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Flat Heroes

Mixing the shapely looks of Thomas Was Alone with the speed of 10 Second Run Returns and the brutal difficulty of Super Meat Boy, Flat Heroes fits the Nintendo Switch like a glove. If you’re playing solo you’ve got a solid (and lengthy) Campaign as well as bot support for its mini-games, but it’s the electric excitement of the game's local multiplayer mode where Flat Heroes right-angled, platforming madness makes the biggest impact. Don’t be a square - get this in your digital collection right now.
Flat Heroes Game Cover
85%Game Brain Score
Most mentioned positive aspects:gameplay, music
Most mentioned negative aspects:story, grinding
87% User Score Based on 374 reviews
Critic Score 81%Based on 7 reviews

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Nintendo SwitchLinuxPCMac OSPlaystation 4Xbox OneXboxWindowsPlayStation
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Flat Heroes Game Cover

About Flat Heroes

Flat Heroes is a single player and multiplayer arcade platformer game. It was developed by FlatHeroes and was released on September 8, 2016. It received positive reviews from both critics and players.

Flat Heroes is a minimalistic, super intense action game starring squares for 1 to 4 players. It features a delightful control that allows players to move around the scenario in a super fluid...

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Reviews

87%Audience ScoreBased on 374 reviews
gameplay34 positive mentions
story4 negative mentions
  • Minimalist but polished and stylish graphics with excellent readability and clear visual effects.
  • Responsive and tight controls, especially with a controller, offering satisfying movement and skill progression.
  • Highly enjoyable local couch co-op experience with up to 4 players, greatly enhancing fun and replayability.
  • Steep and sometimes frustrating difficulty spikes, particularly in later levels and boss fights, causing grind-like gameplay.
  • Controls can occasionally feel imprecise or awkward due to rolling square physics and combined jump/dash button, leading to unfair deaths.
  • Lack of online multiplayer and some UI/UX issues, including limited keyboard customization and absence of tutorials, which may hinder new players.

  • gameplay

    99 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
    34% positive mentions, 60% neutral mentions, 6% negative mentions

    Flat Heroes features minimalist but highly polished gameplay centered on precise movement and mastering three core mechanics, offering a steep skill ceiling despite simple controls. The game excels in smooth pacing, inventive level design, and rewarding cooperative modes, though some players find certain mechanics unintuitive and later stages—especially the final boss—frustrating due to abrupt mechanic shifts and inconsistent tutorials. Overall, it delivers engaging, challenging gameplay that appeals to fans of precision platformers but may present a tough learning curve for newcomers.

    • “With only 2 buttons plus movement you would expect very simple gameplay, and it is, but the skill ceiling is amazingly high.”
    • “Flat Heroes is a precision-focused action platformer that demonstrates how a simple concept can evolve into something remarkably engaging through strong design and mechanical depth.”
    • “The gameplay runs very smoothly and transitions nicely from level to level, or from failure to the level reset, making the whole experience very fluent.”
    • “The handling of the controls is downright bizarre, never explained in any capacity, and not taught naturally or effectively through playing, to the point that even once I'd reached the final world I was still working out kinks in my understanding of the mechanics.”
    • “The game is terrible, there is no tutorial, you can't figure out the mechanics, some levels are almost impossible and inconsistent, I don't even think the developer playtested it!”
    • “The final boss even introduces a terrible new game mechanic (shooting?!) and suddenly becomes more of a struggle against the controls than the game itself... and all that, of course, in a 5-stage fight with no checkpoints.”

  • music

    37 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
    35% positive mentions, 57% neutral mentions, 8% negative mentions

    The music in the game is catchy, upbeat, and well-produced, complementing both calm and intense moments with a minimalistic electronic style. While the soundtrack is generally praised for enhancing the overall experience, it can become repetitive due to limited variety, and loud sound effects upon death can disrupt the flow for some players. Overall, the soundtrack fits the game's frantic pace and visual style, making it a strong aspect despite minor drawbacks.

    • “Each world has a unique song, but a nice feature is that as you transition from one level to the next, the music isn't interrupted.”
    • “Sound effects provide useful feedback while music complements both calmer moments and more demanding sequences.”
    • “Whenever you die, it creates a loud sound effect that disrupts the music as you respawn.”
    • “Having a faster respawn, without such a drastic noise that ruins the flow of the music, would be an overall benefit.”
    • “The soundtrack is upbeat electronic stuff and is well-produced, though there's not much of it, so it has a tendency to get a bit repetitive.”

  • graphics

    36 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
    22% positive mentions, 70% neutral mentions, 8% negative mentions

    The graphics of the game are minimalist, clean, and stylish, offering a charming and crisp visual experience that complements the gameplay well. While some find the simple, flat aesthetic pleasing and easy to follow, others feel it lacks complexity or detailed artistry, though expert animation and slick design help maintain polish. Overall, the visuals successfully create an engaging and motivating atmosphere despite their simplicity.

    • “The visuals are so slick and the controls are incredibly crisp.”
    • “Flat Heroes has a minimalistic yet charming art style, similar to Thomas Was Alone.”
    • “A stylish geometric platformer with clean vector graphics and a tactile feel.”
    • “The developers, being unable to afford a proper artist, went for flat graphics and called it 'style' so they could get away from admitting they didn't know anyone who could draw on a computer.”
    • “As a result, actually hitting a bullet requires such high-precision timing that even after hours of practice you're still going to have a hard time getting it to land, with the game's simple visuals providing no help in determining whether you were too early or too late in your timing.”
    • “The graphic design is... it's not my style.”

