River City Ransom: Underground

About River City Ransom: Underground

River City Ransom: Underground is a single player and multiplayer open world hack and slash game with a comedy theme. It was developed by Conatus Creative Inc. and was released on February 28, 2017. It received mostly positive reviews from players.

Alex and Ryan must take to the streets to help a new crop of fighters. You'll earn money, unlock moves, and upgrade your skills in a sprawling city. This modern take on an old classic features over 500 unique street fighting moves, dozens of weapons, and fun online multiplayer modes.

River City Ransom: Underground screenshot

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Reviews

74%Audience ScoreBased on 1,370 reviews

gameplay79 positive mentions

story50 negative mentions

Faithful homage and sequel to the original River City Ransom NES game with updated pixel art and animations that capture the retro charm.
Diverse roster of characters with unique fighting styles, deep combat mechanics, combo and juggling system well suited for both solo and multiplayer.
Large open-world map with RPG elements such as leveling, stat upgrades via food, and shops, enhancing replayability and exploration.

Poorly explained game mechanics and vague mission objectives make progression confusing, requiring external guides for directions and move inputs.
Enemy AI often frustrating due to hit-and-run tactics, excessive blocking and input reading, causing tedious and repetitive fights with many enemies surrounding the player.
The game suffers from a grind-heavy progression where money is scarce, and dying results in losing half the money, making early and some late gameplay frustrating.

