Do you love martial arts movies about people who try to find peace but end up surrounded by trouble? Do you also love cute animals turned humanoid and are ready to duke it out in fisticuffs style of combat? Then you’re going to enjoy Overgrowth by Wolfire Games. Follow a young anthropomorphic rabbit as he fights various other beings in search of peace. Visceral combat, a story of revenge and redemption and simple combat merge together in an action adventure title many will find fun and exciting.

If you happen to enter the world of Overgrowth, be prepared for an action title that will have you dueling other foes in different environments. Kill with stealth, punches, kicks and various weapons as you defeat all that stand in your way. With multiple campaigns—one acting as a prequel story—players of Overgrowth should expect a quick but exciting action title that is quick and ferocious. Meanwhile, be prepared to see a world long lost to humans and now is populated with various creatures who have found no peace thanks to slavers and various other threats. Ball your fists and get ready as the world of Lugaru isn’t safe for any being and violence is the only way to remedy a situation.

Taking place in an undetermined future, Overgrowth follows Turner as he sets his sights for a peaceful home. Having survived a horrible past involving his family being murdered, Turner just wants to let his fists finally rest and not have to be used for violence. Arriving in a small town that was deemed habitable and calm, Turner quickly runs into slavers who are torturing the town’s inhabitants. Turner lays down his backpack and balls his fists as he enters combat once more to hopefully find an end to all the bloodshed…

There’s an old saying that tells everyone not to judge a book by its cover. That’s a very true statement especially when you initially might see developer Wolfire Games latest gaming title known as Overgrowth. Taking nearly a decade to complete, Overgrowth has finally been released to gamers and us included here at Honey’s Anime. After sinking our teeth into both campaigns—one apparently acting as a prequel to the main game—we have our thoughts of Overgrowth and wish to share them. That’s why we welcome you all to our review of Overgrowth for the PC.

In Overgrowth, you play as titular main hero Turner and must defeat various enemies who stand in your way of peace. Turner might be a bunny-like humanoid but you’ll quickly come to realize that behind his furry exterior lies a martial arts warrior. Turner is able to dodge, kick, punch and use various weapons like swords and knives in battle against various other anthropomorphic creatures. Let us dive first into the combat of Overgrowth and then we’ll talk about some of the other features you’ll run into while playing.

Combat in Overgrowth is surprisingly simple but equally deep. For the most part, players only use the mouse and a few buttons to battle foes. The left mouse button is held to engage enemies in combat and changes depending on the height, movement and area the player is in. The right mouse button acts as defense and allows players to counter—if timed right—various attacks thrown at them. While it may seem almost too simple, the combat in Overgrowth works quite well and doesn’t outlive its welcome.

Equally, players who are more stealth based can also fight enemies by sneaking behind them—using the shift key—and then choke their enemies with the right mouse button. There are also various weapons in Overgrown that can be thrown with the Q button and used in combat for some visceral looking fights. There are also various other means of combat such as jumping kicks, knockouts from above—though these tend to sometimes fail—and even ways of being smart by knocking enemies off towers and or high areas. Overgrowth feels like a fluid brawling title and an arcade game blended together which isn’t a bad thing by any means.

Overgrowth also does have some platforming and adventure elements but these elements occur so rarely that calling Overgrowth an action adventure title just doesn’t feel right. When you do begin to jump on things and run on walls—think Assassins Creed or Mirror’s Edge—Overgrowth seems like an entirely different game. Out of the 30+ areas—trust us that isn’t a lot even though it may sound like it—if we did anything adventure like it was maybe in less than half of the maps. Most of the time, you’re just going into an area, killing all the enemies, seeing a dialogue break and then moving on to the next area. That’s why don’t expect us to talk anymore about the adventure elements because there are too few of them in Overgrowth.

Graphically and sound wise, Overgrowth does a great job. Environments look impressive and characters have a real nice amount of detail. The various bloody encounters you’ll end up in during Overgrowth’s gameplay also look fantastic seeing cuts appear on an enemy when you hit them with a knife or sword. Equally as impressive is the game’s great—albeit overused—soundtrack which creates a nice feeling of battle once the fists come out. If Overgrowth has one thing we have little issue with it would be the sound and graphics hands down.

Alright folks, now is the time of our review where we wish to talk about the negatives of Overgrowth. Easily one of the biggest issues with Overgrowth is the missed opportunities we noticed and we’re sure you’ll notice once you play it. Overgrowth has some awesome chances at being an action adventure title but as we mentioned the action takes priority leaving the platforming to take second seat. Another issue we have with Overgrowth is the fact that this game feels like an arcade title with how each series of fights progresses into another one. There is a story in Overgrowth but it’s extremely cliché and the ending feels like there could be more added later which may be a possibility.

We here at Honey’s Anime could only imagine how hard it must have been for Wolfire Games to release Overgrowth given its nearly decade long development cycle. While the end product isn’t bad by any stretch, there are a ton of missed opportunities that could have made Overgrowth one of the most impressive action games we’ve played in a long while. Though if you love simple action, a simple but emotional story and a quick game that won’t take too long to complete, Overgrowth will be the title you’ll want to buy. With great but simple action and not one but two campaigns—plus mods to enjoy—Overgrowth has some depth that just comes up a bit short in several departments. Though we here at Honey’s Anime still give a big thumbs up to Overgrowth as this a title we enjoyed even with its failings here and there.

Overgrowth is a title that players will love if they are into quick battles without any other content to really dig into. Battles take less than a few minutes—even on harder difficulties—and environments don’t get repetitive because you’re rarely in one area for long. At times Overgrowth can almost feel like an arcade fighting game where one battle leads to another and a story is just tacked on. For $29.99, Overgrowth may be a title you’ll like if you can see it as a game that is meant to be just as quick as the various fights you’re going to get into. What are your thoughts on Overgrowth we would love to know in the comments down below. If you loved our review of Overgrowth well you’re in luck, we here at Honey’s Anime have tons more gaming reviews and articles here on our site just waiting to be read.