  • story

    11 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
    27% positive mentions, 37% neutral mentions, 36% negative mentions

    The game features no story, plot, or characters, focusing instead on minimalist gameplay without narrative elements. Players looking for a storyline or character progression may find it lacking, as each level emphasizes increasing difficulty rather than a developing plot.

    • “I would really like for there to be a storyline behind Flat Heroes, no matter how basic.”
    • “Boy, am I glad that I don’t have to beat around the bush, careful not to spoil any precious storyline details.”
    • “Although it doesn't have a story, every world is different and more difficult than the last.”
    • “Unsurprisingly, as the game takes on a minimalist approach, there's no story or plot to speak of.”
    • “There is no story, characters, dialogues or anything, so for me this is no adventure even though the game presents it as such.”
    • “There is no storyline in Flat Heroes as far as I can tell.”

  • replayability

    5 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
    60% positive mentions, 20% neutral mentions, 20% negative mentions

    The game offers high replayability through multiple modes—including campaign, survival, and versus—that can be played solo or with others, enhanced by competitive options. Its simple yet engaging gameplay, smooth controls, and cooperative features contribute to a fun and varied experience, though some feel the core experience remains unchanged. Overall, replay value is strong and well-regarded.

    • “All modes (campaign, survival, and versus) are playable alone (versus with bots) or with more players.”
    • “Competitive options further strengthen replay value by allowing players to challenge one another directly.”
    • “Fun, cheap, simple yet complex, great smooth/tight controls, high replay value, co-op, fast, starts easily and ramps up nicely over time.”
    • “Doesn't really change the experience of the game itself but it brings problems for replay value.”

  • grinding

    5 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
    0% positive mentions, 0% neutral mentions, 100% negative mentions

    Grinding in the game is often viewed as tedious and frustrating, with players feeling forced to replay large sections multiple times due to unfair difficulty spikes and unresponsive controls. While some concepts are interesting, the execution leads to long, repetitive sessions that detract from engagement and shift the challenge into monotonous memorization and endurance.

    • “The final boss was almost impossible to beat alone, and I feel like I only won because of pure luck. The concept was cool and interesting, but the execution was not great since towards the end it became more tedious than challenging and quite unfair too.”
    • “In case of difficult bosses, you spend most of your time grinding through phases you'd already beaten previously.”
    • “Caught myself grinding the campaign for 3 hours straight, especially with Steam Remote Play Together.”

  • humor

    4 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
    100% positive mentions, 0% neutral mentions, 0% negative mentions

    The game’s intentionally quirky physics create humorous, lighthearted moments rather than frustration, especially during multiplayer play. Its fast pace and chaotic gameplay lead to lots of laughter and fun among friends.

    • “The physics are definitely sort of janky, but it's on purpose, and the levels are short enough that it more feels funny when you fail because your cube rolled weirdly and not frustrating.”
    • “The frenetic pace reminds me of games like Stick Fight where everyone falls around laughing and no one is left waiting for long before the action starts again.”
    • “Super fun, had my friends yelling and laughing the whole way through.”

  • stability

    4 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
    0% positive mentions, 0% neutral mentions, 100% negative mentions

    The game's stability is generally good, with occasional minor bugs such as buggy arrows, difficulty spikes, and temporary freezes, especially during level restarts. However, these issues are being addressed by the developers, and overall the game runs smoothly and remains enjoyable.

    • “As of the time of writing, the game is in early access and buggy.”
    • “Really good fun, the only problem I have is that it has some difficulty spikes and a few freezes but nothing major.”
    • “Minor temporary freezes whenever the level restarted but other than that, the game ran really nicely and was a lot of fun.”

  • emotional

    3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
    100% positive mentions, 0% neutral mentions, 0% negative mentions

    Players find the game's physics and mechanics emotionally challenging due to unpredictable wall jumps and reaction to inputs, often leading to frustrating movements and unintended outcomes. However, some appreciate the creative freedom offered by dash restoration mechanics and the ability to float midair, adding depth to the gameplay experience.

  • optimization

    1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
    0% positive mentions, 100% neutral mentions, 0% negative mentions

    The game's optimization delivers solid performance, ensuring smooth gameplay across supported devices. Users generally report stable frame rates and minimal technical issues during play.

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Critic Reviews

81%Critics’ scoreBased on 7 critic reviews
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Play Times

5h Median play time
15h Average play time
4-50h Spent by most gamers
*Based on 4 analyzed playthroughs
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Frequently Asked Questions

Flat Heroes is a arcade platformer game. Common tags for Flat Heroes include co-op campaign, indie, score attack, surreal, family friendly and others.

Flat Heroes is available on Nintendo Switch, PC, Mac OS, PlayStation 4 and others.

On average players spend around 15 hours playing Flat Heroes.

Flat Heroes was released on September 8, 2016.

Flat Heroes was developed by FlatHeroes.

Flat Heroes has received positive reviews from both players and critics. Most players liked Flat Heroes for its gameplay but disliked it for its story.

Flat Heroes is a single player game with multiplayer and local co-op support.

Similar games include Assault Android Cactus, Fury Unleashed, Bleed, N, Penarium and others.