Deathbulge: Battle of the Bands
Release date: Aug 8, 2023
Developers: Deathbulge, Five Houses LLC
Publishers: Deathbulge, Five Houses LLC
Genres: Indie, RPG
Categories: Single-player, Steam Achievements, Full controller support, Steam Trading Cards, Steam Cloud, Family Sharing
Supported languages: English

You play as Faye, Ian and Briff, a 3-piece band of dysfunctional friends who unknowingly stumble into a cursed battle of the bands contest, where all entrants can attack with music and must fight to the death. Kick down every single door you come across. If you're gonna rudely enter every RPG house despite lack of invite, might as well enter in style. Customise the band with 9 musically-themed classes to choose from, each with their own attacks, perks and COOL OUTFIT. Inspire your bandmates as a BUSKER or recklessly deal huge damage at the cost of damaging yourself as a HEADBANGER. Fancy combat system that focuses on MEASURE EFFECTS. What happens BETWEEN turns makes all the difference, combining real-time elements with turn-based combat in a way that we're ALMOST CERTAIN has never been done before. (It's been over a year since release and no one's said otherwise yet!) Other features: Roughly 15-20 hours of game time. Late game dating segment. Sew patches of band logos onto your BATTLE JACKET for extra perks in battle. No Random Encounters! Monsters will be shown on the field for your avoiding leisure, and 3 different FIELD ABILITIES with which to avoid them. Unique item system. Say good bye to individually stocking up on consumable items! Once you get a piece of MERCH, you keep it forever, and it simply costs STOCK to use, a refillable global resource for all your merch. Original soundtrack that'll make you say things like SIIICK and OH RIGHT ON. Incredibly rich world boasting a wide variety of colourful characters whose dialogue changes as you progress through the game. Every single NPC is unique, armed with their own dialogue portaits to express themselves TO THE MAX. Even the ITEMS have personality. Say bye bye to the generic 'health potion'. Local NPC Barry Friendly is taking care of the soothing beverages around here. Sink into a warm cup of BARRY FRIENDLY'S TEA whenever your health is low. Maybe you'll even have the pleasure of meeting Barry at some point. 

Press reviews: “This game has no business being as funny, charming, and whimsical as it is.” 9/10 – GameGrin “Deathbulge's greatest trick is making me enjoy turn-based combat.” Rock Paper Shotgun