subpar pool

I'm glad to say Mr. Grapefrukt and his collaborators have done it again, combining pool, golf, and roguelite-esque gameplay with charming visuals and music to create an absurdly fun little time sink, much like Holedown, which I've played and replayed to completion on every platform it exists on. I tried to stay unspoiled on the details of the game mechanics before going into it so I could experience everything totally fresh, and I've been delighted by mixing and matching challenge cards and the different ball types that impact how you play. The whole thing is charming, and aside from being an obvious extension of Holedown's best design sensibilities, it feels like a fair bit of its ethos took cues from Triband's fresh, novel, and light-hearted takes on sports like golf, baseball, and racing. I really enjoyed What the Golf, and eagerly look forward to the next time Triband makes a game that's on a platform I own, so that inspiration is extremely welcome in Subpar Golf, haha. It's har...

Works great on Steam Deck (turn off UI scalling). Perfect cozy pool game with fun twists in the mechanics.

Lovely game, doesn't quite have enough meat on the bones for me. Art, animations and design are very good. UI is a bit clunky (in-game top menu, bullet time, aiming vs dragging ball all feel a little off). Pacing of challenges feels off to me, not sure why. 6/10 that is so close to being a 9/10

Such a neat concept! Clear the table under so many "strokes". Where it really shines, however, is all of the surreal bits you can add into your game like giant balls, conveyor belts, or balls that split when hit. The game always has many challenges to complete that will require you to use the indicated table/ball/modifier and meet its requirements on your run (like make 3 long shots in a single run or pot multiple balls in a single shot). Complete enough of these challenges and you'll unlock the next feature, but the game gives you a lot of freedom in which modifers you'll use in your run to increase your odds of completing the given challenge.

I normally like weird and whacky takes on “normal” games so I thought this one would be right up my alley. Sadly it gets stale really fast. About an hour in you can unlock all there is to unlock (levels, modifiers, etc) and then you’re left doing the same repeating challenges or to grind for achievements. The sound design seemed cute at first but got quite grating as I was grinding for the last of the achievements. It’s more of a mobile game than PC. Great if you can pick it up for £2 or less but I wouldn’t pay full price again.

A simple and fun mashup of pool and mini-golf, with cards and challenges adding more chaotic variation to the mix. Cheerful, cleverly made, and works great on Deck (as another reviewer says, you may need to tweak the "UI scaling" setting in game). Well worth pocketing.

Really fun game. This scores extremely high on Ben Brode's "High-Depth / Low-Complexity" scale.

This is just a fun game for pool lovers with a nice style. Definitely recommend.

Surprisingly satisfying for such a simple game

Such nice presentation! Very satisfying game