Somewhere in a desert wasteland, a tiny barbarian hangs crudely nailed to a tree. He contemplates the shifting of the sands, the hungry gleam in vultures' eyes, and the sweet brutal revenge he must take. Break free in as dramatic a way as possible! Your adventure begins!

Within 15 seconds of playing, you'll have savaged the local wildlife, defiled ancient ruins, and most likely ♥♥♥♥ed off about a dozen evil warlocks just by being alive. A few steps later you'll already be discovering secrets as you bash through cracking rocks to uncover coins, gems, and... meat! Collect treasure for score, and replenish health by eating strange meats you find hidden in crevices, or even just laying on the ground! Fearsome barbarians eat whatever they want!

Battle wizards and their beastly minions! Punch rocks until they turn into diamonds! Hack away at vicious armored soldiers intent on slaying you and taking away your totally sweet loincloth! Discover wondrous and deadly ancient mechanisms! Tame ferocious beasts! Flex your guns and pecs indiscriminately! Dangle from chains 1-handed like a true badass! Handle explosives with little to no care whatsoever! Dodge snake-based traps, the most fiendish kind of traps known to man! Experience love, lust, and loss! Followed by triumph! Possibly followed by even more lust, the most important emotion!

All this excitement (And more! So much more! Eventually!) is packed into an experience just under 2 hours long, with 3 more adventures (episodes) to follow once they're finished and released by the developer. All future episodes will be available to you for free by buying this game (Episode 1), with the second coming very soon as of the time of this review (and I use the term "review" loosely!).

If you can't wait that long because you're an impatient ♥♥♥♥♥ or have Restless Gamer-Finger Syndrome, this game includes an endless Horde Mode that strands you atop of a pyramid and pits you against an endless army of goblins, skeleton archers, and trolls! (Or possibly very large hairy barbarians, I can't tell, but they bleed all the same!) You might rage at the constant potshots the archers take, I find myself losing most of my health to them, but YMMV.

Enemy variety is alright, we'll probably see different enemies in the upcoming episodes. I'm more annoyed that there aren't that many enemies hanging out in the main game's levels. However, the ones that are there are strategically placed for a challenge, and Horde Mode has all the mobbing you could want.

Enough combat moves are available to keep you alive, but face it, all you really need is that badass Elbow Drop! Snake getting grabby? Elbow Drop! Need to deflect a barrage of arrows? Elbow Drop! Vulture trying to eat you? ELBOW DROP IT OUT OF THE SKYYYY!!!

The other moves are your basic slash attack, a useful 3-hit combo that sends enemies flying, an overhead swing useful for crowd control and deflecting arrows, and a midair spinning attack that multihits (I find it hard to pull off, the timing is weird). Check the Steam Community Discussion page for more info on the attacks. The main game is easy enough to play through with just the basic attack and occasional 3-hit combo, the extra moves are more for Horde Mode survival.

What else, what else... oh right, buy this game! The music fits the bill, the levels are well designed so they aren't monotonous, secrets aren't terribly hard to find thanks to the level design "hinting" at them, boss fights are entertaining, there are nekkid ladies, and that's about it. It's a simple and fun game that I'm sure is far from simple and fun to make, so throw your money at the developer so he can crank out those other Episodes.

It's really hard for me to recommend this game to anyone, but I will say a few things about it. Replay value isnt really big here, unless you absolutely love the game. One thing is that this game has 3 additional episodes planned. The first episode obviously, and the 2nd was just added to the game. So I really like that, but some people might be unhappy to learn they aren't all already available. The first episode, is rather short actually, took me about 1.5 hours to actually finish it from the start. Granted, it took me a handfull of angry tries before I actually finished it. Plus I havent even touched Ep.2 yet, i'll save that rage-fest for another date.

This game is really hard. What makes it hard? Its all about timing, patience and knowledge. Taking damage not only hurts, but it gives you that classic knockback we all know and hate. I told my friend, only play this game if youre ok with pulling out your hair.

The music is AWESOME. Seriously, this is my favorite part (besides flexing).

Tiny Barbarian DX is hands down one of the best retro platformers you can grab your hands on right now. Everything about it is just fantastic, albiet an extremly short experience.

PROS
- Levels never feel unfair, and check points are frequent enought that you won't feel cheated by death.
- Jumping on platforms and slashing your sword feels tight. Chaining kills is satisfying as hell.
- Boss fights require you to be patient and figure out how to use their attack against them.
- The game's visuals are gorgeous, with multiple scrolling backgrounds with beautiful pixel art.
- Horde mode to keep you occpied if the campaign gets too rough
- AND ONE OF THE BEST CHIP TUNE SOUND TRACKS EVER TO HAVE GRACED VIDEO GAMES; THUMPIN ALONG AS YOU FIGHT YOUR WAY THROUGH THE GAME. SERIOUSLY JUST LISTEN TO IT: http://store.steampowered.com

CONS
- If you buy the game right now you only get 1 out of the 4 episdoes. The rest are included with the purchase but their release dates are all TBA.
- Some of the vehicle levels are a bit tedious cause your GIANT CAT controls a bit floaty. But I guess that's part of the challenge. It's not impossible though, just take your time.
- While the jumping is very responsive, grabbing on to ledges sometimes was hit and miss as i fell 1/4 of the time. This is a VERY MINOR complaint.
- AGAIN TOO DAMN SHORT. I NEED MY TINY BARBARIAN FIX YO.

Ultimately while not a complete experience (yet), this game is definately worth the price it's asking for admission. Episode 1 will take around 1-2 hours to beat, but you can replay it to get achievements and find secrets. You can also play the Horde mode to keep busy.

Tiny Barbarian DX episode 1: 9/10

Options -> Control Config -> Auto Grab ON

Enjoy!

An intense action platformer. It also rocks some great chiptune music and free expansions. My lone advice? Get a controller, specifically one with an concave analog stick like the Xbox 360's or the Dualshock 4. Your thumbs will be in pain as you play.