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The Baconing

The Baconing Game Cover
73%Game Brain Score
humor, gameplay
grinding, stability
76% User Score Based on 196 reviews
Critic Score 60%Based on 1 reviews

Platforms

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The Baconing Game Cover

About

The Baconing is a single player and multiplayer role playing game with comedy and science fiction themes. It was developed by Hothead Games and was released on August 31, 2011. It received neutral reviews from critics and mostly positive reviews from players.

In "The Baconing," players step into the role of DeathSpank, a hero on a mission to defeat the evil Anti-Spank and his army of Cyborques. The game features a variety of quests, challenging battles, and puzzles, set in a pop-up book style world with unique locations such as The Forbidden Zone and Hell's Half Acre. Players can unleash powerful attacks with the Weapons of Justice and utilize tactical abilities to control the battlefield, with the option to play local co-op with a friend and choose from four sidekicks.

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The Baconing screenshot
The Baconing screenshot
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The Baconing screenshot
The Baconing screenshot
The Baconing screenshot
The Baconing screenshot
The Baconing screenshot
The Baconing screenshot
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The Baconing screenshot
+10
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76%
Audience ScoreBased on 196 reviews
humor91 positive mentions
grinding6 negative mentions
  • The humor is a standout feature, with irreverent and absurd dialogue that can be genuinely funny.
  • The game features a unique art style that is colorful and cartoonish, reminiscent of a pop-up book.
  • Despite its flaws, the game offers a fun and entertaining experience for fans of the series, especially those who enjoy hack-and-slash gameplay.
  • The gameplay is repetitive and lacks depth, with a cumbersome combat system that can feel frustrating and unresponsive.
  • The difficulty curve is steep, often leading to cheap deaths and requiring players to repeatedly backtrack to recover lost progress.
  • Technical issues, including crashes and poor optimization, detract from the overall experience, making it hard to recommend for new players.
  • humor
    91 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The humor in the game is a polarizing aspect, with many players finding it either hilarious or stale, depending on personal taste. While some appreciate the irreverent, over-the-top style and clever dialogue reminiscent of Monty Python, others feel it lacks the sharpness of earlier installments and can come off as childish or repetitive. Overall, the humor is a significant draw for fans of the series, but may not resonate with everyone, making it a subjective experience.

    • “Aww yeeees :) another Deathspank adventure with hilarious humor and great voice acting, two things I can't have enough of :)”
    • “The humor and voice acting are all on point and, while the combat gets a little repetitive, the wide variety of settings keeps the game fresh and well-paced.”
    • “The humor of this game, with the dialogue all being hilariously fully voiced by talented vocal actors, is a real joy.”
  • gameplay
    53 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The gameplay has received mixed reviews, with many players finding it repetitive and lacking depth compared to similar action RPGs like Diablo. While some appreciate the introduction of new combat mechanics such as shield bashing and reflecting projectiles, others criticize the unbalanced difficulty and the need to rely heavily on these mechanics to progress. Overall, the gameplay is described as a standard hack-and-slash experience that is enjoyable for its humor and charm, but frustrating due to its mechanics and difficulty spikes.

    • “Bosses also have unique mechanics, making fighting them a bit more tactical.”
    • “Gameplay was smooth, graphics and story are a lot of fun and the atmosphere is very immersive.”
    • “The comedy is still there, the great action gameplay is there now with a shield and reflect system.”
    • “The actual gameplay is kind of terrible, so I can't really recommend it as a game in and of itself.”
    • “The gameplay is repetitive and the humor is puerile.”
    • “The gameplay is really mediocre; the stat system and the way you get good gear is kind of dumb, and the difficulty curve between regular enemies and bosses is way too high.”
  • story
    48 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The story of "The Baconing" continues the absurd and humorous adventures of DeathSpank, featuring over-the-top characters and ridiculous quests, though it is considered the weakest in the trilogy due to a decline in sharpness and creativity following Ron Gilbert's departure. While the narrative is filled with comedic moments and engaging dialogue, it suffers from repetitive fetch quests and a somewhat unsatisfying cliffhanger ending. Overall, the game's charm lies in its wacky storyline and entertaining interactions, making it enjoyable for fans of lighthearted action RPGs despite its narrative shortcomings.

