Dodgeball Academia

(english version of this review after the pt-br text!!)
O TIPO DE OBRA QUE ADMIRO TANTO QUE FICO PENSANDO "QUERO UM DIA TER A OPORTUNIDADE DE FAZER PARTE DE UM PROJETO DESSES" porque se eu como audiencia(?) já fico toda orgulhosa por ser algo que veio de casa (nosso país), imagina ter FEITO isso!! sério, maravilhoso
dodgeball academia é um deleite (nuncausei essa palavra na minha vida mas foi ela que me veio a mente agora) desde o visual, que por fotos e videos não "faz jus" a experiencia de ver por voce mesmo, LINDO e tãaaaaao rico em detalhezinhos por todos os cenarios que fica impossivel não notar o carinho que tiveram, sabe?? a MUSICA!! eu fiquei impressionada com a trilha sério pqp (destaque pra musiquinha que toca quando voce vai pro outro lado da escola onde tem o dormitorio e etc, que é uma bossa novaa!!!! E pra musica do lugar do Tonhão (deixando vago pra nao dar spoiler hauahahha)
OS DIALOGOS, AS QUESTS (como eu me diverti com as historias, cara) é tudo tão comfy e inocente e divertido e ENGRAÇADO
sabe aqueles jogos que voce joga com um sorriso no rosto?? então
A GAMEPLAY É UMA DELICIA!! ngl que no começo eu tava achando difícil (eu sou ruim em tudo também entao tem isso pra se levar em contakkkkkk) mas assim que você se acostuma (e o jogo da muito espaço pra voce se acostumar o quanto precisar) fica VICIANTEEEEEE?? é satisfatorio DEMAISS quando voce consegue fazer o counter dos arremessos do time adversarioo por exemplo kk e eu amo demais essa ideia de usar QUEIMADA como a batalha/combate num RPG SABEEEEEEE incrivel e o jeito que voce vai upando os personagens, as habilidades diferentes de cada uuuumm, montar seu timee, os poderzinho especialllll OS ITEMS SENDO TUDO OBJETOS/COMIDINHAS DA NOSSA CULTURA VEI não tem nada mais gostoso do que ver essas referencias que fazem parte do nosso dia a dia numa midia que a gente ta acostumado a só ver coisas "estadunidenses", eu estou cada dia mais animada e feliz e apaixonada e ansiosa pro crescimento gamedev nacional (audiovisual no geral, mas no cenario de games ainda ta poucoo)
E OUTRA
é tudo muito smooth!! a interface e tudo super caprichado a qualidade no geraal de tudo (funcionamento(?) e estetica) é perfeita
eu sinto que tenho mais tanta coisa pra destacar mas ao mesmo tempo quero que todo mundo tenha a surpresa e a experiencia de descobrir por si proprio essas coisas no jogo, parece varios presentinhos n sei explicar
é isso, joguem esse tesourinho, essa preciosidade (duvido nao se apaixonarem também) que vale muito muito e vai te garantir horas de diversao e quentinho no coraçao
ENTREGA ABSOLUTAMENTE TUDO QUE ALGUEM PODERIA PEDIR

PS. AQUELES PERSONAGENS QUE FAZEM A CORRIDINHA DIÁRIA EM FILINHA = TUDO PRA MIM
pps. BEXIGO EU TE AMO
OTTO & KYABO <3
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OKAY SO dodgeball academia is even cooler than what i expected (and i already had big expectations)
EVERYTHING IS SO CHARMING AND UNIQUE!! i LOVE how you level up, i love the idea of making DODGEBALL the BATTLE of an RPG!!!!! it's really SO UNIQUE and it feels really fresh too
the way it presents the Special Powers, the anime-esque(??LOL) storyline
i found the gameplay to be so addicting once you get used to it FR I LOVE THE MATCHES AS MUCH AS I LOVE EVERYTHING ELSE THIS GAME HAS TO OFFER its charming characters, the jokes, the different areas you get to explore aa
it's a game made with so much heart and it shows yknow
if it looks interesting to you and you're in doubt if you should buy it or not.. BUY IT
it's FUN, challenging (the perfect amount lol as i'm usually not so skilled in games but i love when it feels challenging [aka a bit difficult but NOT impossible)) and heartwarming
the game makes you comfortable to practice as much as you want to to progress when you're ready, you can use different items that fits your play-style etc so yess it's definitely 100% worth it
no cons imo

