While the beat-em-up genre got off to a slow start on the Switch, since that time we’ve been blessed with quite a number of exceptional titles. Ranging from the decidedly old-school traditional to now even some roguelike varieties, it’s a good time to be a fan. On paper, taking Art the Clown from the Terrifier horror franchise into such a game and letting him wreak bloody havoc sounds like a good time. Unfortunately, due to a lack of ambition and a willingness to simply let the license do all the work it ends up being a bloody mess, but not in a good way.

If you’re looking to form a mental picture of how the game plays, imagine a pretty basic brawler with minimal moves at the core. You’ll be able to jump, perform a generic attack, combo if you press the same button multiple times, and dodge. Sure, you’ll also be able to pick up and use some weapons, but in general there’s a decided lack of effort here considering most of the games from the genre in the eShop have quite a lot more going on in terms of both controls and mechanics. 

Aside from the general appearance of Art and his motley crew of violent miscreants, the only way the license is utilized is in the 2 finishers each character has which will build up your gauge, and a special attack that will consume it. Without those visual elements in play this would be just a base generic game. I also almost forgot that I had issues with the game’s stability as well, with it crashing out more than once for no particular reason pretty randomly. Considering the pretty high bar the best in the genre have set, or even the one set by middling examples on the eShop, this falls utterly flat and wastes the potential for a more bloody take on a beat-em-up.