Hoover Heroes | PC Demo Review

Suck it up and go for broke! Kiki Games brings us Hoover Heroes, a wacky  PVP arena battler set to suck the boredom out of your online play sessions.

Don’t Suck

Controlling your “Kevin,” as they are called, is quite simple. The triggers control your vacuum, one sucks up whatever objects you can find to use as ammo, and the other launches whatever you’ve acquired in the direction you’re facing. Movement and direction are handled similar to a twin stick shooter, with the left joystick used for all movement, and the right for aiming and facing whichever way you want. Jumping is simply controlled by a button press.

In an innovative twist, KikI Games has employed a new form of the “dodge” technique, and it adds quite a bit of fun to the gameplay. While your vacuum is empty, you use the trigger used for shooting to rapidly propel yourself backwards a short distance. 

Hazard Play 

The combat and arenas in Hoover Heroes are quite eccentric and enjoyable. In the demo, only two arenas were made available, and one was an absolute blast. The second, while fun, was short lived due to some environmental issues that presented the second glaring change that needs to be addressed before the game’s full release.

The first arena my friends and I experienced was wild and fun: a laundromat of sorts, with part of the level raised, that gave it a very deep and satisfying feel for the PVP chaos that destroyed the objects around us. We jumped, hid behind washing machines for cover, blasted each other with bottles of detergent and childrens toys, and even “blew” ourselves out of windows. This was by far the best experience of the game, and the zany, helter-skelter combat had all of us in stitches to the point we had to pause and catch our breath.

The second arena, however, was not the same experience. The outdoor tropical environment was quite a bit larger than the laundromat, and much more wide open. At first sight, with all the debris littering the sand, it looked promising and primed for my friends and I to unleash havoc upon each other and the surroundings. While originally this was the case, the appearingly wide open area proved to actually be a hindrance to the fun after just a brief time. While the area was wide open for objects to travel, it was not the same for the Kevins to travel. The objects we used for ammo rapidly piled up out of the area any of us could reach, and left us all with only the “slap” ability as means to do battle. It didn’t take long for this to lead us to leaving the match. 

Actually, Do Suck.

The small taste I was granted of Hoover Heroes was fun, when I could actually get my friends together to play online. This is a requirement, for the demo, at least. There is no local play or finding random players to play with, which is off-putting for a party game such as this. I have a suspicion that this will possibly change, however, as there are features in the game that suggest so, such as a lobby, etc. I especially hope that they end up adding local play in the final version of Hoover Heroes, because this just feels like a game that is meant to play locally, so you can elbow your friend in the side as you’re taking them out from across the arena with a mop bucket. 

Final Verdict

Hoover Heroes is an extremely fun, wacky arena PVP experience. While the lack of what feels like necessary modes and features for a game like this were glaring, when I was able to get a match together, Hoover Heroes was a great time with friends. There’s a lot left to finish before Kiki Games can unleash the full experience on us all, but I have high hopes that they’ll do what needs to be done to make this game a success.

To hear me talk more about Hoover Heroes, be sure to listen to the March 12, 2025 episode of The Gaming Outsider podcast around the 1:06:04 time stamp.

This review is based on a PC demo copy of Hoover Heroes provided by Kiki Games for coverage purposes. As of the time of this writing, it is exclusive to this platform.