Final Vendetta
Final Vendetta
Game
Game2021
Battle Axe
Developer Bitmap Bureau
A classic arcade hack and slash brought to life with stunning pixel art and a heroic soundtrack. Choose your champion and battle through waves of enemies to stop a dark sorceress from plunging Mercia into eternal darkness. From the Steam store page
108 reactions from 3 sources (Steam reviews, Bluesky, Mastodon) · newest Oct 13, 2026 · last updated Oct 14, 2026 · How this works
Audience score
56
Mixed
48 positive · 37 negative
95% range 46–67%
| Source | + | − | = |
|---|---|---|---|
| Steam reviews | 48 | 37 | 0 |
| Bluesky * | 3 | 0 | 17 |
| Mastodon * | 0 | 0 | 3 |
* shown, not counted in the score (label accuracy below our 85% bar or not yet audited).
Steam's own rating
Mixed
49 of 86 reviews positive (all languages, per Valve)
What players are saying
56% recommend · 48 yes, 37 no
Counted from the reviewers’ own thumbs up/down on the 85 English Steam reviews we collected, not by the AI. Valve’s all-language rating: Mixed (97 of 159 positive).
Players praise the pixel art and music, calling them outstanding and nostalgic. [1][2][3] Many find the game too short, with only four stages and a high price. [1][4][5] Some reviewers criticize the lack of continues and small field of view. [2][6][7]
Liked
Representative posts
- [6]
The good: This games reminds me if Gauntlet, Knights of the Round, Lost Vikings, Dungeons and Dragons: Shadow over Mystra and Magic Sword were all put into a cauldron and mixed together to make a new game. The pixel art is very nice, music is nostalgic of 90's Capcom fantasy games, the characters are charming, the combat is simple but good, I love the level designs (but they can get a bit repetitive), and the …
- [7]
This is a decent Gauntlet-style game with one major flaw: The camera is zoomed in FAR TO CLOSE to the character/world. If this was a design decision to let us see the great artwork, there should be an option to zoom in or out, but there is not. If this game is ever patched with a zoom-out option, my recommendation will be more positive.
- [1]
Pros: The biggest selling point for me is the pixel art. And I have to say the graphics are outstanding! They are made by no other than Henk Nieborg! Accompanying the superb graphics is the music by Manami Matsumae. Nice, memorable tunes. On top of that, the gameplay is solid. This game is mostly arcade-ish. Killing multiple enemies at once feels satisfying as well as destroying buildings and fences. Cons: …
- [2]
I will go to bat for this game. I honestly can't understand all the negative reviews, this game is an absolute gem, and is non-stop pure arcade action. I would say its even an improvement upon the original games it takes inspiration from (like Gauntlet). The pixel art is superb, as is the music and voices/sound effects. The gameplay is simple, but highly addictive and you'll have to implement different approaches to …
- [4]
Look I'm going to be very clear here, this game is not worth 30 dollars. Is it a fun game? Yes. Buy it for what it's really worth, 10 - 15 dollars when it goes on sale.
Summarised from 34 of the 107 public posts collected about this game; every point cites the posts behind it ([n] opens the post) and the split is counted from the posts’ own ratings. Updated Oct 13, 2026. How summaries are made
RottenBot@rottenbot · automated account
56% of the 85 Steam reviewers we collected recommend Battle Axe. The complaint that keeps coming up: too short, only 4 stages. Deal-breaker or nitpick?
