Them's Fightin' Herds

About

"Them's Fightin' Herds" is a 2D fighting game featuring adorable animal characters in intense battles. It offers cross-over content with Blazblue, Skullgirls, and Revelator, unlocking exclusive cosplay items. The game boasts fast-paced action, impressive animations, and a unique blend of cuteness and combat, ensuring a distinctive fighting experience for players.

Genres & Tags

Play Modes

Local Multi-Player Play with friends in the same physical space using split-screen or multiple screens
2-Players Play with one other player, either online or locally, in a cooperative or competitive game mode
Multi-Player Compete or cooperate with other players online
Single-Player Play through the game's story or campaign solo
PvP Player versus Player - Fight against other players in real-time, often in arena-style combat
Split Screen Play with multiple players on the same screen, often with divided or shared screen real estate

+11

88%

Audience ScoreBased on 3,117 reviews

story201 positive mentions

stability34 negative mentions

Them's Fightin' Herds features a unique art style and charming characters, making it visually appealing.
The fighting mechanics are enjoyable and accessible for newcomers, with a comprehensive tutorial system that teaches the basics of fighting games.
The game has a dynamic music system that enhances the gameplay experience, adapting to the characters and match conditions.

Development has been halted, and the promised story mode will not be completed, leaving only one chapter available.
The game has a small roster of characters, which may limit replayability and player choice.
The publisher's mismanagement has led to a lack of communication and support for the game, resulting in a frustrating experience for players.

