Matadouro Grindhouse

When I think of a slaughter house, I think of a bloody, virile mess of bones, flesh and muscle and I do have to say Matadouro Grindhouse captures this bloody scene well. Made by Pulp Games and was released on January 18,2024 and retails for $7.99 and at about 3-4 hours of gameplay its well worth the price. 

The sound design was well done although quite ominous,  I could not focus too much on it as I was enraptured with the PSX/retro style graphics - the gore factor was up "over 9000" with buckets of human goo peppered with hands, eyeballs and limbs of all sorts, which as a horror gamer I appreciate a developer not being afraid of gore. Because horror gamers LOVE gore. 

The gameplay itself was smooth for the most part, the controls were easy to master and I only encountered 1 bug. Which I was lucky enough to have the dev in chat when playing, who kindly enough helped me through it. The puzzles themselves were quite challenging- and the description of "does not hold your hand" are 100% accurate! The defense mechanic struck me as a little strange as the hit boxes seemed to be mostly on the head of the larger bosses in order for damage to be inflicted. 

Controls themselves were by no means ground breaking but they were simple and easy to master. The controls made sense and used the standard WASD & mouse combo for ease and control. I was not aware if there was a hot key to heal, but you can switch through your weapons by pressing the corresponding number to that weapon.

The story itself was easy to follow although I wanted more. You are a renegade cop with nothing to lose, who is investigating disappearances and narrowly misses saving a young woman from kidnap! The story beats were well paced and in lieu of animated cut scenes we had stills which I felt worked better in this situation rather than fully fleshed out animations. I do feel, in a way it was left on a cliff hanger and the final battle with the big bag was capped out at a story beat and still. I would have loved to see another section with Prometheus and have the story come full circle. Although this can be remedied with a patch or DLC. I did enjoy the Greek mythology element that this game had.

The character designs are of a more unique variety - I would have loved to know how these monsters were designed but I sense there was some symbolism behind them, We don't really see our protagonist but for a few fleeting moments when a still is placed on screen and the damsel who was a standard brunette, nothing stand out or remarkable but I truly don't think she needed to be.  My favorite of the characters was a cultist me and my community lovingly named Dennis, you will know him when you see him. look for the fellow with the goat skull mask - when the dev jumped in and also called him Dennis, that made me really happy. Long Live Dennis!

SOUND DESIGN & VISUALS:⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 7/10

GAMEPLAY: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ ⭐⭐ 7/10

CONTROLS:⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 7/10

STORY:⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 6/10 

CHARACTER DESIGN:⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐7/10

Overall Score:  6.7/ 10

Final Thoughts: 

I gave Matadouro Grindhouse a 6.7/10 and I have to say fantastic job to Pulp Games for creating this unique gaming experience. The Dev has since made an Easy mode, Although I like to think they did that because they saw me struggle a little but - But that makes me happy they are including that for players that struggle with gaming in general.....(like yours truly!) The dev has been super sweet and wonderful to speak to. They are attentive, understanding and very much willing to accept feedback. They have been so gracious through the playthrough and through my time with them, even going so far as to interact with my community during stream by answering questions and giving me many many hints! I do recommend a playthrough of MG if your looking for a unique horror experience that is ultra fast paced, ultra challenging and a good time all around. Go pick it up now on steam!

Get it here 👇🏻👇🏻

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2745610/Matadouro_Grindhouse/