Maniac

This game feels like something you'd play on Newgrounds 20 years ago, the GonzoSSM-esque art style really creates that feel. It's glorious. Surprisingly detailed with a lot of entertaining voice lines, But new content is scarce past beating the game as the first character, since new characters don't do much aside from giving you access to other weapon earlier than you would in your run. Every run is nearly identical and the loop is very repetitive, but it's the good kind of repetitive imo. Mindless fun time killer more akin to a mobile game, not something you wanna play for more than an hour at a time. It could really make do with updates and more content, but it's cheap at 50% off. Buy it!

Basically GTA Chinatown Wars, but with half a dozen one-man army psychos & Michael Bay is directing it.

If you don't enjoy this game, you're a Prius-driving-fake-hippy-impostor-Greta-hugging-crystal-gripping-dirt-worshiping waste and might as well uninstall and become Amish.

Maniac is basically a much more light-hearted version of Hatred. That being said, it does everything that game does but better. You play as a homocidal maniac and the only goal is to cause as much mayhem as possible in a highly destructible sandbox city; eventually surviving long enough to set off a nuclear explosion. The forces that work together to stop your reign of terror starts small and eventually escalates to DEFCON1; starting with street cops and SWAT teams and working up to the military and even aliens. You'll be hounded and chased down by police cars, armored vehicles, tanks, APCs, attack helicopters, fighter jets, stealth bombers, and UFOs. You can hijack vehicles or run and gun on foot; picking up upgrades and weapons as you go while dodging the cars trying to ram you and the authorities trying to gun you down. Maniac is highly replayable though because of the rouge-lite nature of the game and the meta progression that you engage with every time you die or complete a level. With the money you collect during your runs you can upgrade the various stats and starting kit across several different characters, allowing your runs to last longer and adding a bit of strategy to how you spec your characters. The sheer pandemonium, explosions, and ragdoll physics at any given moment during the higher wanted levels is crazy. There will be a constant bevy of cars chaotically swerving around a plethora of viscerally colorful explosions while a hail of bullets fly from all directions. Stealth bombers will level the area while Apache choppers launch barrages of homing missiles, and what's really remarkable about this game is how well optimized it is! All these hundreds of explosions and moving assets all at once and not one CTD or game breaking bug. If I was to criticize anything about this game it would be the consistency of the hit-detection for bullets. If this was addressed in a future update I think this game would be so much better for it. Despite the aforementioned drawback, I still love this game and definitely recommend it for the full price or on sale. Amazing for Steam Deck.

Super violent, irreverent, and mindless. But ohhh-so fun. Also a great one for the Deck.

Oh my god this is so good. It perfectly captures the vibe of old school GTA games, wrapped in a roguelite bullet heaven package.

You can murder kids and babies. In fact it's encouraged, nay required to unlock new characters. This, in my book, is a win. The rest of the game could suck, but the above would make it worth every cent of the $4.99. But it doesn't. It's just good. Buy it, murder children, go to hell. HUZZAH!!!!

So far I've been liking this game, really feels like a mix between the original GTA games and Postal.

This is very fun for the unhinged individuals. I played for scientific purposes.

It's a very fun game and it's AMAZING for it's price. Imagine GTA but as a roguelite with fast and fun mechanics. It's also very satisfying when you level up and blow up vehicles, buildings, tanks, people, etc. Got it on sale but it's still worth it even for full price! I definitely recommend picking this up :)

Super fun game, especially for how cheap it is.

A crazy game of running around and destroying everything around you.

This is such a good time, GTA 1 style game reminiscent of games like hatred but not edgy and stupid, different characters to unlock that are all as funny as the last. A quick game to burn some time that can easily turn into an addiction Highly recommend and worth the 5$ game which beats its value quickly. This is the reason i love indie so much, don't hesitate you wont find much like this packed with so much fun for the small price it costs.

It was a little over 2 bucks the other day. I picked it up for the Deck. Fun to play whilst on the toilet.

Great fun! A cheap, explosion sandbox with rogue-like elements that leaves you wanting to play one more round. This game almost has "survivor"-like game mechanics with the roaming perk dealer and bullet hell gameplay. I've beaten the game with two characters so far and I'm excited to beat it with the rest! Would love some extra content for this game too.

Has that antisocial twin-stick shooter feel of Hatred, but the bright colors and upbeat music somehow make it feel less likely that you'll end up on a government list.

This game is very fun, cant wait to see more come from it. more people to unlock, more levels, etc. none the less so far very fun game, its a must have. A++++

Who remembers that mobile game Smashy Road: Wanted 2? It's basically that but enhanced and it's fun

I like how chaotic it is. Like if playing the first gta for a wanted level was hyped up even crazier into arcadey goodness. For the price of less than a mcdouble on sale it certainly will entertain you more than a burger.