story
1,058 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
19%
76%
5%
The story aspect of "Them's Fightin' Herds" has garnered mixed reviews, primarily due to the cancellation of its much-anticipated story mode, which was a key selling point during its crowdfunding campaign. While the initial chapter of the story mode received praise for its engaging narrative and unique gameplay mechanics, many players express disappointment over the lack of further content and the game's abandonment by its publisher, leaving the story incomplete and unfulfilled. Overall, the game's narrative potential is recognized, but the failure to deliver on promised updates has left a sour taste for many fans.
- “The story mode is impressively deep and provides way more content than most fighting games.”
- “The story mode is a diamond in the rough, expanding the lore and story of each character.”
- “The story mode is surprisingly thorough and rather fun to play through.”
- “However, the publisher, Maximum Entertainment, outright murdered the game by firing almost the entire dev team and taking most of the profits that the devs were using to make the single-player story mode.”
- “Game was abandoned and story mode was cancelled despite being promised and advertised.”
- “The long-promised story mode will never see completion.”
gameplay
526 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
38%
60%
3%
The gameplay of "Them's Fightin' Herds" is widely praised for its engaging mechanics, vibrant character designs, and smooth controls, making it accessible for newcomers while offering depth for experienced players. The game features a unique blend of fighting and RPG elements, with a comprehensive tutorial that effectively teaches players the mechanics. However, some players express concerns about the limited character roster and occasional gameplay issues, particularly in online matches, which can detract from the overall experience.
- “The fighting mechanics are enjoyable and offer fun competition against friends.”
- “The gameplay is very engaging, but I wish there were more players online.”
- “The mechanics, while unique, don't really work.”
- “But now, because of Modus/Maximum Entertainment, the game is literally in shambles, with things in the base game being a bit broken and two new DLC characters that have been shadow dropped, with even more broken, unfinished mechanics that often result in the game crashing, freezing, or just soft locking as a whole.”
- “The gameplay itself outside of the actual fighting (especially that platforming in the story mode) is not fun, but the presentation, music, setting, spirit, soul, passion, art, and humor - as well as the relentless charm of the dialogue and every little hidden detail... is top tier.”
- “The sheer amount of palette choices was staggeringly awesome and the sound and graphics blew me away, but sadly the gameplay is lacking on so many levels.”
music
343 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
56%
43%
2%
The music in "Them's Fightin' Herds" is widely praised for its dynamic system, which adapts to the characters in play and the flow of the match, enhancing the overall gameplay experience. Reviewers highlight the soundtrack as exceptional, with many tracks described as "bangers" that fit the game's vibrant aesthetic and character themes. Overall, the combination of catchy tunes and innovative musical mechanics contributes significantly to the game's charm and appeal.
- “The dynamic music and character-specific versions of every song in the game are lovely, but the songs stand up on their own regardless and will bore their way into your brain if you play for any length of time.”
- “The music is amazing and dynamic, which means that it changes slightly depending on what's going on in the game.”
- “The soundtrack is a joy to listen to, and further helps in keeping things fresh.”
- “I am not a fan of computer-written music (and it is obviously made on a computer) and the style they chose for the songs.”
- “As of 5.0, no more dynamic music will be added.”
- “My only real complaints are mostly personal taste: some of the stage music feels too low-energy for fight music (seems more like music for a story scene), especially compared to the main menu theme.”
graphics
303 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
48%
50%
3%
The graphics of "Them's Fightin' Herds" are widely praised for their unique and charming art style, characterized by smooth animations and vibrant visuals that appeal to both fans of fighting games and those drawn in by its cutesy aesthetic. While some players may initially be put off by the game's resemblance to "My Little Pony," many reviewers emphasize that the art direction, character designs, and overall presentation are beautifully executed and contribute significantly to the game's appeal. Despite minor critiques regarding certain visual elements, the consensus is that the graphics are a standout feature, enhancing the overall experience of this engaging fighting game.
- “The graphics are beautiful, the characters are adorable, and the combat is crisp and fluid.”
- “Absolutely smooth graphics, amazing soundtrack, and a solid engine underneath.”
- “With the iconic art style of Lauren Faust and the stunning character portraits, the creatures in the game pop along with beautiful backgrounds to round out each bout.”
- “The jagged edges on sprites, mediocre effects graphics, and less than crisp old gen backgrounds really make the game feel dated.”
- “The graphics are solid and pretty to look at, as well as being able to run on anything.”
- “There are a few graphics and artwork missing here and there and some still having the sketch placeholder, but those are just in a couple of places.”
humor
86 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
98%
2%
The humor in "Them's Fightin' Herds" is widely praised for its clever writing, charming characters, and whimsical dialogue, which contribute to a lighthearted and enjoyable gaming experience. Players appreciate the game's playful take on the fighting genre, with many finding the character designs and interactions to be both funny and endearing. However, some reviews express disappointment with certain aspects of the game's development and content updates, which detracts from the overall humor and enjoyment for a few players.
- “Hilarious take on the fighting genre, what a fun little title!”
- “The story is full of witty, funny writing and memorable characters; I can't wait for future chapters to be released!”
- “It's a bunch of funny horses fighting each other, what more do you want?”
- “Uninstalled; not cool and not funny.”
- “Edit: unfunny animal game.”
character development
71 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
59%
37%
4%
Character development in the game is highlighted by its unique and visually appealing character designs, which draw inspiration from various animals and mythological creatures, showcasing a diverse roster with distinct personalities and movesets. While many players appreciate the charm and creativity of the character designs, some express frustration with gameplay balance issues that detract from the overall experience. Overall, the character design is consistently praised for its quality and appeal, particularly given its association with renowned designer Lauren Faust.
- “The character designs are very unique, the game mechanics make for a nail-biting experience every match.”
- “The character design being created by Lauren Faust (the creator of MLP: FiM) makes this game a wonderful experience to play with friends.”
- “Absolutely love the animation and character designs, especially considering they are hand-drawn by Lauren Faust herself!”
- “The character design is charming, but I found the single-player story mode to be abysmal, and the gameplay itself to be fine but nothing too interesting or novel.”
- “What an absolute waste of Lauren Faust's character designs.”
- “It is imbalanced (when you get knocked down you can immediately get punched down afterwards. There is also no tutorial and the menus are just atrocious. It took them three years to make this, two and a half of which were spent eating pizza and waiting for Lauren Faust, the character designer for this game and My Little Pony, to make the animations. Also early access. If you want a good game made by bronies, play Horsegame (yes it exists and yes it's good).”
stability
36 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
