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Game
Game2016
Punch Club
Developer Lazy Bear Games
Punch Club (originally titled VHS Story) is a sporting management simulation developed by Lazy Bear Games and published by tinyBuild. In the game, the player manages an upcoming boxer in training and preparation for a series of boxing matches at a local club, while searching for clues of who killed their father. The game was developed as a humorous take on action films of the 1980s and 1990s. The game was released… From Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0)
202 reactions from 3 sources (Steam reviews, Bluesky, Mastodon) · newest Oct 5, 2026 · last updated Oct 7, 2026 · How this works
Audience score
60
Fresh
109 positive · 74 negative
95% range 52–66%
| Source | + | − | = |
|---|---|---|---|
| Steam reviews | 109 | 74 | 0 |
| Bluesky * | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Mastodon * | 0 | 0 | 0 |
* shown, not counted in the score (label accuracy below our 85% bar or not yet audited).
19 newer reactions are still waiting for a label.
Steam's own rating
Very Positive
12,696 of 15,831 reviews positive (all languages, per Valve)
What people are saying
Summary pending — the reactions are listed below.
Reactions
60 of 202 · most liked firstWithout pain, without sacrifice, we would have nothing.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Rename this game: Poverty Simulator I've completed the game, a very slow repetitive grind. Lots of edges showing. I genuinely enjoy playing, for the most part, but I absolutely don't recommend it. In the early game you are quite literally starved, you need to constantly buy extortionate food and then balance training with working; train or no, your stats decrease dramatically every single day for some reason, so you can lose a lot of grinding progress just because you had to go to work.…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Okay I have enough. One of the most tedious and not rewarding player game I had "pleasure" to play. Concept overall is pretty good but so poorly executed. Daily stat drain is too strong, fights are absolutely RNG fiesta and main statistics have 0 balance. I really wanted to like this game but in the end I only feel that it was wasted time.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Expected 80% pixel art boxing game with 20% resource management. Got 95% pixel art resource management with 5% boxing.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Getting stronger is about routine, and winning is more about consistency than muscle.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Grindy AF. I spent 1 whole in game day to train for 50% of it to decay by the end of the day. Then I need to spend a few days just to work to have enough money to afford food so that I can train. In the mean time, my stat keeps decaying so I need to spend another day to catch up my missing training day. Rinse and repeat. It's repetitive gameplay makes the grind boring AF. The combat is auto combat, so you keep on grinding to see the auto battling goes on. I'm not going to finish this game.…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Time management type of game where you train your fighter in idle like fashion. Gameplay repeats in a loop. Improve stats by doing different tasks then take part in fight. Manage resources like energy, money, happiness. Before battle pick your move set in available slots. FIghting is a bit automatic. Art style is ok, remind of 16-bit era games. Some minor story is involved. Not a big fan of this one.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Dev added stat decay to waste your time and pad out game length and time played. Probably over halfway done with the story but it's just not fun anymore, you gotta waste time everyday training just to keep your stats at a certain point and even then if you fight or actually do other stuff you'll start losing stats and not be able to win fights. Just a very terrible mechanic. You also can't respec your character so if you get an ability or passive that you don't want cause it's not fully…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Random steam game keys, have fun: Bomber Crew: NFQ6D-ZKRZR-QEG0T Sniper Ghost Warrior 2: TNKAZ-D9Y88-HWMRR Punch Club: N70IG-FHTVH-365L3 LEGO The Hobbit: 4P8B7-NGAAT-FM25Y Farm Racing: QCDN7-J2MWQ-BPKGF
unlabelledView post →I bought the game even though there are so many bad reviews, because it look fun. It was fun, for the first 1-2 hours, after that, the game became so grindy with the daily stats loss. I still try to play through till the very end of the game, and then I encounter the bugs with Dark Fist DLC, that make it unplayable (no icons on the map, cannot go anywhere). Apparently this is a well-known bug that the devs have no intention of fixing after so many years. This is the breaking point. Cleary,…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →An absurdist surreal point and click boxing tycoon manager that can't decide if it wants to be charmingly autistic or autisticly random with it's plot and references
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Heya folks, here's a 2nd short featuring Punch Club by Lazy Bear Games and TinyBuild. I'm slowly making progress in the game, and am currently ranked 8th in the tournament. Still a long way to go yet, though. #punchclub #videogames #indiegames #simulationgames #gameplay
unlabelledView post →First rule of punch club is.......................................... wait I forgot?
