Just the Boss Fights

About

Just the Boss Fights is a single player role playing game with fantasy and comedy themes. It was developed by Tactical Toad LLC and was released on November 24, 2025. It received very positive reviews from players.

What is Just the Boss Fights? Just the Boss Fights is a classic 2D platformer RPG with a twist: the game skips all the story, dialogue, exploration, and grind, leaving only the bosses themselves! Unfortunately, our hero wasn't quite prepared for this shift into a boss rush, and finds himself confused at every turn. Join the Hero as he pieces together what's happened to his world. Why are there…

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90%

Audience ScoreBased on 31 reviews

music3 positive mentions

graphics3 negative mentions

Unique boss-rush concept that eliminates tedious exploration and focuses on challenging battles.
Art style and sound design are highly praised, creating an enjoyable aesthetic experience.
The game is fun and engaging for fans of classic 2D platformers and boss fights, with clever ability introduction and noticeable effort by the developers.

Gameplay can feel clunky and frustrating due to inconsistent controls, camera issues, and poorly designed moveset changes.
Excessive and repetitive dialogue disrupts the flow of fights and can become tiresome quickly.
Lack of tutorial clarity and in-game guidance makes the experience confusing and difficult to onboard new players effectively.

gameplay
7 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
43%
14%
43%
The gameplay focuses on unique single-screen boss fights with distinct mechanics and evolving player abilities, offering a novel and rhythm-driven experience. However, some moves feel inconsistent, and the dash/jump mechanics can feel clunky, especially on certain controls, which disrupts flow and enjoyment at times. Overall, the concept is promising but could benefit from smoother controls and less dialogue interrupting the action.
- “I really enjoyed how each boss had its own distinct mechanics, and how the characters had different abilities to counter them—that design choice was great.”
- “The changing moveset for the player character would be fine if there was an actual mechanical reason for it, and said moves were more thought out. As it stands, some abilities feel way more comfortable to use than others, making the player either long for a previous move they no longer have or spam the one new move they find useful.”
- “I'm sure in the full release and with more content that won't be as bad, but fight no.2 was a bit of a slog because the mechanics lock you into one cycle.”
- “This platformer seems to have specifically aimed to be worse than most platformers... by design, almost all of the platformer mechanics and level negotiation has been removed completely, in exchange it's just a bunch of single screen 'boss fights' of deplorably low quality.”
- “The changing moveset for the player character would be fine if there was an actual mechanical reason for it, and said moves were more thought out; as it stands, some abilities feel way more comfortable to use than others, which makes the player feel either longing for a previous move you no longer have or spamming the one new move you find useful.”
- “The movement mechanics may get a little clunky if you're playing on mouse and keyboard, and because of that, the final phase of the dragon boss fight, and the latter two phases of the black mage looking guy's fight suffer because of it.”
graphics
6 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
33%
17%
50%
The graphics feature a retro, pixel-art style that has received mixed reactions: some find it poorly executed or limiting, while others appreciate the art style and effort put into the visuals. Overall, the pixel art contributes to the game's charm for some players, even if it doesn't appeal to everyone.
- “Enjoyable, with a great art style too.”
- “Amazing game, movement feels solid, love the art style.”
- “This features really godawful pixelcrap 'art' instead of real graphics.”
- “It's hard to say if this was because the developer didn't have the skill to do the job of creating 3D visuals, or couldn't afford to hire someone who does, but it also doesn't matter.”
- “Games like Terraria and Stardew Valley succeeded despite the bad graphics, not because of them.”
music
3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Users praise the game's music as excellent and well-crafted, though some suggest adding music during glitch sections and smoother transitions could enhance the overall experience.
- “First of all, the art and music are excellent.”
- “The art and music are great.”
- “Adding music to the glitch sections and smoother transitions between screens could prove to be very beneficial quality of life improvements.”
humor
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The humor in the game starts off quirky and amusing but quickly becomes repetitive and tiresome, particularly due to the protagonist's frequent and similar confused remarks. While the concept is clever, the comedic dialogue loses its charm over time.
story
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The story is minimal and lacks depth, with simple dialogues but no comprehensive introduction or world-building, leaving players feeling disconnected from the game's background and narrative progression.
- “As you are being trained, you learn the basics of movement, dash, jump, attack, heal, etc. You are doing quite well, until you are teleported to fight the boss of this level and claim victory - the only problem is you missed out on the story in between.”
- “However, although there are simple dialogues throughout the game, there is a lack of introduction to the entire story background and the construction of the world in the game.”
grinding
1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Grinding is minimized thanks to novel gameplay that skips tedious tasks and focuses on fast-paced battles, maintaining a tight and engaging rhythm.
monetization
1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Users find the game enjoyable but suggest adding microtransactions, a battle pass, and ranked mode to enhance monetization and gameplay experience.