Reactions
60 of 108 · most liked firstBattle Axe... The game I have been really looking forward to as I am a great fan of pixel-graphics local coop games. I am a retro nerd, therefore I have beaten many, many, many titles of this genre referring to the classics such as Gauntlet, Golden Axe, Chaos Engine... I'd say I am pretty disappointed with Battle Axe due to many reasons. The game seems not to implement the basic elements and aspects of the game it tries to be/refer to. Let me point out the quite doubtful advantages and clearly…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →The good: This games reminds me if Gauntlet, Knights of the Round, Lost Vikings, Dungeons and Dragons: Shadow over Mystra and Magic Sword were all put into a cauldron and mixed together to make a new game. The pixel art is very nice, music is nostalgic of 90's Capcom fantasy games, the characters are charming, the combat is simple but good, I love the level designs (but they can get a bit repetitive), and the enemies are fun. The REALLY bad: I would change one thing and the game would be…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Yer Ma's the Elden Lord! We beat our 21st run in style, defeating all the base game bosses, taking down Malenia with 17 health left (my lucky number!), and absolutely crushing the final boss rush. Long live the Battle Axe! Run 22 / Battle Hammer starts on Thursday :)
neutral · AI labelView post →Pros: The biggest selling point for me is the pixel art. And I have to say the graphics are outstanding! They are made by no other than Henk Nieborg! Accompanying the superb graphics is the music by Manami Matsumae. Nice, memorable tunes. On top of that, the gameplay is solid. This game is mostly arcade-ish. Killing multiple enemies at once feels satisfying as well as destroying buildings and fences. Cons: Unfortunately, this game looks like rushed or unfinished (like it says 2020 in the…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This is a decent Gauntlet-style game with one major flaw: The camera is zoomed in FAR TO CLOSE to the character/world. If this was a design decision to let us see the great artwork, there should be an option to zoom in or out, but there is not. If this game is ever patched with a zoom-out option, my recommendation will be more positive.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I will go to bat for this game. I honestly can't understand all the negative reviews, this game is an absolute gem, and is non-stop pure arcade action. I would say its even an improvement upon the original games it takes inspiration from (like Gauntlet). The pixel art is superb, as is the music and voices/sound effects. The gameplay is simple, but highly addictive and you'll have to implement different approaches to combat and resource management to make it to the end. Most of the complaining…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Good game, but too expensive for a 30 minutes game. For 15$ I would say it is a must buy. My main problem right now is that there is no way to lower the volumes. There is only a on/off option for music and sound. I just want to lower the music a little bit. Also a last problem is that the CRT shader is amazing, but they should crank the brightness a little. Turning on the CRT shader makes everything super dark. There is no save option, so you have to play the whole game in one sitting.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Gorgeous visuals, but the core gameplay is lacking depth, and some aspects like the narrator announcing your character "has found a chicken" for example every time you pick up health feels amateurish and gets old very fast.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →#Goingforthbyday game design is based directly on authentic art history that is researched and vetted, then created by us, by hand, digitally. Main player weapon, the real "Battle Axe of Baki" center, the sprite on the left. Main player right with shield. #gamedev #handdrawn #oc #godot #indiegame
neutral · AI labelView post →This should have felt as classic arcade game, well it feel like it (and that is not great in this day and age). Once you spent your 3 lives, you are screwed, start from the beginning. I dont know why there is no option to continue. It is really not fun to play game all over again just to be able to get little bit further in next level. For five euro it would be nice experience for 2 hours of trying and failing, but the price is way too high - 27 euros, really?
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I so wish I could recommend this. The game has a lot of good points but ultimately I think that (especially for the current price of $30) it just isn't worth it. The Good: Awesome pixel art, solid soundtrack and a cool throwback to a genre of games that isn't particularly well represented today (Gauntlet, Gain Ground, Zombies Ate My Neighbors, etc). The Bad: extremely shallow game play. There are some things to unlock but it is mostly more of the same but with increased difficulty. I would…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I've been a fan of Henk Nieborg's art style ever since his work on PlayStation 1's Lomax, which led me to give Battle Axe a chance despite other people's bad impressions. Unfortunately, the gameplay is too short, sometimes frustrating, and uninspired to say the least. Not to mention the level design and character movements don't blend, meaning you have to correct your walking angle every once in a while. We did multiple runs and progressed all the way up to the end of stage 3 (out of 4) only…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Battle Axe is an overhead action game that is very reminiscent to something you would find in an arcade! Its a challenging but fair game that has you pick one of 3 characters to fight evil with! Plus this game is co-op! Sadly no one to play with on my end. Lets beat some game!
