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Heatwave

Heatwave Game Cover
66%Game Brain Score
Most mentioned positive aspects:story, gameplay
95% User Score Based on 20 reviews

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Heatwave Game Cover

About Heatwave

Heatwave is a single player and multiplayer arcade fighting game with fantasy, romance, post-apocalyptic and science fiction themes. It was developed by Monochromesoft and was released on November 12, 2025. It received very positive reviews from players.

A fast paced fighting game set in the post apocalypse! Set many years after the most of the Earth was made uninhabitable by an apocalyptic heatwave! Fight using powerful special moves and assists, and counterattack using the parry system!

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Reviews

95%Audience ScoreBased on 20 reviews
story6 positive mentions
  • Robust roster with many characters to unlock and three unique gameplay modes offering varied mechanics and deep combo systems.
  • Extensive and well-executed visual novel style story mode featuring a fully queer cast, praised for its charm, writing, and emotional engagement.
  • Tight, fluid, and expressive fighting gameplay with beautiful pixel art, clear animations, and satisfying sound effects that appeal to both casual and competitive players.
  • Lack of integrated online multiplayer; only local or third-party solutions available, which limits competitive and casual online play.
  • Some players find move readability and initial complexity challenging, requiring time investment to fully understand game mechanics.
  • Music is generally considered unremarkable and not very memorable for battle scenarios.

  • story

    20 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
    30% positive mentions, 55% neutral mentions, 15% negative mentions

    The story mode is widely praised for its robust, extensive visual novel-style narrative featuring a diverse, fully queer cast. While not groundbreaking, it offers charming, polished storytelling that deeply immerses players and adds significant value to the game, often considered worth the price alone. Many reviewers highlight its heartfelt characters and engaging plot as standout elements complementing the gameplay.

    • “The story alone is charming, filled with interesting ideas, and polished enough to be well worth the price of admission on its own.”
    • “Intriguing characters and extensive story mode.”
    • “The story is not the most groundbreaking, but it does a fantastic job of wrapping you in the world and connecting you with the relatively large, very lovable, very queer cast.”
    • “If that's not your thing, skip the story and let the gameplay speak for itself.”
    • “While I haven't gotten to the story mode quite yet, I've already spent multiple hours just trying the characters in training mode; even one time when I was supposed to be going to sleep and found myself labbing a combo an hour later.”

  • gameplay

    15 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
    33% positive mentions, 60% neutral mentions, 7% negative mentions

    The gameplay is widely praised for its deep, varied, and clean mechanics, blending favorite fighting game elements into a highly mobile and open experience. It offers multiple modes with unique mechanics and caters to both competitive players and casual fans, making it one of the best indie 2D fighters available. Minor drawbacks include the lack of online multiplayer and challenging AI even at lower difficulties.

    • “Some of the cleanest gameplay I've had with a fighter in a while; this has instantly jumped up to one of my favorites of all time gameplay-wise.”
    • “The gameplay is very tight; it's one of the best 2D indie air-dashers I've stumbled upon so far.”
    • “There are so many different ways to play any character and three grooves per each with different mechanics, plus a sizable chunk of unlockables (and a way to unlock them in the settings too).”
    • “The only negative notes I might add are the lack of online multiplayer (which is a priority for more competitive players) and that even at the lowest difficulty level, the CPU opponents can be pretty obnoxious if one isn't accustomed to the gameplay - and I wish they blocked a little less often at easiest.”

  • graphics

    4 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
    75% positive mentions, 25% neutral mentions, 0% negative mentions

    The graphics feature a polished, simple art style with bright pastel pixel art reminiscent of GBA visuals, creating a unique and visually appealing experience. While some character proportions are unusual, the overall design is vibrant and complements the game's unapologetic queer theme and extensive story content.

    • “It is tied together with a simple but polished art style, a delightful cast, and a boatload of single player content including extra goodies like secret characters to unlock.”
    • “This game's unapologetic full-force queerness with its roster of characters, bright pastel pixel art reminiscent of GBA graphics, and massive visual novel story mode make it wonderfully unique at face value.”
    • “The visuals are insanely pretty!”

  • music

    3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
    67% positive mentions, 33% neutral mentions, 0% negative mentions

    The music is generally good and complemented by effective sound effects, with a charming, handcrafted feel since much of it was created by a single person. However, the tracks tend to be somewhat generic and lack memorable or intense battle themes.

    • “The backgrounds, music and menus are all very cute and almost everything was made by a single person!”
    • “The music is good, the sound effects are good.”

  • emotional

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

    The game offers a unique blend of sci-fi, climate apocalypse, and magic, delivering both fun and emotional experiences. It caters to various players, from competitive gamers to casual friends, and also provides a heartfelt visual novel storyline.

    • “It is a fun and sometimes emotional sci-fi climate apocalypse but with magic too!”
    • “From its gameplay depth to its story mode, it has something for you, whether you are a competitive player looking to pour in hundreds of hours within a community, a casual enjoyer wanting to play on your couch with friends, or looking to play a heartfelt visual novel!”
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Heatwave is a arcade fighting game with fantasy, romance, post-apocalyptic and science fiction themes. Common tags for Heatwave include indie, lgbtq+, 2d, linear, pixel graphics and others.

Heatwave is available on PC, Windows, Xbox and PlayStation.

Heatwave was released on November 12, 2025.

Heatwave was developed by Monochromesoft.

Heatwave has received very positive reviews from players. Most players liked Heatwave for its story.

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

Similar games include Them's Fightin' Herds, THE LAST BLADE 2, Duels of Fortune, Blade Strangers, Rivals 2 and others.