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →5/10 It's a Mehh! Game, some stuff are really punishing and annoying, I guess they tried to add difficulty to the game but failed along the way like jobs payments, stats decreasing too much. To this day there are ton of bugs even though the game is fully released. There are some funny references but other than that it is not that fun of a game.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Starts okay enough but the grind becomes absolutely ridiculous. I'm pretty sure I make faster progress working out in real life. Everything comes crashing to a halt and there is nothing to do but sit there bored and watch your time get disrespected.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Don't let the wool cover over your eyes with the free copy of Graveyard Keeper some time ago. The dev behind that and Punch Club is all too keen on making an AI genned sequel to GK it looks like. Heck his DLC for Punch Club 2 discloses it's usage. When, not if.
unlabelledView post →Rating: ★☆☆☆☆ (1/5) Grindfest Club The only thing you will experience in this game is watching bars very slowly fill up and occasionally an auto resolve fight. You will spend most of your time working out at the gym to improve your stats, seeing them slightly go up just to lose half the progress at the end of every in game day. And that's if you had time to go to the gym. If you had to sleep and go to work that day, the daily penalty will set you back even further. I understand developers…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Punch Club is a game I wanted to admire, but ended up merely tolerating. Conceptually, it sits right in my wheelhouse. An auto-battler where the joy comes from devising a strategy and then watching it unfold is inherently appealing to me. Add a retro setting dripping with nostalgic pastiche and self-aware humour, and the premise feels almost tailor-made. Unfortunately, the execution is riddled with opacity and friction that steadily erode that initial goodwill. The most egregious issue is how…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →3/10 — ♥♥♥♥ This Punch Club lures you in during its opening acts as a punishing but decent management sim with cool retro charm, but holy ♥♥♥♥ does the back half expose some truly atrocious design. The biggest offender is the compounding daily stat decay: every day you lose stat points, and that loss accelerates the higher your stats climb. You end up spending multiple in-game days just grinding to keep your numbers from falling—not progressing, mind you, just desperately treading water.…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This game is a waste of time and I am just over it after 17 hours of gameplay (I hate myself). The game consist of two part: The fights and preparation to them. And fights are actually fine. You choose actions like kick punch dodge etc... and create a build for each fight. Enemies may have different attributes and feature you have to choose your approach carefully. Even though there are only 3 fighting style, always more than one way to beat your opponents exist which makes the combat…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I really enjoyed the game except for the very last bit. If you fail a fight you get kicked back to the default main map and can't get back to the end area. The game just... ends. Gives you no story, no nothing. There's just nothing else to do. After 17 hours of training and levelling up, for it all to lead to that? I was gonna buy the second one because I did enjoy this game but not after this. Horrible way to end a game.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Kinda false advertising. Thought it was a beat 'em up but the fights are just simulated. All you do is manage your character and balance out your money, hunger, and stats.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →a lot of references, but why the hell do i spend the whole hour by basically not upgrading my characteristics because i work for food, eat for training, train for improving my character, and lose my form while working. it could be okay for hardcore mode to simulate real-life, but i choose normal mode. why should i care the whole time about having a bit time for training? too much grind and in the end no tactics at all by combating. it is just about the stats. there is no need to watch with…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I bought it for less than five pounds and I still regretted it. Too grindy, very bad mechanics, and the developers issue with micromanagement should be looked at. Buy a pint. it'll be better.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Play log: Day 1 1h 40m - I like it. Simple but gratifying game loop, cool pop cultural references, decent pixel art. 1h 50m - It's funny. And repetitive. I still like it though. 1h 40m - Okay. A bit frustrating. I better play it in shorter sessions in the future. Day 2 0h 35m - I hate it. You train, and then your stats go down at the end of the day. You make money, and then lose a fight on the street and half of it disappears. Then you have to repeat the same stupid things just to progress. I…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I completed all achievements in this game, but I’m going to give it a negative review because upon reflection it’s a poorly designed game. Pro - Heavy Nostalgia for 1980’s kids: Rocky WWF (deliberately not using “E” here), TMNT, Pixel Art, Kung fu & mafia movies. Cons: this game loves to waste your time. The achievements require a minimum of 2 playthroughs, though more realistically it took me 3.5 playthroughs. The first narrative cut scene has a skip option, but all the rest do not and…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Boring and Repetitive Edit: Gave it a second chance. Very Boring and Very Repetitive
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →🌟 [url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/45575657]Follow Ainsel Reviews - Curator for the weird & lovely 🌟 Imagine Rocky, Kung Fury, and your inner perfectionist trapped in a pixelated fever dream — that’s Punch Club. You train, you fight, you cry in the gym shower because someone stole your protein shake, and somehow… you love every second of it. It’s nostalgia with a black eye: full of 80s and 90s pop-culture ghosts, secret jokes, and more emotional drama than a telenovela starring…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Today's Lospec #pixel_dailies prompt was *muscular* with a fun monoramp palette -- lospec.com/palette-list... -- did a little home gym inspired by Punch Club, the best MMA game ever made (so far!)
