The Headliners

The Headliners is a chaotic, co-op horror-survival game centered around capturing photos of alien invasion chaos while trying to escape alive. Players appreciate the unique blend of adrenaline-pumping gameplay and humor, with a focus on teamwork and creative risk-taking. The game supports up to 8 players and features destructible environments, custom art assets, and a dynamic scoring system rewarding daring photo captures.

However, player experiences vary due to bugs, lag, and occasional frustrating mechanics like instant deaths, glitchy movement, and a punishing duplicate photo system. While some find the roguelite-style resets and time limits limiting, others enjoy the replayability and evolving content. The developers are praised for active communication and ongoing updates, though some recent patches introduced new issues. Overall, it’s a fun, quirky party game best enjoyed with friends, offering hours of entertaining chaos but with room for polish and balance improvements.

Highlights

Gameplay is praised for its originality, combining co-op horror with photography mechanics and competitive scoring.

Graphics and sound design are appreciated for their atmospheric and cinematic qualities, with custom art replacing earlier AI assets.

The teamwork and social aspect shine, making it enjoyable for groups and fostering hilarious moments.

The game offers good replayability with a variety of monsters, maps, and evolving challenges.

Criticisms

Common criticisms include frequent bugs, lag, and glitches affecting movement and gameplay flow.

Players find the duplicate photo system and roguelite reset mechanics frustrating and punishing.

Some feel the game lacks depth beyond initial fun, with repetitive objectives and limited story.

The recent updates introduced issues like rubber-banding, unbalanced monsters, and problematic scoring counters.

Matchmaking and player base concerns, along with occasional crashes, also detract from the experience.