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Stikbold! A Dodgeball Adventure Short Review

by Omar (@siegarettes)

• Stikbold! A Dodgeball Adventure
  
• Developer- Game Swing
  
• Publisher- Curve Digital
  
• PC (Steam), PS4
  

Stikbold is a game that gets by entirely by its charm. Between its bright color palette, humor, low poly characters and expressive animation, Stikbold is a game so lighthearted that often feels untethered from gravity. It’s a distinctly springtime game. 

The titular adventure takes place as a journey through a series of increasingly absurd dodgeball arenas, instigated when a devil appears and kidnaps the rival dodgeball team. Wanting a rematch to redeem themselves from their loss in the last dodgeball championship, Björn and Jerome set off to rescue them. What starts off as a simple dodgeball match escalates until you’re fighting off honey stealing hippies and activists protesting oil rigs. 

Throwing and dodging are a bit elementary, one trigger throws the other dodges. You can dodge into balls to catch them, and throws can be finessed by curving or charging them, but most often you’ll be running towards opponents to throw the ball in their face from a few feet away. Hit opponents repeatedly to knock them out before they regain their bearings. Where it gets interesting is in the stage hazards. Perhaps you’ll accumulate crabs that slow you down, or be thrown off the stage by a tornado. All of them are entirely silly, but they force you to navigate the space in more interesting ways. 

Ultimately, you’ll want to bring a few friends to really enjoy Stikbold. You can play the story alone, but having a friend tag along definitely works better. Even better, if you can get four friends together you can play a set of versus matches, which are multitudes more interesting with actual people to play against. Here the simplicity and charm of the game work best, channeling the same kind of quick competition you’d get out of a round of Bomberman. 

That’s about the extent of what there is to Stikbold. It’s colorful, easy to pick up, and works best as a social experience among friends. It’s simple, but that’s its appeal.