story
420 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
12% positive mentions, 76% neutral mentions, 12% negative mentions
The story in this beat-'em-up sequel to River City Ransom is a mixed bag: it offers a nostalgic continuation of the Americanized storyline with a large cast and varied characters, but suffers from a confusing, sometimes bizarre plot with uneven pacing and many poorly explained, tedious, or frustrating quests—especially chase and fetch missions. While the narrative is lighthearted, self-aware, and humorous at times, it often becomes nonsensical and incoherent, detracting from player engagement. Many reviewers note that the story feels secondary to the combat, with numerous bugs, vague objectives, and difficulty spikes further hampering progression, making it more suited for fans who prioritize gameplay over narrative depth.
- “The story is well written too, feels like playing a "San Andreas" version of River City Ransom at times.”
- “The story is a mixed bag, imo.”
- “Like its predecessor, it is heavily dosed with RPG elements: a city to explore at will, shops, experience, upgradable stats and levels, a few sidequests, and a storyline delivered more eloquently than the average game in the genre, as well as a cast of playable characters more akin to a fighting game in sheer size.”
- “The story is completely bizarre but at the same time it works since it follows the American continuity so it just feels right.”
- “The story, however, takes a back seat this time and doesn't make much sense.”
- “The story is stupid even for a brawler, and gets really obnoxiously meta in the third act, introducing a completely out of place mad scientist character with clones and dimensional travel, and a plot point about being aware of being in a fictional universe. Ultimately the plot isn't why you're playing this, but it is there, and it's insulting and bad.”
gameplay
295 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
27% positive mentions, 65% neutral mentions, 8% negative mentions
The gameplay of this beat-'em-up RPG sequel is praised for its faithful yet expanded combat mechanics, diverse characters with unique fighting styles, and satisfying combo system, offering a deep and nostalgic experience for fans of the original. However, it suffers from frustrating design choices such as unclear or under-explained mechanics, balancing issues, grind-heavy progression, intrusive mechanics like police chases, and technical bugs that detract from player enjoyment. Overall, the game rewards investment and mastery but can feel tedious, inconsistent, and unintuitive for those unfamiliar with or less tolerant of its quirks.
- “The game positions itself as an official continuation rather than a remake, embracing the chaotic charm, RPG-infused brawling, and open-ended structure of the Kunio-kun lineage while layering in modern mechanics and a far broader scope.”
- “From a gameplay standpoint, a well-realized brawler that asks for and also rewards more precision than its NES River City Ransom roots, while being somewhat mean and grindy in terms of pacing character advancement.”
- “This is a phenomenal beat-em-up RPG large world game that stacks on multiple mechanics, moves and characters to the River City Ransom formula.”
- “Some systems feel under-explained, and balancing issues can make early encounters punishing until players fully grasp the RPG mechanics.”
- “Useless mechanics that pad the length such as the pointless cop system and hiding mandatory bosses behind a day/night cycle, poor balance including the ability to stunlock enemies to invalidate much of combat, sections that can kill a full health character in one mistake regardless of difficulty, frequently unclear directions and all sorts of other issues make this very bad entry in an otherwise amazing series.”
- “This is an unforgiving chase-the-cowards-through-various-places simulation game, mixed with unforgiving fragile glass bottle delivery simulation game, mixed with some precision platforming with the worst character movement mechanic and one of the worst, unforgiving and unfair enemies A.I.”
music
182 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
41% positive mentions, 53% neutral mentions, 6% negative mentions
The game's music generally receives praise for its energetic, catchy, and authentic 8-bit/chiptune style that complements the retro aesthetic and gameplay well. However, controversy arose due to the original soundtrack being replaced following legal issues, leading to mixed opinions—some players prefer the initial soundtrack for its nostalgic quality, while others have grown to appreciate the new compositions. Despite this, the soundtrack is often highlighted as a strong aspect that enhances the overall experience.
- “The soundtrack complements this aesthetic with energetic tracks that reinforce the rebellious street atmosphere.”
- “Absolutely buy this game and its banging soundtrack while you can.”
- “The combat is surprisingly 'crunchy' and satisfying, the art style is charming and while chiptunes can be annoying (or even depressing) I think River City's soundtrack is neat.”
- “The music is ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ compared to the original and the game just doesn't know when to stop throwing pathetic low-level minions at you.”
- “Also the new music is terrible but that's just my opinion and won't reflect my opinion of the overall game.”
- “Like it actually is so repetitive it kinda hurts my ears and I choose to default to just better music from my iTunes list (like the Hyper Light Drifter soundtrack).”
grinding
172 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
1% positive mentions, 0% neutral mentions, 99% negative mentions
