As a spin-off Holy Avatar vs... stays true to the formula presented by Grotesque Tactics: That is, it is a light-hearted and funny Strategy RPG. As with GT this one refers to many popular games and laughs are around every corner. The major difference from the main series however, is the fact that the player this time controls "his semidevine humble self Holy Avatar" directly on his quest to rid his holiday island from a zombie maiden infested plague.

Gameplay wise, this game keeps it simple. The story and progression is linear most of the time. Only when one is mid-way through the story, order of completing some quests becomes optional.

The battle system will be immediately familiar and proofs to be not very deep. It is clearly not aiming for hardcore S-RPG players, which means even below-average skilled players like me can win the battles and enjoy the story.

In the end I can recommend this one to everybody who enjoyed GT 1 & 2, because you will definitely have a good time here.
The same goes for newcomers who are looking for a parody of popular games and familiar gaming cliches. Just don't expect too much of challenge!!

If Duke Nukem got his own RPG set in a fantasy world in the mid 00's, this would be it.

More stereotyping of demographics than Tumblr, less pop culture references than Magicka, and sexual innuendo on-par with a Louis C.K. skit. Still had fun, for what it's worth. Cheap voice actors probably would have helped immensely.

Only bother if you desperately want a shallow, simple RPG to kill a few hours (and even then I'm sure there are many other, better options out there.)

I'm a bit on the fence about recommending this in general... but as far as continuing the series goes, this game is fit for fans of the first 2 games. It is exactly what you would expect in the GT series (humor and all things considered).

The only difference is that the game is much shorter than the other 2 and way more linear.

Here are a few observations:

- The environment is a lot more vibrant thanks to the cell shading and the tropical theme. It's a shame that the game was so short.
- Not much has changed as far as the hud/interface goes. I expected a more refined design seeing as this is the 3rd game in the series.
- The game was too easy. Even with the difficulty slider, there's not a huge leap in content difficulty.

As you can see, I don't have a lot to say about the game. It was just way too short in my opinion. As I already mentioned, this game brings more of the same from the first 2 games. That's why despite the not so awesome review, I can still strongly recommend it to people who liked and completed the other games in the series.

This is a spoilerfree review of a complete playthrough of the german version of the game, played with keyboard and mouse.

Man I would love reccomending this game. I loved the first two grotesque tactics games. As soon as I saw this I immediatly bought it. The main problem with the game is, that there is less everything. Basically this game is, what the first ( maybe the first two) chapter in one of the first two games is. Only that the first two games had a bunch of chapters coming after that. It has fewer characters (barely any actually), fewer quests/places to go to, way fewer items and is extremely short in general. This is basially a DLC and not a game. Whats worst though, is that the humor this time falls flat. Where usually there was dark humor and many references to pop culture, now there still is a bit of that left but just a tiny bit and the jokes are basically sexist/blonde jokes, which can be funny and only offensive to really sensible people if you do it right, but they didnt do it right. The jokes are performed so clumsily that its hard to give anyone more than a grin at best. Now if this was only 2 dollars I'd say go ahead and take it if you are a fan of the series, since the few characters that you use are still the ones you know and love and a tiny bit of story unfolds itself which might interest you, but for the price it is at right now I can only say stay away, its not worth it.

P.S: If you havent played the other games yet this game is just confusing and totally not worth your money on any sale.

I tried to give it a chance but this mediocre game is just too boring.

Holy Avatar vs. Maidens of the Dead is developed by Headup Games and Silent Dreams while being published by Headup Games. It’s less of a sequel and more of a spin-off that provides the entire trilogy a closing note as crazy as the series’ initial premise.

Unlike Grotesque Tactics 1&2, you no longer take control of Drake, the goth wannabe knight. Shifting the focus from him and onto the trilogy’s true protagonist: His semi divine humble Self, The Holy Avatar. This paladin of nearly antihero status is once again a literal running joke and a tasteful parody addressed to that particular typecast within western fantasy role playing games. If the first two games in the series addressed tropes and somewhat genre conventional locations such as forests and dungeons, in Holy Avatar vs. Maidens of the Dead, the aforementioned protagonist is apparently on a tropical island vacation, sporting obvious sandy beaches, palm trees and…zombies? Indeed the game takes a few jabs at the Dead Island franchise, more or less subtlely. As far as the gameplay formula is concerned, the entire trilogy has been fairly standardized with very little room for streamlining. In truth, the turn based combat was only a tad sloppy in the first part, since Grotesque Tactics 2 used a far more responsive game engine which is found in a slightly modified iteration in HAvsMD as well.