unlabelledView post →Forces you to walk around screens when it should just be a menu. Makes you listen to the flavor text that doesn't matter to the game at all. Constantly does the mobile game 'you must click here' and cant do anything else nonsense.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Been watching a lot of people play this in my childhood and Im happy to be able to play it now. Its fun overall and I recommend it since its on sale usually. The downside is the repetitive kinda boring gameplay
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →the damn stat deteriorating mechanic is very very annoying it holds you back severely in late and mid game cause in late and mid game it gets harder to level up stats so you cant reasonably get stronger with your enemy's even if you mostly train you barely get any reward cause your stats deteriorate at the end of the game i feel like it would be better if the deteriorating mechanic wasn't in the game at all or better just make it take away less of your stats 6 out of 10 if your willing to…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →"A resource management boxing game in guise of an idle clicker. It definitely is a charming game filled with nostalgic easter egg nods to the 80s and 90s pop culture. However, it misses the mark completely with resource management system. First half of the game is bearable and showcases what you'll be doing for the remainder of the game. But soon after the frustration settles in after reaching mid game and all it's systems become one endless loop of repetitive grind of keeping up with the stats…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I'd only get it on sale. Theres a couple of things that are better in this in comparison to Punch Club 2 but those are overshadowed by other annoying mechanics. The Decay mechanic is genuinely frustrating to deal with because training doesn't prevent it which doesn't make sense Decay should only happen if you don't train. You're better off just getting Punch Club 2 instead its the more fleshed out and actually enjoyable version.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →If fighting + management is your thing, this checks all the boxes. Updated Review: After playing for several hours more, I realized the game is too grindy, like a mobile free to play game would make you grind for coins/progress. This is a paid game, so there should be less of a grind. I am fine if the game / story finishes quickly, but putting in so much grind just to make the game longer makes the game repetitive instead of fun. Maybe I will finish it, maybe I won't.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Great idea but padded out with bad game mechanics and unrealsonable bad luck. art style 10/10. needs patching
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →after about 2 hours of playing the stat loss gets very annoying. if your looking for a chill game to relax to this is not it.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Honestly really fun and addictive, but the stat decay is infuriating I never play games in this genre, and I really enjoyed it, despite some frustration. Very fast-paced and satisfying to play but jesus christ i am tired of buying pizza and meat for $400000 each
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →The Whelpling is back with another Lazy Bear Game cus of being Graveyard Keeper today and now need to wait for the second one... so we are going to join a Punch Club to pass the time~! Care to watch me lose? Twitch link below #twitch #Streamer #Vcanada #Vtuber
unlabelledView post →Update: It turns out there's an issue with the Linux runtime, huzzah! So, my fellow Linux users, you need to enable Proton to be able to receive achievements. Devs, fix your game... Original: I legitimately like the game, but a major bug causes you to receive no achievements what so ever. As a self proclaimed achievement ♥♥♥♥♥, this is awful. I've tried many of the "fixes" suggested on the Steam forums, but nothing works. I cannot write a honest review with this bug in mind. Sorry, but I…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Very fun and nostalgic however key mechanics like stat decay need better information this is a game that just about is doable without a wiki or look up. I also hate roy car progress as it can never be fixed but it is not stated.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Stat decay everyday is too much, grinding doing the same thing over and over again to make very little or no progress at all, it was fun at first getting into it but the more I played the less progress I made, it was too punishing. Even bought all of the gym equipment so I didn't need to travel or pay for the gym everyday but it was a struggle to get stats up past 6 without it declining once more whenever I'd have to work for food, just took all the fun out of it, having to walk too and click…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →For those who like short game posts, I wrote a quick glance about Punch Club 2: Fast Forward laidbackgaming248219763.wordpress.com/2025/11/14/p...
