Party Hard

Glitchy, broken AI, sup-par voice acting, stiff and clunky controls, music that sounds good but doesn't always fit in, and a pixellated aesthetic that looks nice but is unnecessary. - Random events seem to be a thing in this game. I'm not entirely sure, because a minute into the first level, I witnessed a room of people dancing who decided to start killing each other for no reason. The police were called, and they started to kill people randomly too. Similarly on the third level, the SWAT showed up and started knocking people unconcious for no reason. - Police and civillians don't act normally. If somebody spots you killing, the police will be alerted, but the police will only chase you for a few seconds, apparently get bored, and leave. Even if you're in front of them. -Police don't bother to do any investigating, they'll just show up to remove some dead bodies (they might get distracted and forget about a few, which the civillians will keep getting scared by), and then leave. Police are constantly coming and going which feels odd instead of staying. -The extent of civillian behaviour is that they'll walk around into completely random rooms (like security rooms and kitchens), then run away if they see a dead body. They also somehow know you killed someone by poisoning food if you just happen to be there when they die- even if they're in a crowd of people. They'll walk onto the streets and get run over. Police, firefighters and ambulances will often run pedestrians over. - Most 'traps' in the levels seem useless, yet there's no other way to quickly get more than one kill at once. -Movement feels pretty stiff and incredibly slow. The sprint is literally ~1 second long and worthless. I also completed levels and it didn't register so I had to redo them. Some levels seem reused. -Pixellated aesthetic is okay but there's no reason for it to use the pixellated look. Music is good but some tracks don't fit in with the levels they play in.

Fun game, worth more stars if they iron out the few bugs it has. Currently it has a few bugs that happen consistently and these will reliably ruin your game time after time, which is very frustrating. Another problem is you have no idea what to do to unlock new characters, and unlocking some of them is also bugged. Also the game has annoying advertisements on its main menu.

I didn’t expect to enjoy ‘Party Hard’ as much as I did. Its premise of showing up at different parties and murdering the people there because they’re too loud is unnecessarily gruesome. Yet, when you play the game -- or at least watch it unfold – you’ll realize the game is actually rather ridiculous, and shouldn’t be taken seriously. ‘Party Hard’ is darkly comedic and almost self-aware, as if it is commenting on how we quickly become desensitize to violence and go on with our merry lives. The 8-bit-like graphics help to make the partygoers faceless, and the limitation of the technology makes them more like automatons than smart NPCs. Given that, ‘Party Hard’ never feels obscene or lurid. This simplicity also allows the gameplay to be at the forefront, which thankfully is pretty fun despite it starting to get repetitive by the sixth or seventh level. The joy and appeal of ‘Party Hard’ is to use your environment and traps to rid of the partygoers, preferably in large numbers. There are only about 6 or 7 levels that allow for just that. In the final levels, you’ll definitely need to exercise patience and be methodical to make those stealthy kills. When most partygoers’ movements seem unpredictable, and the traps and tools that are at your disposal are limited and randomized, your success in ‘Party Hard’ can really just come down to luck. ‘Party Hard’ may not be a sophisticated stealth game, but it's still fun and challenging. There is plenty of content to be explored and unlocked. Despite its limitations, I enjoyed it enough to call it one of my favourites, and recommend it for a brief bit of fun. P.S.: It also looks like the ‘High Crimes’ DLC is unlikely to come to the GOG version. So buyers beware!

My review is based on about 4 hours of playing the game. But so far the game is very fun and addictive! It's also quite hard, you'll die a lot, it's not only a matter of skill, but also trial and error, luck and patience. The game is quickly repetitive, there isn't much depth to it, it's mostly quick fun, by design. Technically, you must enjoy retro pixelated art. If that's the case, you'll love the look and feel of the characters, the levels, and the screens, it's all consistent, colorful and pretty. Have you ever felt lonely at a party? Feeling that everyone is having a good time, except you? Then here, you are encouraged to be the freak, and let your frustration speak ;) Regarding the theme, it is gore and violent, but the game doesn't take itself seriously, so it's light and funny with easter eggs, crazy random events, characters from other games you'll recognize etc... The nightclub ambiance is really really nice! The music is good, the game feels very lively!! It's fun just watching all the little characters doing their own things that people usually do at a party, even more knowing their all going to die in the end. 4 stars only because the game is a repetitive after a while.

Impressive single screen puzzle where the goal is to clean all the human life. Many a funny traps and multitude of unlockable (by gmeplay not pay) charakters that generaly seem to serve (as someone who unlocked grand total of 2 out of some 8) a challange for replaying a level - say you have the crank 2 condition or you have to attack more times. If you like logical puzzles and do not mind a bit of the dark hummour associated with morbid subjects this might be excellent choice for you. General gameplay loop is that player charakter (whichever one you've chosen if unlocked or default) will be dropd to part of a map and given X people to play with - than you proceed with using some itneractive objects (such as a gas canister to set thigns ablaze, horse to kick people directly behind it or car/cart to cleave trail of blood through people) to aid your progress, you CAN hide bodies in sewer or trash but... its more chaotic if you dont .) i like the more chaotic pla myself. There is also option of random event player CAN summon via phones (same ones NPCs use to call cops) - sometimes good sometimes bad something both. Such random events can be calling zombies or more partygoers. Graphics are pretty low resolution but unlike its sequel that helps things stand out better. i would strongly recommand getting this first and only if you want more of simillar play conssider the PH2. Music is an aspect where the game also shines bright - be it copywright free or not version of OST it has very retro clubbing feel from 80s/90s scene and sometimes dose reach heights so dazzling i do occasionaly play the main menu theme without playing the game.