Action titles tend to be overly complicated at times. Don’t you occasionally want an indie action game to just focus on that, action!? Second Hand: Frankie’s Revenge might be what you’re looking for, folks! Aimed to deliver a straight up action romp of a title, this indie title might be the perfect set up for those who need simplicity without the cost of fun and exciting gameplay. For more information on Second Hand: Frankie’s Revenge and if we truly enjoyed our time with it, continue below to see our review in full!

Second Hand: Frankie’s Revenge is an indie action title all about building your own second hand themed robot and unleashing mayhem! Players will create various robot combos to take down an invading alien race. Use weapons that range from gardening focused to construction orientated to create robotic beasts! Play alone or with up to 3 others for 4 player co-op and take down the alien threat! Along the way, customize your robot and make it pretty or downright scary in Second Hand: Frankie’s Revenge!

Alien robots are invading Frankie’s world! This should cause alarm and panic but not for you. Build up your machine to kick robot tail and send those aliens back home crying! Use whatever items you can such as chainsaws, bats, lawnmowers and even tennis ball launchers! Whatever combination you can create will be at your disposal and it’s up to you to make a machine worthy of any battle! Time to get your revenge for this sudden invasion in Second Hand: Frankie’s Revenge!

Indie action games come in a variety of styles and flavors. We’ve seen super realistic titles to comedically violent games pass through our gaming consoles in the last few decades. That’s why when a new indie title comes to our door that claims to be just action at its finest, we have some mixed feelings. Will this just be another clone of an already popular game or will there be some originality? Second Hand: Frankie’s Revenge was developed by Rikodu and we smiled when we saw the theme of it. Create robots from various junkyard parts and everyday appliances to defeat hordes of alien robots. That theme alone screams original, but does Second Hand: Frankie’s Revenge deliver a fun gameplay experience? We shall find out in our Early Access review of Second Hand: Frankie’s Revenge for the PC!

Explaining Second Hand: Frankie’s Revenge is relatively very easy. Players assume the role of a customizable robot—who we assume is named Frankie—as they must fend off alien robots and baddies using a multitude of weapons that aren’t of the usual variety. Instead of using machine guns and rocket launchers, players will be using tennis ball shooters, baseball bats and chainsaws to kill whatever stands in there way. Second Hand: Frankie’s Revenge isn’t trying to be a complicated Diablo-style game but a raw action game with you killing robots/aliens in ridiculous but charmingly fun ways.

In terms of deeper gameplay mechanics, Second Hand: Frankie’s Revenge allows for a ton of customization. Outside the ability to equip your robot with numerous weapons and abilities, you can also customize their appearance from hats to colors to body types. Make a wickedly strong refrigerator robot with chainsaw arms or make a wild west looking machine. There are a load of options and we can only assume more updates will add even more accessories in the final build.

Now aside from customization and such, you’re probably wondering how Second Hand: Frankie’s Revenge actually plays. The good news is for the most part, Second Hand: Frankie’s Revenge is a fun and easy action title. You have two buttons that dictate control over each appendage, a special attack button and an ability to dash. You’ll be moving around from a top down perspective slamming your weapons against enemies and occasionally fighting bosses that are both silly but so charming in a corny way. There’s even better news to add. You don’t have to play Second Hand: Frankie’s Revenge alone, you can play with up to three others for a 4-player co-op session!

Outside of gameplay, Second Hand: Frankie’s Revenge looks pretty impressive. We loved seeing the amount of detail in the explosion of robots and the environments you go through which range from open fields to small city-like areas. Accompanying the strong visuals is an even stronger OST which makes for some truly awesome tunes that make wearing headphones a must while playing. When indie games look and sound as solid as Second Hand: Frankie’s Revenge does, you tend to realize even a small development team can truly make some impressive works!

Lastly, if we did have any gripes about Second Hand: Frankie’s Revenge, it would come from two places. While Second Hand: Frankie’s Revenge does have a story mode, we wished the story itself was a bit stronger. You’re thrown into the fray quickly as soon as you begin and that kind of hurts the overall theme of Second Hand: Frankie’s Revenge. We also didn’t like the fact that hacking mini games were…annoying to say the least. Often there were too many times we had to hack—you even have to hack to leave the mission—and it felt a bit off timing wise. A last note was we struggled to find online lobbies while playing Second Hand: Frankie’s Revenge, but we’re sure as this game gets recognition it deserves the lobbies will fill up.

Second Hand: Frankie’s Revenge is a very simple action title that—for the most part—is a solid game. Creating various killing machines and seeing your work kill alien baddies can be a liberating and fun time. While Second Hand: Frankie’s Revenge relies heavily on simple gameplay themes like hack this door, kill this enemy and fight this boss; it works for what it is trying to be. Not all games need to be overly complicated and that’s why almost anyone can sit down and enjoy Second Hand: Frankie’s Revenge for being so inviting. Our biggest concern is for those relying on online co-op, which we found nigh impossible to utilize due to empty lobbies and no quick play sessions, but if Second Hand: Frankie’s Revenge does get more popular—as this is an Early Access game—we could remove that minor gripe all together. If Second Hand: Frankie’s Revenge adds a good story mode and just a few more weapons, we will say this could be one of the better action ghindie titles we’ve seen in some time folks.

Action titles like Second Hand: Frankie’s Revenge show that you don’t always need a lot of gameplay concepts to make for an exciting and fun game. With approachable gameplay mechanics, a fun customization set up and the ability to play with up to 4 people, Second Hand: Frankie’s Revenge delivers on a simple but enjoyable indie action title. Seeing as how Second Hand: Frankie’s Revenge is also still in Early Access, we have hopes that minor issues—like bugs and the over use of hacking mini-games—can be hammered out and allow this truly awesome action title to be one of the better indie games to grace our PCs. Have you played Second Hand: Frankie’s Revenge or plan on playing it now that you’ve read our review? Comment below to let us know! For all your gaming article/review needs, be sure to keep stuck to our amazing hive here at Honey’s Anime!