RoguedexPart 2 (May 2024) · #10 of 13 in that tierWatch the moment (0:36:00)
BlazBlue Entropy Effect
- Developed by
- 91Act
- Published by
- 91Act, Astrolabe Games
$11.99
Enjoy action-packed flashy combat with incredibly satisfying combos and responsive controls! Numerous characters, each with completely unique playstyles and loads of unlockable moves & upgrades! This action roguelike sets the bar for fluid fast-paced action.
Consensus
A78.9/100
Steam players94.3% positiveVery Positive36,656 reviews
Metacritic ↗83/100Users: 7.6/10
OpenCritic ↗84/100
VG Insights estimate ↗≈1.1M copies · ≈$15.9M gross
What creators say
Ranked Apr 2025 · #8 of 8 in that tierWatch the moment (1:12:09)
What players say
A 2D action roguelite by 91Act (published with Astrolabe Games) that turns BlazBlue fighting-game characters and moves into a fast combo-driven run-based brawler, with solo and co-op play.
Players and critics agree the combat is the draw: fluid, combo-heavy, fighting-game-flavoured action with a large roster and many build paths. Steam sits at Very Positive (94.3% of about 36.7k reviews), Metacritic has 83 from 6 critics and OpenCritic 84 from 15 reviews. Weak spots are a thin, generic story and setting, repetitive rooms and enemies, a cluttered neon look, mediocre music and a BlazBlue brand that feels tacked on. The game passed through early access and has been updated often (new characters, a Dead Cells collab with The Prisoner, the larger 'X' story content that also shipped on consoles). Recent Steam reviews are noticeably worse than lifetime ones because of post-update stuttering, crashes and co-op desyncs, and the later release revamps split early-access fans.
Players love
- Combat feels fast, snappy and deep, with ground combos, launches, air follow-ups and cancels that reward fighting-game-style execution
- Large roster of characters with distinct playstyles, adapted from their BlazBlue fighting-game moves (including guest characters such as The Prisoner from Dead Cells)
- Strong build variety: tactics (elemental and status upgrades), legacies and unlockable move branches let a run change how a character plays mid-run
- Approachable for people who are bad at fighting games, yet with a high skill ceiling for mastering characters
- Scalable difficulty via the Entropy/Extreme settings, where harder modes also let you get stronger and bosses change behaviour
- Solo, local co-op and online co-op are all supported
- Developers keep supporting it with content and updates; many reviewers call it great value, and the standard roster is considered enough without paid characters
- Bosses and set-piece fights are often cited as a highlight
Common complaints
- Story and setting are generic sci-fi and hard to follow; many reviewers say it feels disconnected from the BlazBlue universe
- Stages and rooms repeat a lot, with the same bosses and stage layouts run after run, so variety wears thin after the early hours
- Enemy designs and animations are plain compared with the detailed playable characters; heavy neon glow and screen clutter hurt visual clarity
- Soundtrack is called only okay and repetitive, not matching BlazBlue's reputation for music
- Performance and netcode complaints: stuttering, crashes and multiplayer desyncs, worse after recent updates; one review also blames the dev-authoritative netcode for input delay with distant partners
- Quick boss kills or very high damage in co-op can cause desyncs or softlocks that wipe a run
- Mixed comments on the hub: slow to navigate and heavy on dialogue/quests for a fast game
- Systems and skill descriptions are dense and not well explained, so players turn to guides
- Some players find the combat and content too simple or limited: it is fun but wears thin after a few hours, with little reason to continue once the story is beaten
Can feel tedious
- Early progression leans on grinding and unlocking; some players dislike having characters stripped of their signature fighting-game moves until they get them by RNG within a run, with nothing carrying over
- Runs feel long and similar at the start, and some find them easy until a late boss spikes the difficulty
- Astral Finish (a boss instant-kill type move that bypasses revives unless perfectly dodged) is called unfun by at least one 300-hour player
- Dialogue, quest and hub overhead between runs can interrupt players who just want to keep running
- New story (X) content locked behind finishing the original story, which can take new players 20+ hours
- Waiting for online co-op partners in your region can take a long time, according to one heavy player
What's unique
- Fighting-game move lists translated into a roguelite, so characters unlock and expand their own movesets during a run rather than only stacking stat upgrades
- Combo-count and cancel-based play that feels closer to character-action or a 2D brawler than a typical dodge-and-shoot roguelike
- Entropy system that lets you raise difficulty in exchange for stronger buffs, with bosses changing behaviour at higher levels
- Characters from other franchises (for example The Prisoner from Dead Cells) implemented as fully playable roguelite characters
- Support for local and online co-op in a fighting-game-derived action roguelite
- Layered build system of elemental tactics, move-expanding potentials/legacies and evolutions, supporting dozens of distinct builds
Players want
- Fix performance, stuttering, crashes and co-op desync/softlock bugs introduced or exposed by recent patches
- Add more BlazBlue-specific content, story integration and lore so the license feels like more than a skin
- Open up the new X story content earlier on PC instead of locking it behind finishing the original story
- Improve enemy variety and level design, and reduce room and boss repetition across runs
- Better explain progression, evolutions and legacies in-game and improve visual clarity of effects and boss attacks
- Shorten or vary the start of each run and streamline the hub
Summarised from Steam reviews and community discussion.
Steam tags
Action RoguelikeAction-Adventure2DActionPlatformerReplay ValuePixel GraphicsPost-apocalypticCyberpunkAnime
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Tier list Part 2 (2024)
BlazBlue Entropy Effect is a 2D action roguelite with hack-and-slash combat that leans toward fighting-game feel. The developers sent him the game for review. He finds it impressive, visually stunning and very satisfying to play, though not especially unique in mechanics. Its bosses and story are the highlights, while repetition in rooms and builds plus visual clutter hold it back. He places it in A tier.
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