unlabelledView post →I played this game some time ago and the i stop right before the end and i dont remember why. Now i installed the game again and again got all the way to the end and game softlocked. I cant travel on map or interact with some NPCs. Game is entertaining but gets repetitive quickly after few hours. But the game is just few hours long so as it got repetitive i thought i am about to finish it and then i broke right before the end. Seriously annoying. It does not seem to happen to lot of people but…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I really wanted to like this game, but my experience echoes the others here. Its just grindy. Because its autocombat, there is no break from the grind. No action. I am also going to uninstall this and take 2 off my wishlist like that other review I read said. There is some click map issue affecting my game, so I cant always cancel actions when I want to or go to a location. I dont like the forced missions. I dont like the npc dialog spam holding me up.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Next fight will be ready in 2 days. Next fight will be ready in 2 days. Next fight will be ready in 2 days. How about next fight will be never? Devs don't respect players' time.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Rating: 6.5/10 A unique boxing management sim where you train, manage stats, and build your fighter’s life instead of directly controlling fights. The retro style, humor, and progression system are engaging at first. However, the game quickly becomes very grind-heavy, with repetitive daily routines and limited depth. Fights are mostly automated, which can feel boring over time, and the story isn’t very strong. Bottom line: Interesting concept and fun early on—but the heavy grind and…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I got this for free as part of a bundle, yet I don't know why I wasted my time playing this. Do better and spend your time doing anything else.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This game is horrendously tedious
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Besides how slow your character walks from his bed to the fridge and anywhere else. The game is so fun. I love the progress, the skills tree, and the characters.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →very fun game, full of cult references getting the hang of it seems slighlty challenging at the start but eventually you get it, highly recommended
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I liked the story and funny references. Love the things that happen in the background of some maps, it's such a small thing but a really nice fun thing to implement. I liked the music. I really liked the spritework, animations, the artwork in general. And it's cheap, affordable, and can run on a potato. But... I really dislike just how repetitive it is, just how much "do the same-exact-same thing with very little thought... for hours" it is. The gameplay loop is just mind-numbing and so…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Hellishly boring grindfest
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →System Status: Live Now!~ Game: Punch Club!~ It's the... Eye of the Tiny Catboi!~ Gonna chill with an underrated boxing simulator game!~ www.twitch.tv/rainbowunicornphoenix #vtuber | #femboy | #tinycatboy
unlabelledView post →I wish I could like this game. I have tried playing it several times. But I am out of energy and hungry and need money. I can't recommend it. A potentially fun experience ruined by game mechanics that sap the fun away. I don't mind losing str agi or stam. I do mind how the hunger and energy are handled when sleeping and working. You are in a forever death/drain loop that keeps you from playing the game with any sort of joy. I mind how the money is handled. You will lose all of very…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I bought this game sometime in 2017, and have tried thereabouts 6 times to get into it, and it's just very punishing for no real reason with it's bizarre gameplay design On one hand, you are supposed to make the most out of your time, on the other, weirdly lavish animations waste your time while the gameplay clock is ticking (this is mostly about rest/entertainment and whatnot, the bubbles are about 2 ticks behind before they update your stat bars). Also stat decay is beyond insane, whoever…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Great game and storyline. Although the level up takes a bit of time but it was worth the wait when defeating enemies. Almost like real life where it takes time to get good.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Very well done minimalistic management game with a cool story. I enjoyed it very much
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Time to find the Way of the Fist lol. I'm going to be playing Punch Club: Fast Forward on stream today. Join me in this goofy auto-baltting boxing game. www.twitch.tv/kaindraconius
unlabelledView post →I kick my friend and he die, i very enjoy
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →
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