Grinding in the game is extensive and often feels tedious, requiring significant time to level up characters, earn money, and unlock moves, with low enemy rewards and frequent backtracking exacerbating the issue. While some players find the grind manageable or even enjoyable when playing with friends or appreciating RPG elements, many criticize the repetitive and slow-paced progression, poor design choices like non-shared money between characters, and heavy penalties that make grinding frustrating and a major barrier to fun. Overall, grinding is a core but polarizing aspect that may detract from the experience for those who prefer a faster, less repetitive beat 'em up.
- “Grinding for stats, items and moves can take a long time; you'll spend a while leveling up and earning enough cash to unlock special moves or combo extensions.”
- “The inability to share money between characters discourages switching during story progress, as other characters are often too weak and require extensive level grinding, wasting time and effort.”
- “Grinding is excessive and tedious, making the game feel like a chore; many money drops are low, enemies can be cheap, and the gameplay forces boring strategies that hinder fun.”
graphics
156 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
42% positive mentions, 55% neutral mentions, 3% negative mentions
The graphics of the game are widely praised for faithfully capturing the retro 8-bit/16-bit pixel-art style of the original River City Ransom, enhanced with smoother animations, richer color palettes, and detailed sprite work. While some find the visuals charming and nostalgically appealing with well-executed cutscenes and modern touches, a few critics mention that the art style can feel simplistic or unattractive to some, and occasional background clutter or palette choices diminish clarity. Overall, the game's graphics effectively blend classic aesthetics with updated polish, delighting fans of old-school beat 'em ups.
- “Visually, the game embraces a bold pixel-art style that stays faithful to its retro heritage while benefiting from higher resolution and smoother animation.”
- “The graphics are great and it's incredibly clear that a lot of love and care went into every detail, from the big presentation to the tiniest pixel, and I'm a sucker for those kinds of details.”
- “It's got a retro feel while also bringing new fresh pixelated graphics to the table, and the animations and cutscenes are very well done.”
- “The retro pixel graphics are ugly, really ugly.”
- “River City Ransom: Underground is a retro pixel 2D arcade brawler/beat 'em up in the spirit of Double Dragon but with far worse graphics.”
- “The visuals are well animated, but in an ugly palette, and a lot of the background looks pretty dreadful.”
humor
76 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
99% positive mentions, 0% neutral mentions, 1% negative mentions
The game's humor is widely appreciated for its expressive characters, quirky animations, and nostalgic references, delivering a fun and lighthearted tone with plenty of witty dialogue, easter eggs, and playful absurdity. While many praise its charm, slapstick moments, and clever callbacks to retro gaming, some find the humor juvenile, outdated, or reliant on nostalgia, with occasional mean-spirited or cringe-worthy jokes. Overall, the humor adds a distinct character and enjoyment, especially when playing with friends.
- “Characters are expressive, environments are colorful and detailed, and the exaggerated animations help convey the game’s humorous, slightly absurd tone.”
- “We laughed and laughed, the combos were hilarious, the death-text and food-text sent us into peals of teary-eyed giggles.”
- “The humor from the original River City Ransom is back in everything from the store item descriptions and enemy dialogue to easter egg-filled bits of graffiti.”
- “The game's writing is painfully unfunny.”
stability
57 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
2% positive mentions, 0% neutral mentions, 98% negative mentions
The game suffers from numerous stability issues, including frequent bugs, glitches, crashes, and problematic controls that affect both single-player and multiplayer modes. While some players find it playable and fun despite these problems, many caution against purchasing it until significant patches improve overall stability and performance.
- “And runs great on Linux!”
- “Summary: the game is a buggy mess, don't buy it until they fix it.”
- “Unfortunately, it's too buggy and broken to be worth playing.”
- “- glitches, glitches, glitches: the missions break, dialogs don’t play, settings don’t stick, you hit invisible walls when running, you get stuck in/on stuff, all the standards.”
- “Gameplay is also very buggy in its current state, with PS4 controller input over wireless being laggy to the point of unusability and flat out dropping button input.”
- “Practically everything in the game is buggy from basic gameplay to the engine to progression and even the text is buggy at times.”
replayability
35 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
31% positive mentions, 60% neutral mentions, 9% negative mentions
The game offers significant replayability through a wide range of playable characters, unique fighting styles, and customizable movesets, which keep the experience fresh and engaging. Additional features like online multiplayer, new game plus, and ongoing developer support further enhance its longevity. However, some players find that initial overwhelm and certain game imbalances or bugs can impact the replay value until addressed by updates.
- “Offering plenty of replayability and unique experiences every playthrough.”
- “With over a dozen unique and selectable characters to progress, this game allows for a ton of replay value.”
- “Combat is very fun and each character offers a wide breadth of moves, making the replay value of this game incredibly high.”
- “As a result, these excessive contents are forced to become part of the game's replay value instead.”
- “-lack of replayability aside from leveling other characters.”
