Is Duckside, Worth Playing?
Duckside is a less polished version of Deadside with bare-bones base building, worse visuals, horrifically bad gunplay and playable ducks.

The Lowdown.

Product Details
Genre: Survival
Developer: TinyBuild Riga
Publisher: tinyBuild
Price: $14.99
Release Date: 25 September 2024
Supported Modes:
Disclosure: Review Copy This game was purchased with our own funds for review purposes, however this has no baring on our opinions.

Duckside’s developers appear to be under the false assumption that people will tolerate a low-quality product if it’s “funny”, and they are seemingly unaware that meme games rarely live long without providing excellent gameplay, which Duckside does not.

It Is Deadside All Over Again.

Just like Deadside is a worse version of Rust or DayZ, Duckside is a worse version of Deadside.

While I understand the publisher may have required that badPixel share their code with other teams in the tinyBuild family, the final product reeks of desperation and is almost entirely devoid of passion, and I say this with no ill-will or malice towards tinyBuild or TinyBuild Riga.

It is simply not a very good game, that should have never made it to public alpha, let alone be sold as an early access title.

Is Duckside Worth Playing Screenshot 20241005 065926

Better Games Games Died.

No matter how much I may like tinyBuild and support small team studios such as TinyBuild Riga, I struggle to find anything good to say about Duckside as it is a lacklustre title that, if not for its meme potential, would have been dead on arrival and is already showing signs of struggling to retain its small community, with daily peaks of less than 3000 players, which while not terrible, will not be enough to support the game without an abundance of microtransaction or corners cut to ensure it leaves early access as even a somewhat viable title.

Is Duckside Worth Playing Screenshot 20241005 065923

Future, What Future?

While the base concept is solid, it is bare bones, and much bigger, better, and far less boring survival games have died in early access.

Based on what I have seen of Duckside so far and considering Deadside’s development woes, I have no reason to believe that Duckside will ever become more than a meme game with a small community that slowly withers on the vine.

Is Duckside Worth Playing Screenshot 20241005 065925

Duckside FAQ

Duckside is a survival video game developed by TinyBuild Riga and published by tinyBuild, it was released on 25 September 2024 and retails for $14.99.

Platform Availability.

Duckside is available exclusively on PC.

How Many People Play Duckside?

As of October 2024, around 12000 people play Duckside on a fairly regular basis.

How Active Is The Duckside Playerbase?

Duckside suffers from low activity, and while a moderate number of players continue to log in regularly, finding an active server is not easy and may require playing on a server with very high latency.

Is There Group Finding/Matchmaking Support?

Duckside offers the following matchmaking options:

  • Server Browser

What Peripherals Are Supported?

The following peripherals are officially supported:

  • PC - Mouse and Keyboard.

Is There Any Mature Content?

Duckside is unrated and contains:

  • Violence

Final Verdict.

I always strive to be fair when reviewing titles by small teams. However, Duckside is difficult to recommend.

At its core, it is a worse version of an already struggling survival game (Deadside) that only became “popular” due to its meme potential.

However, jokes alone cannot keep a game alive long-term when the mechanics are lacking, and Duckside is mechanically lacking in almost every area./

With subpar base building, crafting, map design, visuals, and, most importantly, horrifically poor gunplay, it feels like a game that was made more out of desperation than passion, and while it is not doing terribly at the moment, it will need to improve drastically if TinyBuild Riga wishes for it to avoid the grim fate of so many other lacklustre early access survival games that came before it

Is Duckside Worth Playing In 2024?

4
Honest Video Game Reviews has given "Duckside" a rating of 4/10, which means that it has some small redemptive value, but we cannot recommend it as we feel it is not worth playing for the average gamer.

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