Outside of fighting, the rest of the game is standard RPG, with all the mechanics you’re probably accustomed to already. Inventory, multiple choice conversations and map navigation by either point ‘n click or by keyboard. Camera rotation is by default turned off, but I had to fiddle with that setting and turn it back on. Here’s how you can do it yourself: Go to Documents/Holy Avatar vs Maiden of the Dead/Settings folder, open config.xml with Notepad and change “CamCanRotate” from false to true. Apparently the camera was locked into place to give the game map more utility. Why not use both? The game seemed a bit more liniar than its predecessors, so it’s not like you can get lost without constantly keeping an eye on the map.

Taking nearly a three year hiatus after the release of Grotesque Tactics 2 – Dungeons and Donuts, in Holy Avatar vs. Maidens of the Dead we have expanded game engine assets and even a different general look. I’ve always been a fan of cel shading in video games (Jet Set Radio was the first commercially successful title to use it, but the Borderlands series has made it truly popular) since it’s an art style reminiscent of comic books and also a well deserved break from “regular” 3D. I’m glad Silent Dreams opted for this approach and I hope they may explore it further in any future project they might consider releasing on Steam. What I didn’t really like, was the lack of English voce acting, the game giving you two options: either accept the German dubs or receive the silent treatment and just read the (error-free) English subtitles. Of course I opted for the voices as well, even if I can’t understand nearly 90% of what they are yapping about. If I could enjoy the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. series with Russian dubs, I’m sure that German can’t be that bad either. This might be an important lesson for all gamers out there. Learn to appreciate diversity and embrace the English subs, but don’t neglect the dubs either, even if you couldn’t understand a single word of what they’re saying on-screen.

+ Beautiful cel-shaded graphics
+ As amusing as the first two parts in the series
+ Steam Achievements

- Only German voice acting (with subtitles in English)
- Feels more liniar than the previous two
- No Steam Trading Cards

Give this spin-off a chance to entertain you and it will. Who knows, perhaps you’ll even learn a new word in German or two! In all seriousness though, the game is worth purchasing separately or as part of the Grotesque Tactics Complete Pack. It’s been quite a ride and even if I haven’t finished them yet I’m sure the clever use of satire, leaves few chances for boredom to set in, if at all.

Rating 7/10

This review was submitted for Elite Giveaways, check us out for more reviews ranging from Indie games to AAA titles.

This was a surprisingly tricky review not for the thumbs up/down thing, but to avoid giving the feeling that its a "Bad" game rather than simply something I'd probably not recommend in today's world.

Holy Avatar vs. Maidens of the Dead is a spinoff tale of Grotesque Tactics. The important thing to know about this series is that its a fairly hardcore game that came at a time where "Indy" meant Diner Dash and Peggle. It wasn't the only game to step outside the norm nor the best, but at the time I was excited for it and it did succeed as being a good game for its day.

Holy Avatar is spin-off tale where you take on the Semi-Divine D-Bag as his personal vacation island is overrun by zombies. The humor is a combination of him being a jerk, pig and moron with a side of RPG parody. Nothing particularly offensive, just fairly run-of-the-mill jokes you'd expect. On that note, the humor works fine.

But humorous games have one particular challenge above all other games. Gameplay is generally not funny and this series did not overcome that issue. The vast majority of the time is spent in a standard tactical RPG where the humor doesn't shine through.

This is where Holy Avatar's age catches up with it.

You walk through a linear map and fight a series of sort-of predetermined battles. You have a tiny set of skills to use, 3 player characters, and enemies that generally have 1 set action. This limited depth is made worse by an outdated UI that constantly seems to screw me. Whether skipping turns due to delayed feedback, my character deciding to re-position for an attack usually to screw up my AOE attacks, or struggling to properly set my facing.

Combat "depth" usually comes down to aggro-ing small groups since the "pre-determined battles" trigger enemy alert individually. If you stand back and let them come to you, that 14 monster group often can be triggered in packs of 1-2 allowing you to heal in between fights and recharge your epic power moves. Otherwise, you can always just spam healing potions in combat because they can be used without even spending an action. It's not deep tactics.

The thing is, Holy Avatar is absolutely not a bad game. It's just that there are far better alternatives today both in story and mechanics.

The artwork and area design are much better than Dungeons and Donuts. The path finding is WAY better as well.

A bug with the "Bob the builder" quest made me start over since I didn't have a save from before I took it. Still I enjoyed the game and would recommend it for anyone who liked the previous ones, and anyone who wants a fairly simple turn-based combat game to waste some time on.

This game could be quite fun but is impossible to play due to the number of quest breaking glitches.

First level I was unable to move to the second level after defeating the final mob. I restarted a fresh game & on the second try it worked only for the second level to glitch where the vines you must cut vanished & I was unable to move on. Restarted the game again & passed only to encounter another game breaking glitch.

Cannot recommend.

Despite some awkard controls and low frame rates (despite the fact that my system is pretty darned fast), this is a fun RPG. The tile-based, turn-based combat is satisfying. The characters are charming and fun, despite and because of their silly dialog. Not a bad way to spend a few dollars.