Them’s Fightin’ Herds Review: Herds Are Magic

It’s easy to look at Them’s Fightin’ Herds and think you’re dealing with an official My Little Pony fighting game. The characters, while not the same as those in the popular cartoon, look like they could be their siblings. There’s a reason for that. Starting life as a My Little Pony fan game, a cease-and-desist letter from Hasbro sent the development team searching for a way to continue their project. Creating an original fighting game with unique characters in a similar style ended up being the solution, with My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic creator Lauren Faust being so impressed by their efforts that she even came on board to create their character designs and help write the game’s story mode. So while you won’t get to play as your favorite familiar characters, it’s no accident that the look and feel of Them’s Fightin’ Herds still has a strong connection to the popular show.

A Strong Base

While that may be cool for fans of My Little Pony, it doesn’t mean a lot to the rest of us. I’ve never personally watched an episode, but I’m always down for a great fighting game. How does Them’s Fightin’ Herds stack up against the rest of the genre? Surprisingly well, in a lot of ways. With a deep combat system and a fantastic training mode, Them’s Fightin’ Herds, first and foremost, is a game with outstanding mechanics. Combos, super moves, special abilities, anti-air tech, the sort of options fighting game fans demand in a modern game are present and accounted for.

Initially, I was worried that playing entirely as four-legged animals in a fighting game would feel weird, and that the spacing and timing would be off, but it wasn’t really a concern. It took my brain all of about ten seconds to adapt to the spacing, and then I was learning the game. That’s made easier thanks to the training mode and tutorials, which work you through each mechanic one by one, letting you see exactly what you need to do and also what you’re doing wrong if something isn’t clicking. Even concepts like frame data are accounted for.

Learning The Ropes

Despite this, Them’s Fightin’ Herds feels incredibly approachable. Maybe it’s the look, with excellent character designs, huge character models, fantastic animation, and interesting backgrounds. Maybe it’s the tight controls and gameplay which feels like you can compete relatively quickly if you get a handle on the spacing and timing of things, even if you haven’t yet mastered every mechanic.

A variety of strong single-player options helps, too, giving those who don’t feel ready to jump right in online a place to learn the game. There’s a standard arcade mode, but the more interesting option by far is story mode. This puts you in the hooves of Arizona, a cow from the prairie who is one of the world’s champions trying to find an ancient key and stop predators from returning to the land.

The Start Of The Journey

Story mode blew me away with its depth, offering one of the more interesting single-player modes in a fighting game since the original Soul Calibur. You explore a huge world in a 2D sprite-based view that looks a lot like a classic 2D Zelda game, only with more four-legged creatures. You’ll explore dungeons, find side quests, talk to NPCs who are filled with personality and always have something interesting to say, and set off to save the world. When it comes time to get into a fight, though, things change, and you’ll suddenly find yourself back in a fighting game.

There are a number of different enemy types who aren’t among the game’s playable characters, which is definitely cool, especially since they’re built to help teach you the ropes of a fighting game. Flying enemies, for example, are like nothing you can actually control, but they’re great for getting the hang of anti-air moves. Even boss fights against the other playable characters, give them additional moves and options that they don’t have when you control them to make them feel more like bosses.

More Work Needed

Despite its unique style and cool ideas, story mode has some issues that feel like they’re represented in other parts of Them’s Fightin Herds as well. Platforming sections simply aren’t a lot of fun, trying to make precise jumps with fighting game controls isn’t my idea of a good time. More importantly, though, it isn’t done. Story mode stops after the first chapter, which lasts only a few hours. While more chapters are supposedly on the way, the development team has given no idea when that will happen. There had previously been hints it would be this year, but getting these console releases done seems to have taken precedence. With the first part releasing on PC back in 2020, it does make one question when this will actually be a full game.

A small roster doesn’t help, with only seven playable characters. Four more are planned in an upcoming season pass, but they’re an additional purchase and not part of the core game. While the characters feel distinctive and are all very well designed, that’s a small group. It does allow matchups to be even more important than ever, though, when fighting online.

The online lobbies are actually a strength too. Looking similar to the game’s story mode, these pixel-based overhead lobbies have you running around as an avatar you can fully customize. You’ll have opportunities to fight other players, compete for resources, and do a lot more than the average online lobby offers. Once you get into an online fight, you’ll find smooth performance with cross-play and rollback netcode present from day one. If your goal is to compete online, Them’s Fightin’ Herds has you covered.

Conclusion

Almost everything that’s currently present in Them’s Fightin’ Herds is excellent, with the exception of a few platforming sections in the story mode. The issue is that even two years after initially releasing on PC, it still doesn’t feel like a completed game, nor have the developers been clear about when that will change. If what’s here sounds like enough for you, though, or you’re a big My Little Pony fan, you should absolutely give Them’s Fightin’ Herds a chance.

Final Verdict: 3.5/5

Available on: Xbox Series X(Reviewed), Xbox Series S, Xbox One, PS5, PS4, Switch, PC; Publisher: Modus Games; Developer: Mane6, Inc; Players: 2; Released: October 18th, 2022; ESRB: E10+ for Everyone 10+; MSRP: $19.99

Full disclosure: This review is based on a copy of Them’s Fightin’ Herds provided by the publisher.