, some music related collectibles, and more involved story beats (shout-out to episode 2 for having an absolute banger track for the final mission).”
- “There are systems, progression, story, everything.”
- “Story is kinda light, even in the later episodes - you don't even get an idea of what kind of world you're in or why you're going around spraying graffiti until episode 2 for crying out loud.”
- “Not only is every mission now mandatory to do, but the finale mission is a timed 'get to the hardest area with the worst character' mission that, upon restarting, breaks!”
- “You're dumped in without any sort of plot or control popup into the most boring, grey city I've seen.”
music
21 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
24%
62%
14%
The music is widely praised for its energetic, well-crafted soundtrack featuring bold samples from classic Jet Set Radio tracks and unique songs across all episodes, with an especially standout final mission track in episode 2. While some find the heavy reuse and remixing of past themes somewhat distracting or derivative, overall the OST is enjoyable and complements the game's style, though limited music accessibility outside the game and lack of separate volume controls for music and sound effects are noted drawbacks.
- “Super tight soundtrack, with some bold sampling of Jet Set Radio classics.”
- “Episodes 2 and 3 definitely pick up the slack with better designed worlds, missions, some music-related collectibles, and some more involved story beats (shout-out to episode 2 for having an absolute banger track for the final mission).”
- “Plus, if there is a song you don't personally vibe with, you can just press the select button to switch songs (the music in-game is on a permanent shuffle mode, so it'll skip to another random song).”
- “I am sick of constantly hearing zapping sounds and the hooligans just saying 'rudie' 'get back here you little' nonstop - doesn't help that the volume slider just modulates the music and now the SFX :(”
- “The music is also just using as many samples that Hideki Naganuma has used before to a point where it's mostly just distracting.”
- “The soundtrack is very much copied from Future, though instead of just spamming as many Naganuma samples they just remade 'Rock It On' and 'Concept of Love' except instead of saying 'understand' the song says inappropriate language.”
gameplay
16 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
19%
62%
19%
The gameplay is initially clunky and difficult to grasp, requiring time to adjust to its unique mechanics, but can become enjoyable once mastered. However, it suffers from frustrating design choices, such as disruptive rhythm segments, limited trick variety, and a lack of clear guidance or tutorial. Overall, it feels unpolished and lifeless, failing to capture the engaging qualities of its inspirations.
- “The movement definitely took some getting used to, but once I understood the controls and gameplay quirks, that's when I really started having fun.”
- “It's jank and a bit clunky, but it's that good kind of jank that ended up being really fun after learning the mechanics more.”
- “Episode 2 improves on the first game while keeping most of the gameplay the same with a few tweaks.”
- “Oh yeah whoops, forgot to mention, there is a tag mechanic which is a pisspoor rhythm segment that brings the momentum-based gameplay to a halting stop.”
- “You can't grind up rails without losing speed, you can't do multiple air tricks to keep a combo, you can't combo grind tricks, you have to hold the dash button to move at what feels like base speed and the lack of a homebase-like area to learn the mechanics and to set the vibe of the game is very underwhelming.”
- “Without clear guidance on gameplay mechanics and controls, it becomes a frustrating experience.”
graphics
7 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
57%
14%
29%
The graphics feature a noticeable upgrade with stronger shadows and improved textures that enhance the visual appeal, successfully capturing a distinct art style akin to Jet Set Radio. However, some character designs suffer from an overpowering outline effect, and the attempt to mimic a specific aesthetic yields mixed results. Overall, the visuals are appreciated but could benefit from more refined character work.
- “Let's talk about the good things: the visuals have seen a significant upgrade - stronger contrasting shadows and better texture work make it all pop better on the screen. I just wish they put more love into the characters, as their outline shader is seemingly eating them alive.”
- “Episode 3: the first thing you'll notice is that the game has a different cel shading art style.”
- “And I like the aesthetic; I think they nail the art style, and though the music is a little derivative it's still very enjoyable.”
- “Graphics are mostly appropriate.”
- “Episode 3: the first thing you'll notice is that the game has a different cel-shading art style.”
atmosphere
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
50%
50%
The atmosphere received mixed feedback, with some users enjoying it, while others felt it failed to capture the captivating vibe of Jet Set Radio.
- “I really enjoy the atmosphere too!”
- “One of the biggest letdowns is the failure to recreate the captivating atmosphere of Jet Set Radio.”
stability
1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game's stability is affected by occasional camera issues, glitches, and control difficulties, leading to a somewhat inconsistent experience. While the maps are well-designed, minor problems and unexpected quirks can disrupt gameplay.
grinding
1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Grinding mechanics show potential but suffer from inconsistent controls and lack of polish, often causing unexpected momentum loss or direction changes, which is further worsened by the level design.
monetization
1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The monetization is perceived as overly aggressive, with users feeling that requiring payment for each level individually comes across as a cash grab despite improvements in level quality.