6%
94%
The game's stability has been severely compromised following the publisher's decision to lay off the majority of the development team, resulting in the release of multiple DLC characters that are riddled with game-breaking bugs and glitches. Players report issues such as infinite combos, character freezes, and crashes across all platforms, leading to a consensus that the game is currently in an unacceptable and unplayable state. Despite some ongoing fixes, the overall sentiment is that the game is a buggy mess, with little hope for significant improvements in the future.
- “Almost bug-free overall, with solid online matchmaking for fighting matches.”
- “The game looks great and runs smoothly on just about any rig, featuring some impressive characters.”
- “This game was charming and fun, but the publisher fired the entire dev team and then released broken DLC with game-breaking glitches.”
- “The publisher has completely wrecked the game and has it in an unacceptable broken and buggy state that is not likely to be fixed as there's not even much of a skeleton crew left.”
- “The entire development team was let go by the publisher before the last 2 characters were even completely finished, leaving it a broken, buggy mess.”
optimization
13 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
23%
54%
23%
Overall, the game's optimization has received mixed reviews. While it runs smoothly on lower-end systems and offers solid online performance, some players have reported high GPU stress and specific stages, like Velvet's, being poorly optimized. Additionally, the game is noted to be overly sensitive to controller inputs, making it challenging for players using standard controllers.
- “The combo trials were a great way for me to explore the characters and build the muscle memory foundations for learning more optimized combos.”
- “I live in Japan and played this game with friends from Brazil with very good performance, despite the 330ms ping.”
- “Great game, runs smoothly on my low-end laptop, but make sure that you have a strong & stable connection if you want to engage in an online battle.”
- “It responds in a far too robotic fashion, virtually never making mistakes and giving the most optimized reaction all the time.”
- “If I had one gripe with the game, it's that it could probably do with some better optimization; it's very stressful on my GPU (RTX 2070) for some reason.”
- “Game doesn't seem to be optimized for regular controllers simply due to the game overall being far too input sensitive. This wouldn't be a problem if launching attacks, which seems to be a fairly important part of the majority of characters' move sets, wasn't crouching forward holding. This makes transitioning into the move incredibly impractical unless you are playing stick.”
emotional
9 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
89%
33%
The emotional aspect of the game is highlighted by a mix of heartbreak over its development and a strong sense of community, with players expressing disappointment over the game's announcement and its handling. Despite this, the story mode is praised for its coherence and emotional engagement, offering a wholesome and cute narrative that resonates even with those less familiar with fighting games. Overall, the game evokes a deep emotional response, both in its community interactions and its storytelling.
- “And by god in heaven, is that heart-breaking.”
- “To see it end the way it has is heartbreaking.”
- “+ possibly the most coherent and emotionally engaging story mode ever seen in a fighting game.”
- “The emotional depth of the story feels lacking, making it hard to connect with the characters.”
- “I expected a gripping narrative, but the emotional moments fell flat and felt forced.”
- “The game tries to evoke feelings, but the execution is so poor that it ends up being more frustrating than moving.”
replayability
8 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
38%
25%
38%
The game's replayability is largely criticized, with users noting a lack of customization options, limited game modes, and a small character roster, which significantly diminishes long-term engagement. While some players find value in specific modes like the salt mines 2.0, the overall sentiment is that improvements are needed to enhance replayability and enjoyment. Suggestions for future updates include expanding the character roster and introducing new campaigns to enrich the gameplay experience.
- “How does a fighting game with only six characters (so far) lend itself to so much replayability?”
- “I also played the salt mines 2.0, it's super good, and it holds quite the replay value from my impressions with tfh.”
- “In the future, I hope to see more playable characters, maybe around 25 total.”
- “You cannot customize matches (unless you count 'training's' customization); there are no extra game modes nor much replayability besides what I just listed.”
- “We have only casual rank... replayability is really bad for this game.”
- “Unfortunately, for all the time that I have been playing, a lot of problems have been identified in the game in terms of replayability.”
grinding
8 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Players find the grinding aspect of the game to be a mixed experience; while it offers rewards like in-game currency for cosmetics and collectibles, the process can feel tedious and time-consuming. Solo sessions can be grindy, and community interactions may add frustration, but some enjoy the unique farming mechanics in the salt mines. Overall, the grind can be both enjoyable and irritating, depending on individual player preferences and skill levels.
- “I'll probably finish grinding out the achievements, uninstall and forget it exists.”
- “The visuals are great, the salt mines are a fun new twist on farming for items, although it is irritating how long it takes to gather enough currency for an item.”
- “So far the fights are right in the middle of fun or tedious grinding.”
atmosphere
7 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
43%
14%
43%
The game's atmosphere is characterized by a lively and welcoming community, complemented by charming characters and a humorous tone. While the dungeons may lack some impressiveness, they still maintain a moody ambiance that enhances the overall experience. The cute dialogue and witty interactions contribute to a lighthearted and engaging atmosphere that resonates well with players.
- “The developers do a wonderful job, and the QA/community managers are welcoming to discussion and feedback while putting in the work to make things go smoothly and the atmosphere feel lively.”
- “Love the game, love the atmosphere and characters, and enjoy the story and online player base.”
- “Voice acting and dialogue—the dialogue is cute, expected, but in a funny, cheesy way, and it complements the game's atmosphere and vibes, adding charm to it.”
- “Not into the 'git gud' atmosphere.”
- “I only found it worth mentioning as the community TFH birthed from (as well as the cute atmosphere of the game) would lead you to expect differently.”
- “The dungeons are a bit less impressive overall, but still hold up well with their often moody atmosphere.”
monetization
4 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
75%
75%
The monetization strategy of the game has been criticized as a cash grab, with a focus on DLC rather than delivering a polished fighting experience. While the game features solid mechanics and smooth online play, many players feel misled by its marketing, which suggests a completed product rather than an early access title.
- “The game is a technically-competent fighter, and the rollback netcode ensures a smoother online experience without any microtransactions.”
- “I appreciate that there are no microtransactions, allowing me to enjoy the game without feeling pressured to spend more money.”
- “The absence of microtransactions makes the gameplay feel fair and balanced, enhancing my overall experience.”
- “The vision for this game is unclear and now feels like an unbalanced cash grab focused on pushing out DLC instead of making a fun fighting game.”
- “That vision was thrown out the window with the entire dev team that was originally responsible, and now the game is nothing more than yet another cash grab fighting game.”
- “This would be fine if the game advertised was an early access version, but it seemed as though it were advertising the finished product.”