positive · AI labelView post →Fifth quest completed! This one was too easy, although the mage almost died when opening a trapped chest! And they were lucky, killed the gargoyle in one hit! (Dwarf has a 4D Battle Axe) #heroquest #boardgames
neutral · AI labelView post →It is an extremely basic and very generic arcade game that has quite a few shortcomings, like, for example, poor visibility because of the props, small field of view, and lack of any meaningful progression. To top it all, "Battle Axe" is super short and relatively easy on hard.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Can't disagree more with the negative reviews - camera is just right and the gameplay is exactly what you'd expect of an arcade Gauntlet clone. While it seems rather overpriced at 27€, it's a steal at -75%. The game does one thing and does it right, not much more to add. Great on Steam Deck.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I think people are too harsh towards it. Not a masterpiece, but decent arcade style action game, which feels something like Gauntlet mixed with Shock Troopers. Challenging levels, fantastic sprite art and solid soundtrack. Lack of continues can be criticized, but the game is short enough and not that troublesome to get used to. It certainly feels like a game, which you can boot up on MAME for better or worse. The game lacks indications for attacks of some enemies, level 3 is not great in terms…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Holy hell this game Sprite art is beautiful, music is hit and miss, but the gameplay? Like one of the hardest top down retro style combat games you will play. 4 lives to beat the whole thing which I suspect is 5 levels, but about halfway the difficulty goes through the roof. With enemies that spawn right on top of you, projectiles from off screen you barely have time to react to, confusing items which you only fully learn how they work through trial and error and oh yeah! Even the…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Starting off with #1: Bloodforged Battle-Axe This is my favorite card in the entire game of Magic. Something about it replicating itself and imagining a creature holding a bunch of axes makes me happy. Also this version includes my favorite flavor text.
neutral · AI labelView post →I asked some friends to scrawl a page of faux queer bar bathroom graffiti based on Can You Host? and I want you all to know this is a fully valid submission. It's a good game. For the record, I Natalie Pudim, am Battle Axe 4 Fizzie Boar Fizzie Boars, slide into those dms #tittyrpgjam
neutral · AI labelView post →A simple old school arcade game that is good on the eyes, but mediocre on the gameplay. It has few playable characters and few maps. Top that off with limited items, not enough varieties in items. Overall it's a game you would pick up and play with a friend or two and once beaten would leave it behind and forget that it even exists in your library. Yes there are plenty of games like these with similar contents, but at $30 price point, there is no excuse for so little contents. I got this at a…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →-The game has been updated so I'm redoing my review- Battle Axe is what could easily have been a capcom play system 2 arcade machine , it's got the visuals and the music just right , the presentation is also well done. the game now feature a new Casual difficulty , giving you more lives to allow you to take on the challenges it's offer, the previous difficulty are still there but now you'l have a much better chance in seeing everything the game has to offer. the game now feature an automatic…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Battle Axe is an arcade style game with two main modes of play: Arcade and Infinite. Arcade mode allows for 1 to 2 players and is a very simple move and hit style game. There are only 4 buttons to use in addition to movement keys: attack, special, use, and projectile. There are also 3 characters to choose from with different stats, but I found one character to just be better than the others. The game also allows for 3 upgrades to your character over the course of the game: Speed Up,…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Artificially inflated difficulty and some truly terrible level design choices make this one an easy pass. There are plenty of retro hack n' slash games out there worth your time.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →From the first time playing, I could already understand why people were griping about this one. It hits all the faux-retro buttons and does a better job than usual at making the younger gamer get a feeling for how dope these games were in the movie theater arcade but there's all sorts of flaws from the old and new school of game design. I get hiding the rescues behind trees but the enemies? I get having all sorts of blowing leaves and birds on the screen but they get in the way of projectiles.…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Got that itch for short classic dungeon arcade with great nostalgic music look no further this has it all, and it's so challenging to get perfect rating when you beat each level. Not only that but this has infinite run challenge if want to test your limits. Use your items & gold wisely as they're only thing that can help you further into the game without getting a game over. Game runs really great, not demanding at all, has CRT effects you can enable to give it good feel on the nostalgic…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Battle axe is a great retro game, that combines tropes of Gauntlet, Battleaxe and Shock Troopers. Game has snappy gameplay where you can slash, shoot or ram into enemies and it feels responsive. There are some "old arcade-like" secrets (stand in a certain place and item will appear, hit a chest hidden behind a tree) and some oldschool unfairness (some enemies will drop on you from out of the field of vision, and you must push dash purely by reflex). But its all good times. Game is short, but…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Pros: - Amazing artwork - simple controls - great soundtrack - good character design - Even tho it only has couch co-op, it worked great with steam co-op function Cons: - While in co-op, the zoom in on the camera is a bit too much, a slight zoom out when characters are appart or a splitscreen would be great. - No continues in Arcade mode or a lack of 1ups gives it a feeling that you keep replaying the first level way too many times Overall it isn't a bad game, just needs some QoL adjustments…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Look I'm going to be very clear here, this game is not worth 30 dollars. Is it a fun game? Yes. Buy it for what it's really worth, 10 - 15 dollars when it goes on sale.