    • “The story continues from the ending where Deathspank defeats Sandy; after combining all 6 Thongs of Virtue, a new foe appears, the Antispank, so now Deathspank has to save all of Spanktopia by destroying 5 of the thongs in the fires of bacon.”
    • “The fun in the game mainly comes from the conversations you have with the various characters, the description of items, the silly quests, and the environments.”
    • “Funny, irreverent, odd... this game is good for a laugh, whilst playing a Borderlands-style graphical game you get a hilarious storyline that damn near sits on the edge of insanity.”
    • “The weakest in the trilogy, mostly due to Ron Gilbert's departure. The Baconing's jokes are still decent, and the story still has its moments, but the humor isn’t quite as sharp as in the first two games.”
    • “While the story has its humor and charm, it's also very simple, and the quests I played were basic fetch quests.”
    • “Sadly, Hothead moved to mobile games and it seems like the DeathSpank story was left kind of open. They could have made it end at the second game, and the ending area has cave entrances with a picture of road workers and text 'DLC under construction', but the only DLC is the co-op character.”
  • graphics
    20 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The graphics of the game are characterized by a unique and appealing cel-shaded art style reminiscent of comic books, which enhances the overall tone and humor. Many users appreciate the charming and cartoony visuals, noting that they contribute to an immersive atmosphere despite some critiques of the gameplay's repetitiveness. Overall, the graphics are considered a standout feature, complementing the game's quirky narrative and humor.

    • “It's got an amazing art style and a corny superhero spoof-like humor.”
    • “Still looks great due to the cel-shaded & 'billboard' art style.”
    • “The style of the graphics is like from a comic book.”
    • “Not as relevant to me personally, but the graphics are also pretty rough.”
    • “Combat is decent, graphics kind of hold up, and the humor is... well, I don't feel like it has aged all that well.”
    • “The graphical style of the game is somewhat unique.”
  • music
    7 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The music in the game receives mixed reviews; while some players appreciate its whimsical and fitting nature, describing it as quirky and enjoyable, others find it lacking in variety and even tacky. Overall, the soundtrack complements the game's atmosphere, though a broader selection of tracks would have enhanced the experience.

    • “The soundtrack is great as well, and really fits the whimsical world it's set in.”
    • “Nice music with kind of quirky, weird melodies that fit the moody and almost spooky environments.”
    • “The music is awesome; the combat could've been better with the shielding, but otherwise nice.”
    • “It's tacky, ugly to look at, and the music is some dreadful country menu jam.”
    • “Could've used more variety with the music.”
  • grinding
    6 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    Players have mixed feelings about grinding in the game; while some appreciate the reduced need for excessive grinding to progress, others find the new grinding mechanics tedious and unnecessary. The removal of item dropping and stash features has made grinding for resources feel less rewarding, as players earn significantly less from dismantling items compared to previous installments. Overall, the grinding experience is seen as a double-edged sword, with some enjoying the streamlined approach while others feel it detracts from the gameplay.

    • “For some reason, they decided to remove the ability to simply drop items on the ground as well as removing the stash that you had in the previous two games, and oddly, making the amounts you'd get for grinding inventory items down to a mere fraction of what you got before.”
    • “Unfortunately, this time they have introduced grinding for some reason.”
    • “You get money from enemies and also by grinding your useless items, and the only thing worth buying with the money is more consumables, because the weapon vendor only sells you items you've previously had.”
  • stability
    3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The stability of the game has been criticized, with users reporting significant issues and troubleshooting requirements within the first hour of gameplay, leading to frustration and a lack of willingness to continue.

    • “All in all, I had enough problems and complaints within just the first hour of playing (lots of time was spent troubleshooting - I did eventually get things working) to warrant me not to bother longer.”
    • “The game crashed multiple times during my session, making it nearly impossible to enjoy the experience.”
    • “I encountered several bugs that disrupted gameplay, leading to frequent restarts and frustration.”
  • replayability
    1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    Players generally find the replayability of Deathspank to be quite low, with some describing subsequent playthroughs as more of a chore than an enjoyable experience, despite long gaps between sessions.

    • “Personally, I find the replay value in Deathspank to be almost zero. Even though I played through them all again, it was with 7-8 years between playthroughs, so it felt more like a chore.”
  • atmosphere
    1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The atmosphere of the game is highly immersive, enhanced by smooth gameplay, engaging graphics, and an enjoyable story.

    • “The gameplay was smooth, the graphics and story are a lot of fun, and the atmosphere is very immersive.”
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60%Critics’ scoreBased on 1 critic reviews
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Frequently Asked Questions

The Baconing is a role playing game with comedy and science fiction themes.

The Baconing is available on PC, Mac OS, Windows, PlayStation 3 and others.

The Baconing was released on August 31, 2011.

The Baconing was developed by Hothead Games.

The Baconing has received neutral reviews from players and neutral reviews from critics. Most players liked this game for its humor but disliked it for its grinding.

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

Similar games include DeathSpank, UnEpic, Sacred 3, The Incredible Adventures of Van Helsing, Ember and others.