OutRage: Fight Fest is a nifty 16-player brawler that's trying to do punch-'em-up Fall Guys, but I'm just not sure there's enough depth to get people hooked

pcgamer.com:

It's Steam Next Fest—which means there's gonna be a whole bunch of demos to whet your little gamer teeth on over the next few days. Included in the free-for-all is OutRage: Fight Fest, a party-game style brawler being developed by Hardball Games Ltd. The demo actually came out over the weekend, but it's still part of the festivities nonetheless.

The core concept at play here is that the more you throw punches, the bigger you get—the bigger you get, the more things you can throw. Players who play more aggressively should, in theory, be able to push around and bully everyone else, rewarding proactive (and skillful) play.

Matches take place in small arenas with a variety of game modes—a capture the flag-style mosh pit, a set of elimination rounds, and so on. In terms of structure, I'm reminded of a lot of Fall Guys—OutRage: Fight Fest feels like it's trying to marry a fighting game with a looser party atmosphere. Give players simple mechanics, and they'll stretch those mechanics to their limits in pursuit of glory.

The only issue is, I'm not really sure there's enough here to get players hooked.

OutRage: Fight Fest's mechanics feel far too flat at the moment. You can kick, punch, and grab enemies. Grabbing them flings them backwards, punching them sends them upwards, and kicking them sends them forwards. I can't imagine why you'd ever opt for the punch finisher, though—after you chain three combo hits together, your opponent's sent skyward or away from you, becoming invulnerable for a time.

This means that there's no real way to land extended combos in OutRage: Fight Fest. You get your three whacks in, throw them at a wall, and then reset to do it again. This isn't criminal, mind. Games with low barriers to entry can have great skill expression. Divekick is a great example—that game has two buttons, but introduces a bunch of strategic play by focusing on spacing.

OutRage: Fight Fest, however, doesn't have a great spacing game, either. You only have access to a dodge