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Dark Souls 1 Soul Level 1 run COMPLETE Honestly not as rough as I was expecting. Most issues were regular DS1 issues just slightly worse. Chaos Battle Axe is my beloved. Boss Difficulty Tier List -Bed of Fucking Chaos, as usual -O&S -Nito + Four Kings -Seath for that OHK breath move -Gwyn
neutral · AI labelView post →Good game with beautiful graphics and animation simple but interesting gameplay passes in one run very quickly. Of the shortcomings I note that in cooperative mode is not convenient camera because of which you often get damage without seeing from what, fire traps and attacks have a hitbox more than their visual display, sometimes it is difficult to hit shots and the complexity of the game is too high, excellent would be to add a mode with infinite lives to pass was more relaxed otherwise…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I like this game. Even though I am not a big fan of modern pixelgames (had enough of that since the 80es), but I like the graphics. Some remind me a little bit on my loved favourite pixelated heroes from Monkey Island 2. The game in general plays kinda easy and unlike others I am perfectly fine with the viewport. But there are some decisions I do not like in this game. The hitboxes are a little bit too "spongey". You get hit even if a shot shout exactly miss you. The aiming is another…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I got the game after the upade that adressed some of the issues so I can't say how much was changed compared to the initial release so I'll just review the game in it's current state. As for the issues reported by other players, in this version: - field of view is still very small but from my experience enemies never attack if they are not visible on the screen. If you are careful and not ruch forward too recklessly you can always see them coming. - player and the enemies can still be obscured…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Got it on sale 50%. I love the art, music, sound effects, and voice acting. Gameplay is straightforward medieval run and gun arcade. It's hard but addictive and a great pick up and play title. An underrated game that I am having a lot of fun with.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Despite the negative reviews I decided to pick this game up while it was on sale (currently 50% off). The Difficulty I've finally made it to the third stage, which was quite the achievement. This game is pretty tough, even on easy. But that's just how arcade games swallowed your quarters back in the day. The game's themselves were short, but extremely challenging and relentless. So even though it's hard (IMHO), it absolutely should be. That's what makes games like this fun, is seeing yourself…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I got it for $7 on sale, which is a great price for this game. I actually really like this game, but I wish there was a little bit more to the game like an unlockable character or two, or maybe like one expensive upgrade which gives you a new power or something, idk. Pros -Combat feels fluid and fun -Boss fights are interesting -Aesthetic is really nice -$7 on sale right now -Enemies are pretty varied -Good sense of progression Cons -$30 when not on sale -Only like 4 campaign levels…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Super fun arcade type of game, reminds me of old Genesis and snes games, great music, cool art, I wish there was a setting for music and effects volume though, because music is screaming in my ears :) Reminds of D&D Chronicles games a bit. p.s. ONLINE COOP PLEASE!!!! :'(
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Worth it on a deep discount. The game is too short and lacking in general features to pay the full $29.99 price on, but if you can find a good sale on it I would say it’s worth it. The graphics and music are excellent, a very well done throwback to the classic arcade game era. It lacks saving your game but it doesn’t really need it cuz it takes like a half hour to play through. This is intended to be a game you’ll replay from time to time like the classic beat ‘em up games. 2 player would offer…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Battle Axe is a 2D retro pixel console ported twin stick brawler/shooter arcade game with a fantasy theme. Gameplay consists of moving around and brawling through all the enemies to complete each level. There's a choice of only three characters and there's not many levels to the game, once more posting the question, is it good that there's less content, given how bad the game is? Probably. Before we get into the technical defects, of which each one is a dealbreaker as the developers didn't…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →It's so close to being very very good.....but the fact that you can only move in 8 directions while the enemies can move in every directions imaginable and the fact that some hitboxes are not the size you would expect makes this game not as fun as it should and it's sad. Range attacks are far more frustrating to hit that they should. I'm sorry for the dev teams, they were very very close to greatness, but the small details I pointed plus a few others prevent this game to reach its full…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Nice artwork, but frustrating to play Lots of off screen attacks, starting with the first flame thrower obstacle in stage 2. You will get hit by this as soon as it enters the screen. In stage 3, lots of enemies that charge you immediately upon entering the screen. There are no continues or credits, so you can't go though the game and see all the nice artwork unless you apply yourself. Just let me credit feed, and i'll get good if the game seems good enough to replay.