Door Kickers: Action Squad Review Summary

Excellent co-op and diverse operatives offer high replayability, but poor class balance, challenging solo play, and repetitive level design hold it back.

Co-op mode is excellent: Players consistently highlight the cooperative mode as a core strength, noting it works well locally or online and creates fun, chaotic moments with a friend.

Excellent soundtrack and audio: The soundtrack and sound design are widely appreciated, with comments highlighting excellent music that enhances the retro atmosphere and creates a satisfying audio experience.

Diverse operatives and classes: Multiple distinct operatives with unique abilities, roles, and playstyles are available, offering variety and encouraging experimentation across different classes.

Variety of enemies and traps: Players enjoy the diverse range of enemies and traps, which require different strategies and keep combat engaging and challenging.

High replayability: The game has high replay value due to multiple classes, builds, slightly changing enemy placements, and a fun cooperative mode that encourages revisiting content.

Class balance is poor: There is a severe class imbalance, with Breacher and Assault being overpowered while Recon, Shielder, and Agent Fergie are weak or nearly useless. Players note that Breacher is the only viable solo pick and that the game lacks balance among classes.

Solo play is very difficult: Many players find solo play boring, difficult, and not enjoyable for extended sessions. Feedback emphasizes that the game is hard to play alone and lacks endurance, especially compared to co-op.

Inconsistent difficulty spikes: Difficulty is inconsistent: the game is generally too easy for some players, but has extreme spikes and frustrating unfairness in later chapters and DLC. Many describe the difficulty as extreme, frustrating, or not fun.

Many weapons are useless: Many weapons feel useless or are just duplicates with stat changes, and the gadget variety is poor (only flashbangs are consistently useful). Weapons lack meaningful differences, leading to samey gameplay.

Repetitive level and mission design: Levels and missions become repetitive quickly, with repeated map parts and mission types (e.g., hostage rescue). The lack of variety in mission design leads to boredom and low replay value.

Strong co-op support: Players strongly emphasize the availability of local and online cooperative play for two players. The game supports both same-screen and network co-op, which is a key feature for many.

Retro side-scrolling tactical shooter: The game is consistently described as a 2D side-scrolling tactical shooter with pixel art graphics, reminiscent of titles like Broforce and Rainbow Six in 2D. Its retro style is a defining characteristic.

Diverse character classes: The game offers multiple unique characters or operator classes, each with distinct abilities, weapons, and equipment. This variety in playable roles is a major draw for players.

Diverse mission objectives: Missions include objectives like hostage rescue, bomb defusal, and enemy elimination. Hostage rescue has specific mechanics where hostages can be harmed by player attacks, adding tactical depth.

Multiple game modes: The game features multiple modes including a campaign, an endless tower mode for score chasing, and a zombie mode. This variety in gameplay modes adds replay value.

Game crashing and progress loss: Several reviews report crashes on launch or during gameplay that cause progress loss, making the game unstable for some users.

Multiplayer connection unreliable: Multiple players experience frequent disconnects, co-op crashes, and general lag in multiplayer, pointing to unstable netcode.

Steam Deck performance positive: Users report that the game runs smoothly and plays well on the Steam Deck hardware, indicating good compatibility.

Runs on low-end PCs: Players with lower-end PC hardware report that the game runs without issues, suggesting broad hardware support.

Loading freeze at 60%: A loading freeze at 60% progress stops the game from starting, indicating a specific bug in the loading process.

Better value on sale: A significant number of reviewers suggest waiting for a sale to buy the game, implying the full price may not be justified.

Great for genre fans: Reviewers consistently recommend the game to fans of retro side-scrollers, pixel art, and tactical shooters like Broforce or Door Kickers.

Best in co-op mode: Multiple reviewers emphasize that the game is best enjoyed with a friend, often highlighting local co-op and casual fun.

Specific class tips: Reviewers provide specific class recommendations, such as Assault and Breach combo, Shield Maiden for poor aim, and Breacher for solo players.

Co-op is essential: Many reviewers recommend the game for co-op play, noting it is only decent for single player and can be repetitive alone.

Community fair range: $2.00 - $4.00.

Game completion: 6.0h.

The fun arrives immediately in co-op, but solo players may face a few hours of fun before repetition sets in around hour 5.

Friction: co-op disconnects; level repetition after a few hours; single player can be tedious; trial and error combat; overpriced at full price; map size increases tedium.

Unlock drivers: co-op partner availability; unlock progression; character variety; short session play; low expectations; nostalgic appeal.

Co-op Comrade: Synergistic role-based play with local or online partner, focusing on operator combos and teamwork. Motivation: Shared social fun and cooperative challenge. Stance: buy.

Solo Tactician: Methodical, strategic, and focused on perfect runs and unlocking achievements solo. Motivation: Mastery and personal challenge through tactical depth. Stance: sale.

Retro Run-n-Gunner: Fast-paced, guns-blazing, arcade-style action with less emphasis on careful planning. Motivation: Instant gratification and nostalgic arcade fun. Stance: sale.

The Windows <8GB VRAM cohort experiences severe performance issues, including long loading times, crashes, and unplayable stuttering in multiplayer.

Windows <8GB VRAM: negative. Game takes 3 minutes to load with white screen, frequent crashes during multiplayer character selection, severe stuttering and slideshow-like performance in multiplayer, making gameplay impossible.

Steam Deck: The game suffers from severe multiplayer performance issues including crashes, stuttering, and frame drops, along with long load times and inaccessible menus, though solo play on the Steam Deck is generally praised.

Linux and Proton: User feedback consistently reports that the game runs flawlessly on the Steam Deck (Proton) with no Linux-specific issues or workarounds required.