Old School Review Summary

A hilarious, chaotic school sandbox with absurd open-world antics and violent combat, though frustrating camera controls and unfair, punishing mechanics often spoil the fun.

Fun and Humorous Gameplay: Many reviewers highlight the game's fun and humorous aspects, often noting its goofy and absurd situations that keep players entertained. The game's chaotic and unpredictable nature is a key source of enjoyment.

Violent and Combat Mechanics: Combat is inspired by professional wrestling, featuring exaggerated and entertaining moves. Players can engage in violent fights using various objects and wrestling techniques, often with comedic results.

Positive Overall Reception: Many reviewers express overall satisfaction, describing the game as decent, good, or worth the purchase. It meets expectations for fans of the developer.

Absurd and Chaotic Open World: The game is praised for its open-world sandbox filled with absurdity, randomness, and emergent gameplay. Players can engage in a wide range of activities, from attending classes to committing violent acts, all within a chaotic environment.

Crazy and Unpredictable Events: The game is filled with random and absurd events that often result in hilarious outcomes, such as being accused of terrorism or teachers attacking students. These events contribute to the game's unique charm.

Camera controls are frustrating: Players frequently complain about the camera being weird, wonky, and nauseating. Many report that it makes the game painful or even unplayable.

Punishing and unfair mechanics: Players are severely punished for minor infractions, such as being beaten by teachers or arrested for accidental actions. The difficulty can feel unfair and frustrating.

Controls are poorly designed: The control scheme is widely criticized as awkward, unpredictable, and unintuitive. Specific issues include fights mapped to WASD, walking on arrow keys, and accidental menu exits.

Timer is too restrictive: The in-game timer moves too fast and does not pause during dialogue, making it hard to complete activities. Many find it excessively limiting and restrictive.

Severe performance and bugs: The game suffers from numerous technical issues and jank, with some describing it as a terrarium for bugs. It often feels unpolished and like an early access title.

Truancy and grades system: Skipping classes lowers grades and triggers truancy consequences such as being sent to the principal's office. Attending classes and answering questions is the main way to maintain academic standing.

Gangs and reputation mechanics: Players can join or run gangs, manage relationships, and face consequences like hostility from gang members. Reputation and attitude systems track social standing and can be lost by refusing missions.

Vehicles cause chaos and death: Cars, bikes, and even picnic tables can be driven, often leading to running over NPCs and reckless driving consequences. Vehicles are scattered across the map and can be used as weapons or for stunts.

Absurdist open-world school sandbox: Players describe a chaotic open-world school simulation full of random events, bizarre NPC behavior, and emergent chaos. The tone is consistently called absurd, meme-like, and intentionally over the top.

Random absurd NPC events: NPCs can set things on fire, throw haymakers unprompted, and engage in bizarre behaviors like exploding cars at junctions. These random events contribute to the game's chaotic and unpredictable feel.

Good performance on hardware: One cluster highlights that the game runs really well on Steam Deck and a 2080 GPU, indicating smooth performance on these systems. This is beneficial for players with such hardware.

Battery efficiency on Steam Deck: A cluster notes that the game does not drain the battery fast on Steam Deck, suggesting good battery life for portable play. This is a positive point for Steam Deck users.

Not recommended in current state: Several reviewers cannot recommend the game until it becomes more fun or due to unplayable controls. They suggest waiting for fixes or improvements.

Appeal to chaos and jank lovers: Players who enjoy chaos, jank, and absurd situations highly recommend the game. It offers local multiplayer and a chaotic sandbox experience with weapons and vehicles.

Better alternatives available: Reviewers recommend buying Wrestling Empire instead or playing Bully again. They consider other games like Wrestling Empire and Wrestling Revolution 3D far superior.

Recommended for MDickie fans: Long-time fans and those who loved the mobile games highly recommend it, especially if they don't mind a 3D version with few gameplay changes. Newcomers are advised to try other MDickie games first.

Camera issues cause refunds: Camera problems led some players to refund the game, and others may return if the camera is fixed. The camera is described as worse than an old N64 game.

Community fair range: $9.99 - $14.99.

Session length: 2.2h.

The game can deliver immediate absurd sandbox fun in the first hour, but many players report that the novelty fades and strict timetable, stamina, and no-violence rules make it stale and less enjoyable than Wrestling Empire.

Friction: Steep learning curve; Unbearable stamina system causes frequent falling; Strict school timetable; No-violence rules; Limited map and features compared with Wrestling Empire; Tedious and annoying elements.

MDickie Veteran Loyalist: Plays across the MDickie catalog, roleplays in open-ended systems, and advocates remakes or multiplayer additions. Motivation: Keep supporting and revisiting MDickie's evolving sandbox universe. Stance: buy.

Chaos Sandbox Griefer: Tests violence and wrestling moves on NPCs, causes sandbox chaos, and brings local multiplayer players into the mayhem. Motivation: Create absurd, violent, and unpredictable emergent stories for laughs. Stance: buy.

School Life Roleplayer: Treats the school as a social sandbox: builds friendships, avoids enemies, manages reputation, and follows emergent daily events. Motivation: Live out player-driven school-life stories in an open social sandbox. Stance: buy.

Linux and Proton: The available evidence is sparse but leans positive. A user reports that the game worked well with Proton on Linux (Garuda), and another comment speculates that it would likely work on Steam Deck. A separate driver-issue workaround is generic and does not explicitly mention Linux, Proton, or SteamOS. No Linux-specific launch failures, anti-cheat blockers, graphical glitches, required Proton Experimental/GE switches, or workaround-heavy setup are reported.

Comparisons to School Days: The game is compared to the 2D mobile game School Days, with some calling it a 3D rendition or an improvement over the original. Others find the 2D version better or express a preference for it.

Game is MDickie's latest title: Numerous reviews identify this as an MDickie game and compare it to his previous works. The developer's signature style and engine are consistently noted across clusters.

Frequent comparisons to Bully: Many reviewers liken the game to Bully, describing it as a wild mixture of pro wrestling and Bully, or as a one-man Bully parody. Some note that it lacks missions, side activities, and funny dialogue compared to Bully.

Comparisons to other games: The game is compared to Postal 2 (with wrestling instead of guns), Euphoria, and other MDickie titles like Wrestling Revolution 3D/2D, Hard Time, and Wrestling Empire. It is described as a combination of elements from previous MDickie games.

Availability and platform notes: The game is available on Android, Steam, and supports new generation hardware. It works well with Proton on Linux (Garuda) and is speculated to work on Steam Deck. Only Switch and PC versions are available; mobile port not out yet, but expected on iOS and Android.