STAFF REVIEW of Them’s Fightin’ Herds (Xbox One)


Thursday, November 24, 2022.
by Heather Webster

Them’s Fightin’ Herds Box art Them’s Fightin’ Herds is an indie 2D fighting game featuring a cast of adorable animals designed by acclaimed cartoon producer Lauren Faust. So if this game reminds you of My Little Pony then that's why! The developers found a way to blend accessibility with streamlined fighting mechanics to create an in-depth and familiar combat system. This game has something for everyone, and the main story mode reminds me of my Gameboy Color when I used to play Pokemon because of the way you travel through its world and have to talk to every character you come across to find out what you're doing.

Some of the key features are the 4-button mechanics and systems in battle mode, the story mode having an episodic adventure with exploration, lots of combat, minigames and boss fights. You can also battle your friends locally or globally in 2v2 battles. Practice your skills in training mode, customize your avatar, explore with your friends in the top-down visual pixel lobby and listen to dynamic music chosen to adapt to the characters you are battling.


The story begins in the world of Foenum in the capital, Reine, with the Council of Ungulates having an emergency meeting. Chief Anga starts the discussion of the predators, the main antagonists in the game, returning by claiming there's a survivor - Ribbon, who tells her story of encountering a small pack of wolves. When she was chased down and cornered, the wolves demanded to take them to the Prophet's Key. But the dawn came just in time, blasting the predators with morning light and turning them into smoke. Just as they were disintegrating, they warned her of the predators' return. After listening to the story, Kalimat insists that the legends of The Prophet's Key are true, and they must seek a champion to find the Key. While Chief Anga is initially skeptical, she admits it must be taken seriously. However, she believes it won't be easy to settle on one champion, so she calls all nations of Foenum to choose a champion of their own, and they will battle each other for the right to seek the Key.

In story mode, you start with Chapter One, currently the only chapter that is available, with new chapters coming out as a free update to be released in chronological chapters as they are completed. Chapter One is all about Arizona’s journey to become the Champeen of the prairies. She overheard the counsel talking about the key and talks with her father whose name is Texas as he tells how the predators were banished from foenum. When no other cattlekind chooses to step up and take the role of champion, Arizona fights for her right to... fight!


Now she has to travel through salt mines and other challenging landscapes. When she meets Madison, who seems to be stuck where she is due to a collapsed bridge, she is convinced to spend the night. Unable to sleep, Arizona finds a scouting wolf and ends up following it into a salt mine. Battles ensue and travels continue. You need to mine salt throughout the game as that is your currency to purchase outfits and gear to build up your character.

The controls are simple enough when playing once you find out what they are. It's a little confusing at first because you would expect that their controls would match the controller's layout, but just because they have matching colors doesn't mean they match the button. Because of this I strongly suggest spending some time in the tutorials to figure them out before heading into combat. However, once you do have them all memorized, Them’s Fightin’ Herds is pretty simple to figure out, it reminds me of Street Fighter but with ungulates.


Originally the art was set at 1280x720 which is what the Skullgirls Z-Engine supported when they started working with it. Now, all the artwork is set to a native resolution of 1920x1080, making it look so much more impressive even if you are set to higher resolutions. The soundtrack is excellent with really cool variations on themes depending on who is fighting against each other and who’s currently winning. Also they have made available the entire soundtrack for purchase with all proceeds going to the artists, a cool thing to do in a world where artists don't always get the full funds.

Overall, Them’s Fightin’ Herds has a lot of dialogue to read, cool soundtracks, wicked action adventure and My Little Pony went badass kind of feel to it. The controls are easy to figure out for the most part but the amount of dialogue to read was a bit of a downside. While there was only one episode available to play at this time of this review, I look forward to continuing the adventure in the future.

**Them’s Fightin’ Herds was provided by the publisher and reviewed on Xbox Series S**




Overall: 7.7 / 10
Gameplay: 7.0 / 10
Visuals: 8.0 / 10
Sound: 8.0 / 10

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