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Royalty Free-for-All Review

Official Score

Overall - 40%

40%

While Royalty Free-for-All's Public Domain fighters feature a unique presence, its unfinished state and lack of options prevent this platform fighter from having its own personality.

User Rating: 4.4 ( 3 votes)

An interactive parody not endorsed by anyone, Lancelot, Mother Goose, and even Sweeney Todd will throw down in AAAA Games’ party brawler Royalty Free-for-All.

See whether this melee brawl brings the ultimate fight with our review…

Royalty Free-for-All Review

Living up to its name, Royalty Free-for-All features a roster filled with characters that have since entered the public domain. With the Big Bad Wolf, the Quick Brown Fox, and even Piglet in its roster, there’s no need to worry about an “Echo” character situation due to characters being too same-y.

I mean, Sweeney Todd going toe-to-toe with Toto? That’s a unique match-up for sure!

However, Royalty Free-for-All’s lack of polish is clearly evident. While the characters look great in still shots, everything in this title feels stilted when in motion – a cardinal sin when stocks and glory are on the line.

True to its platforming roots, Royalty Free-for-All also takes cues from Nintendo’s storied Super Smash Bros. series.

It’s not just the controls, its mechanics, or even its percentage-based platform combat. Royalty Free-for-All also features their own version of “Break the Targets” and “Board the Platforms” fans will instantly be familiar with.

While not bad in and of itself, Royalty Free-for-All lacks its own distinct personality and simply doesn’t make an impact.

The lack of polish also extends to Royalty Free-for-All’s overall presentation. Despite waiting a good week to review Royalty Free-for-All for some much-needed pre-release patches, the title still featured missing content during our long review period.

In particular, Royalty Free-for-All’s final boss is missing, replaced with the splash screen below. The review guide did mention this final boss will be implemented August 10, but this still proves to be an oversight nonetheless.

While bad enough as it is, the text overflow that doesn’t fit in the box is a sore oversight…

Royalty Free-for-All Review - Missing Content - Gamers Heroes

[UPDATE 8/11/26 5:24pm PT – The PR team has noted the boss has been added as of August 11 with this screen replaced with the fight. We can only review the game in front of us during the review period, which had an embargo lift of today, August 11 at 7am PT.]

Royalty Free-for-All also features a generic Game Over screen that lacks effort, one that feels more at home in an Atari 2600 game instead of a 2026 release…

Royalty Free-for-All Review - Game Over - Gamers Heroes

Public Domain, sure, but lacking any sort of personality.

We’ll give Royalty Free-for-All credit for their Waffle House “Waffle Hut”-equivalent stage – it’s been a long time coming.

Royalty Free-for-All also proves to be light on content. A standard Arcade Mode and some multiplayer options exist, but the average run is far too short.

The Super Smash Bros. series of games (especially Super Smash Bros. Ultimate) pride themselves on the sheer amount of variables at play, which unfortunately isn’t present in Royalty Free-for-All.

While Royalty Free-for-All’s Public Domain fighters provide a unique angle, this title is simply unfinished. When paired with its lack of options, the end result is a platform fighter that lacks its own personality.

Royalty Free-for-All Review

Reviewed On: PC (A digital code was provided)
Release Date: August 11, 2026
Platforms: PC (via Steam)
Developer: AAAA Games
Publisher: AAAA Games

Aggregate Scores: Metacritic

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