Basically the Super Dodgeball RPG that so few of us knew we wanted, but that we definitely needed.
This was a really charming and fun game. The character and world design are excellent, with all of the characters really expressing their personality at a glace. The world can be best described as "sports anime on steroids" - we've somehow managed to craft a world that revolves *entirely* around the sport of dodgeball. It's extremely silly, but really fun if you can let yourself get wrapped up in it instead of repulsed by it.
The gameplay loop is basically "get quest; fight everyone on your way to the next waypoint" It's not complicated, but the matches are fast and fun and offer a surprising amount of variety. It drips elements one at a time so you can learn them without getting overwhelmed, but gets everything into play pretty fast. Each character has their own throw, charge throw, "balltimate move", 'evasive' move (roll or jump), defensive move (catch or counter), stats, level up perks, and two equipment slots to further customize them. Three of your players play at a time, so you can build an actual synergistic team out of them. Genuinely, this gives you a huge amount of potential variety between your opponents and allies alike. There are also special AIs from enemies that add a little more variety still, such as the twins who will pass the balls several times, weave across the field, and eventually do a jumping pincer attack. It's a nice touch that adds some extra personality and excitement to the combat.
I have some small gripes. The sprites are very lively, fun, and charming, but we could have used a few more of them for different emotions in the dialogues - it's a little odd to have Otto keep his usual protagonist-gremlin smile when he's in the middle of having a bad time, or Balloony smiling sweetly and tapping his fingers shyly when he's scared out of his gourd (his default state). There are locked chests all over the map - eventually you get a character who can unlock them for you, but it's not telegraphed that they can do this that I noticed. I honestly didn't know until I was sweeping up after the story and touched one again for a clue, only to have my friend pop up and just unlock it for me. When an opponent gets knocked out, they will sometimes move behind your line and thrown dodged shots at your back - this is fine, but when they move to the sidelines the game immediately cancels all action, resets to neutral, and gives them advantage. This still isn't an issue on its own, but it's frustrating when your ultimate move gets almost completely cancelled because the first thing it hits is the opponent with 1 HP left. It would at least be nice if you could tell which opponents will become backliners and which will just get KO'd so you could plan your big attacks better.
In spite of these minor complaints, Dodgeball Academia is a really fun game with incredible charm and surprisingly robust gameplay. I can recommend it to most folks, as long as they're someone who can indulge in a little over-the-top silliness.

this game is shonen as ♥♥♥♥ and i like it (also the gameplay is real solid)

Please see my curator page for more games that are well worth your time
Approximate amount of time to 100%: 10h
Estimated achievement difficulty: 1/10 With accessibility difficulty options, 7+ without
Minimum number of playthroughs needed: 1
Is there a good guide available: Yes, You can find one here or here
Multiplayer achievements: No
Missable achievements: Yes, the one for getting all the equipment, for more info check out the review below
Grinding Achievements: No
DLC-Only achievements: No
Speedrun achievements: No
Time-gated achievements: No
RNG-achievements: No
Does difficulty affect achievements: No, you can play with only 5% damage and doing 400% damage and unlock all the achievements
Unobtainable/glitched achievements: No
Dodgeball Academia is a fun RPG/ sport type of game. The game is clearly an RPG, but the battles are in the form of a dodgeball mini-game. You play as Otto who takes fate into his own hands and decides to sneak into the biggest dodgeball school. He is the new kid in school, gets bullied, and doesn't know the relationships between people but will figure them out during the course of the game. The most important thing is playing in the upcoming dodgeball championship and the steaks of winning that tournament get higher during the game.
The game has 8 episodes, aka 8 days you will play through. Each day has its own main quest, side quests, and duels to get through. You'll be allowed in more areas around the school in later days, which will be led by the main quests of each day, which has multiple stages.
That Dodgeball Academia feels mostly like an RPG comes because you earn experience and equipment, but also because it took inspiration from the sounds in a pokemon game. Like when a dual starts or when you heal your team. I do like the music and sound design, but the art style is my favorite part of this game.
The achievements in Dodgeball Academia are for the most part very straightforward but can be so difficult if you don't use the accessibility difficulty options. I don't know how anybody can beat the challenges the teachers will give you with an S ranking without using those options. The are also achievements for getting a character to level 50, but that is quite easy. If you do all the quests during each day (which you should do) and do as many duals as possible, you will already be around level 45 or higher. There is a shop underground where you can buy a drink to level up, so you don't have to grind those last levels.
After finishing a day, it becomes available through a new game to start on that day, so if you missed out on some achievements, it is easy to go back to a specific day, but there is one achievement for which this doesn't work. The achievements for getting all the equipment will not work through chapter selection, so that is the only missable achievement. And to probably make things a bit harder, there are guides that say that your last equipment must come from a chest to make sure the game calculates if you have all the equipment and that it doesn't work with rewards you get from battles. I'm not sure if that is the case because my last one ended up being from a chest because there are some sneaky hidden chests. If you want to make sure you have everything on each day, this guide might be useful . I hadn't found that list while playing but I made sure I did every side quest each day, did every duel, and also bought as many from the shop as possible each day. The duels and sidequests are visible on the map, which is very helpful.

Great game and plays perfectly on the Steam Deck.

The fact that no one has pointed out the parralells to pokemon yet is weird to me. it feels like pokemon except its dodgeball instead of rpgs battles. seems fun so far but the game is also very very chatty which kinda is a damper for me. get it on sale and you probably will be happy with it

Bought on a whim and ended up having alot of fun.
Its a videogame where you play dodgeball at an academy, with rpg elements that lead to developing the party members on your team over the course of it (stats increase, skills are gained and you can equip various pieces of equipment with special traits but in the action your skills and reactions still matter).
Beyond the fun of the gameplay is also pretty amusing generally in terms of story and the characters.
Is on sale for a few more days yet as of the time of this review and if you happen to see it discounted then would heavily recommend jumping on it.