Remember that game Hatred that came out a decade or so ago and it kinda sucked? This game does what Hatred wanted to do but actually understands how to make the "kill as many people as possible" idea palatable by reveling in the absurdity of the violence. A mass murderer isn't fun in practice, but a mass murdering Drunk Santa? That's hilarious. Regrettably, this game isn't very deep, but it also isn't very expensive. Its the kind of game for when you need to kill 20 minutes, and it won't take many sessions to get your money's worth.

[i](V early first impression...)[/i] It's fun! Definitely worth the $5. I'm playing KB&M so can't really speak to the controller. Pros: Gameplay is the king here, and it feels good. Nails the classic GTA feel it was going for. Driving & overall physics are surprisingly in-depth and feel great. Aesthetics are not jaw dropping but are interesting enough & keep it clear what is happening amidst the chaos. Meh: Shooting flying vehicles takes getting used to but still doesn't feel very clean given the very slow bullet speed. Roguelike upgrades don't have a whole lot of variety, and characters don't seem to vary a whole lot either aside from basic stat differences, so I could see the game getting old fast. Default Santa character feels very slow & sluggish compared to other unlocks - a more balanced character would be ideal to get people hooked. Can pretty well cheese out a win in survival by just getting a fast car and avoiding roads. Cons: No support for mouse 4/5 buttons in the control settings. Pathing in general can get annoying when trying to get to the next upgrade location, especially when you have to go up ramps or hills. Speaking of, height changes can be quite difficult to see at times, as well as barricades. And speaking of barricades, there should be some way to jump over them when on foot!

steal a car and run over all pedestrians grab a shotgun and kill everyone you see grab a flamethrower and burn all children and babies grab bombs and rain them down everywhere cool game

OMG OMG OMG! I wish I should have known about this game. It's so fun to play. I love the mayhem of running around and just destroying everything in my path LOL. For a game that is simply $5, this is a good game to buy. I would recommend this game. Explore more game from Skystone Games.

Great game, waiting for more from these guy's, add some mission's and this is how GTA started

Pretty much what most of us did in GTA 2, but now with Vampire Survivor mechanics. Not sure I will have fun with this for very long, but for the price it's absolutely fine.

not a bad game but the videos are a bit misleading the game has almost exclusively top down camera which is not even close to the videos i personally do not like top down games so i feel cheated if they add a more vertical camera - i would love to change my review and buy it again :)

Okay. So, this bitch ass game has been out for a minute. Why the options restart and I have to reset them every single time I play the game? I demand the dumbass dev of this piece of garbage to come answer here. Where are you idiot?

This game is absolutely horrible for all the wrong reasons and the person who made it should be ashamed for inflicting it upon the world. Worse than a cheap mobile game and an absolute waste of money even if it was only £2.

Auto shoot will shoot the car you're trying to get into. This causes you to not be able to get into the car. Annoying, would be a cool game if it wasn't broken

Stacked [i]Alley Brawler[/i] and became a god, literally flying across the map from upgrade to upgrade. Finally ended it all when I hit a nitro and it exploded me off the map.

Manic fun for so cheap, you'll have a blast (no pun intended)

so damn fun gets old though but worth the money for an afternoon of mayhem 100%

Simple good mayhem. Even comes with an editor. Great fun.

[h3] Ever had the urge to mow down some children as drunken Santa? [/h3] That's the game for you.

because I'm too stupid to do quests in GTA, this basically how i played it!

It's GTA 2's Kill Frenzy. It's simple but good fun.

I realized this game was exactly for me when I jumped out of a taxi in the middle of three tanks while fighter jets were flying at me, then I blasted everything with a grenade launcher and my character just burped like nothing ever happened.

very addicting, genuinely pretty good. most id pay is $10 7.5/10

for $2.49 this game is amazing buy it before the sale is over

Like Postal and GTA first contenders had a child that's constantly on speed. Perfect for Deck.

For $5 or $2 or $10, this game is pure gold. It's what GTA (1 and 2) used to be. It's basically pure GTA. It's top-down Postal for the new generation. I love it. Invoking a nuke as a response to a drunken santa was so absurd that I cried with laughter. Literally.

it's cool and has loli chara

Drunk santa sighted mowing down a crowd with a MP5 in a tractor while police pursue him

This is like Hatred marketed towards kids. I love it.

It's the best of GTA in a small package.

Just the good part of Gta but top down

A epic time killer ! love it !

totally fucking awesome

The Clown got me actin' unwise

A gem of an indie! Love at first sight! <3