- “Above average but lacks a bit of replayability once you do everything.”
character development
6 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
50% positive mentions, 0% neutral mentions, 50% negative mentions
Character development features charming and fun character designs with distinctive animations and a blend of classic and modern styles, though some dialogue can feel repetitive. While many appreciate the faithful continuation and visual appeal, a few critics find issues with story liberties and inconsistent character design choices. Overall, character presentation is engaging but somewhat uneven in execution.
- “The character designs are solid and while the quips are repetitive, there's a lot of charm in the dialogue.”
- “A faithful follow-up to the original, with pitch-perfect music and the same style of adorable animations, though there are hints of the new developer's more modern sensibilities, alongside the previous games' character designs and expressions.”
- “The graphics look great, the character designs are fun, and each character has their own set of animations.”
- “In my personal opinion, developers took too much liberty in terms of story, lore, and character design.”
- “An unpolished game full of bugs, extremely poor decisions, and lopsided character design.”
- “You know, like if you told John Wayne Gacy to make some pixel chibi dudes, he might come up with these character designs.”
emotional
5 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100% positive mentions, 0% neutral mentions, 0% negative mentions
The emotional experience of River City Ransom: Underground is a mix of heartfelt nostalgia and frustration; while it offers satisfying and enjoyable moments once the moveset is unlocked, issues like unreliable attacks and limited character options dampen the overall emotional connection for longtime fans.
- “Overall, River City Ransom: Underground stands as a bold and heartfelt continuation of a classic franchise.”
- “I have a strong emotional attachment to those games like many others.”
- “It’s satisfying, fun, and heartbreaking because I keep thinking about all the other characters I just don’t have the patience to raise.”
atmosphere
4 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
75% positive mentions, 0% neutral mentions, 25% negative mentions
The game's atmosphere is characterized by a distinctive, rebellious street vibe supported by an energetic soundtrack, creating a strong "feel-good" nostalgic experience. However, some feel it relies heavily on nostalgia to compensate for limited writing and deeper atmospheric development.
- “The soundtrack complements this aesthetic with energetic tracks that reinforce the rebellious street atmosphere.”
- “Overall, the game had a distinctive atmosphere, and the gameplay was engaging.”
- “It just creates a 'feel-good' atmosphere to see some of these things and the way that they were implemented into this game.”
- “Also, it heavily relies on nostalgia to make up for the lack of any real writing or atmosphere.”
optimization
4 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
50% positive mentions, 0% neutral mentions, 50% negative mentions
Optimization appears inconsistent, with some users experiencing significant performance issues and bugs on mid-range hardware, while others report smooth gameplay and no problems even on older or less powerful systems. Overall, performance may vary depending on the setup.
- “Visuals are great and run smoothly.”
- “No problems with performance, Steam Controller worked just fine and no setup was needed.”
- “There's definitely a decent number of bugs - I have horrible performance problems on a GTX 1070 somehow, toggle text display does nothing, etc.”
monetization
3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
0% positive mentions, 33% neutral mentions, 67% negative mentions
Users criticize the game's monetization, viewing it as a greedy cash grab that includes unwanted microtransactions. They feel the game lacks polish and developer support, reflecting a focus on profit over quality.
- “All this game needs to add to make my head explode is microtransactions.”
- “This is just lazy and another cash grab from a no-show developer who never puts out patches for any of the awful games that they release.”

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Play Times

17h Median play time

14h Average play time

3-30h Spent by most gamers

*Based on 8 analyzed playthroughs

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Frequently Asked Questions

River City Ransom: Underground is a open world hack and slash game with comedy theme. Common tags for River City Ransom: Underground include indie, trading, 2d, pixel graphics, soundtrack and others.

River City Ransom: Underground is available on PC, Mac OS, Windows and Linux.

On average players spend around 14 hours playing River City Ransom: Underground.

River City Ransom: Underground was released on February 28, 2017.

River City Ransom: Underground was developed by Conatus Creative Inc..

River City Ransom: Underground has received mostly positive reviews from players. Most players liked River City Ransom: Underground for its gameplay but disliked it for its story.

River City Ransom: Underground is a single player game with multiplayer and local co-op support.

Similar games include River City Girls, Double Dragon Gaiden: Rise Of The Dragons, Double Dragon Neon, River City Girls 2, Streets of Rage 4 and others.

River City Ransom: Underground

Platforms

Games Like River City Ransom: Underground

River City Girls

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Hammerwatch

Reviews

story

gameplay

music

grinding

graphics

humor

stability

replayability

character development

emotional

atmosphere

optimization

monetization

Critic Reviews

destructoid.com Review

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