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I can't recommend this until they fix coop controllers being busted on steam deck. wife and i have wireless PS5 controllers hooked up that work in every other game except this one.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →So I wanted to give this a shot since it recently got updated (strafe move and some rebalancing, not sure about the latter exactly) and it was on sale. While some design choices/misses are a bit baffling I think this is a pretty solid, if a bit short, arcade-style run & gun in the vein of Chaos Engine, Legend of Valkyrie, early Gauntlet series and other similar games. Still I'm hoping for another update as just some minor tweaks would make it much better I think. Pros & Cons: + Sometimes…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This is a pretty basic "arcade-y" hack and slash that is (a) bit clumsy, and (b) waaaaaaaaaay, waaaaaaaaay over-priced for what you get. Like....If it was a fiver I'd think okay, but £25? That is insane. It's a very limited experience, with three characters who have pretty samey move-sets. A short-range slash, a dashing attack and a ranged attack, and...uh...well, nothing else bar special items that give you health or some area-of-attack type effect. The tasty graphics and decent music are…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →https://youtu.be/D2u0ja5UvsY Constantly respawning basic enemies prevents players from feeling any real forward progression and muddies the level design.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →BOOOOORRRIINNGGG
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Really shallow gameplay. Camera too zoomed in to make the action satisfying. Extremely limited features and characters for the asking price.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Looks good and plays well...but the lack of direction (arrow pointer for main direction to keep going) and no map made the first level painful as I got to the end, but didn't step quite far up enough to trigger the boss appearance and wandered back through the first level for around 10 minutes before walking every corner of the first level to finally stumble across the boss trigger. That was agonizing. While I only played the first level with one character so far, I look forward to playing this…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Yes, love Mercs! We even got to work with the game's musician (and Capcom legend) Manami Matsumae on another game of ours, "Battle Axe". 😄 Good luck with the run!
neutral · AI labelView post →Terminator 2D: NO FATE HAS RELEASED! NO MOAR DELAYS AT LAST! The latest game from Bitmap Bureau of 88 Heroes, Xeno Crisis, Battle Axe, Final Vendetta and the upcoming He-Man and the Masters of the Universe: Dragon Pearl of Destruction!
neutral · AI labelView post →A random yoink from the Switch stacks for #randomgamesaturday, and it's Battle Axe. Beautiful arcade hack 'em up from @bitmapbureau.com.
positive · AI labelView post →If you want an arcade style gauntlet game then you can't go far wrong with this. A few other reviews complain that the game feels unfinished or lacking content. Everything here is extremely polished and the level of content is what I would expect for an arcade game of this type. If you enjoy the immediacy and polish of a well crafted arcade experience you will love this game.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I don't see what all the crying is about, it's fun, especially if you're in the over 40 club and have fond memories of wasting quarters at the arcade. If you paid full price I can see the gripe but I paid around $7 and was well worth it. And if the challenge is too much just set it to game journalist mode (casual) and you could probably beat it in an hour or two.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Of all the badass weapons in Dark Souls 3 I beat the game with the Starter Battle Axe😂 +10 and Heavy Gem Ofcourse
neutral · AI labelView post →Imagine that, a 2D Terminator licensed game that isn't terrible! Also the first licensed work from the developer of Xeno Crisis, Battle Axe (with pixel art by Henk Nieborg) and Final Vendetta! 🤔
neutral · AI labelView post →All true game devs have a Battle Axe
neutral · AI labelView post →Fantastic brawler / hack and slash arcade style game! The beautiful sprite works propel the graphics to the fore front but the game play is not to be overlooked. You have a standard melee attack, a projectile attack, and a dash / teleport attack that has a little bit of invincibility frames to help you in a pinch. You earn money as you progress through the stages and can purchase a number of items / upgrades with the currency you've collected. The upgrades really go a long way towards keeping…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →The game is fun, but $30 for this is criminal. Glad I got it on sale, I hope for $10 or less.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Thirty magical weapons you can just drop in your game: attronarch.com/labyrinth-lo... A random examples: Fiendish Battle Axe +1. Danish battle axe with perennially bloodstained iron blade. Blood can't be washed off. #OSR #LL #DnD
neutral · AI labelView post →Really great arcade style fun
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →
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