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ToeJam & Earl: Back in the Groove

ToeJam and Earl have crash-landed back on Earth in ToeJam and Earl: Back in the Groove!, a funky fresh rogue-like adventure infused with old skool hip-hop and jam packed with awesome throwbacks to the 1991 classic. The iconic '90s duo is back in the groove with all-new presents to help them navigate this wack planet "Earth" and retrieve all the lost pieces to the Rapmaster Rocket. Team up for co-op play to discover secret locations, hidden presents and new friends as you make your way through a constantly changing and unpredictable world!

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Very Positive

1,121 Steam reviews

Review History

Reviews

1,121 total

≥h

Steam User 1468STEAMRecommended

2 распиздяя, разъебались на своей инопланетной жиге и теперь собирают по всему космическому залупинску, детали от неё, чтобы съебать и распиздяйничать дальше

Mar 26, 2026·1h·Verified

Steam User 9610STEAMRecommended

Totally groovy

Mar 24, 2026·5h·Verified

Steam User 0220STEAMNot recommended

THe majority of the appeal of the original was the art and music. They are ruined in the remakes.

Mar 17, 2026·Verified

Steam User 5672STEAMRecommended

I ignored this game for quite a long time thinking I would not have as much fun as the original first episode which I'm a big fan of, but I was wrong. I'm actually having a lot of fun with this one. Never mind the negative reviews if you enjoyed the original, this one is very entertaining, and frustrating just as was the first one sometimes but it's entirely part of the fun of it.

Mar 5, 2026·49h·Verified

Steam User 0320STEAMRecommended

Short review (also because I don't know how to describe the Toejam & Earl experience)

[h1]... I wished I had a Sega Genesis back in the day! [/h1]

I enjoyed it a lot this full-on 90's experience.
Man, I really missed out on these cult games! Recommended!

Feb 27, 2026·2h

Steam User 5218STEAMRecommended

macauyley culkin

Feb 23, 2026·27h·Verified

Steam User 4882STEAMNot recommended

Everything about this is just annoying. I know this is an age old remake but still. Oh well at least the music is still mostly decent and part of my purchase funded that.

Feb 7, 2026·1h·Verified

Steam User 5115STEAMRecommended

Awesome.

Jan 27, 2026·3h

Steam User 2815STEAMNot recommended

Running away simulator.

Jan 4, 2026·1h·Verified

Steam User 8410STEAMRecommended

This is a great remaster of a classic game. Captures the look and feel perfectly. Basically a 'roguelite' before it became a popular genre. Full of 90s 'feel'. Definitely not an amazing game by todays standards but I'd get it on sale. Easy to jump in for a quick run.

Dec 28, 2025

Steam User 0796STEAMRecommended

TOE JAM AND EARL BABEY

Dec 16, 2025·5h·Verified

Steam User 0472STEAMNot recommended

It pains me to write this since I am a huge fan of the original Sega Megadrive/Genesis TJ&E game from back in 1991 but, TJ&E Back In The Groove is a second-rate rehash of it's awesome predecessor.

I get the feeling the devs went live with this game on a small budget and limited resources. There are many flaky problems. The game input seems confused between controller and keyboard which causes some intermittent disruption issues during play. Controller vibration is set to OFF yet it's still ON. Opening a present with a timed resource or power up jumps all over on the duration clock. Frequently saving a game with presents in your inventory ends up deleting them when relaunching that saved game later. They're all gone. Connecting in multiplayer is sketchy at best. There is no option to remap the control keys on the keyboard. This game is nearly seven years old at this point so it's likely been long abandoned by the devs. Don't expect any support or fix updates.

For players new to TJ&E, Back In The Groove is a super casual walking exploration in a Saturday morning cartoon world. It's kid-friendly and silly. The art style differs from the original game's pixel art quite a bit but it works well enough. Veteran TJ&E players here for the nostalgia will find it familiar yet different enough that you can jump in and mostly know what to do right away. I think the main changes between the two games revolve around resource management of the Christmas presents and dealing with the larger army of earthlings.

This time around there is a lack of strategy with gathering presents and managing discovery of the Randomizer. A larger more diverse pool of presents along with a diluted RNG drop rate makes it tough to save up offensive/defensive presents for the later levels where they will be needed the most. Around level 15 the difficulty scales up rapidly and the amount of earthlings seems too high. Once they're on to you they don't give up the chase for far too long. Many of them can mob and even nail you through the elevator which should be a safe zone once you set foot in it. That's annoying. Playing as Earl makes this double difficult since he's so damn slow. He just cannot get away fast enough.

Once you reach level 10 you can unlock a random world generator for the next playthrough. Completing the game on a Fixed World at normal difficulty will grant the opportunity to unlock one new character and a Power Hat. These along with the random world means there is some replay value to be had- if you like this enough to keep going. Regardless whether you are a new player or an old hand with ToeJam and Earl I'd only buy this on sale. It's not the best game in the series which ain't bad, but it's not great either.

Nov 27, 2025·17h·8·Verified

Steam User 4237STEAMRecommended

This game was amazing to me in the 90's and it's still just as awesome today.

Nov 8, 2025·15h·Verified

Steam User 5701STEAMNot recommended

This is terrible. bad controls, bad everything.

Nov 8, 2025·5h·Verified

Steam User 6258STEAMRecommended

ToeJam & Earl es uno de los juegos favoritos de mi infancia. Lo disfrutaba en mi antigua Megadrive, y ahora me lo estoy pasando bomba de nuevo con esta fórmula atemporal que nunca pasa de moda. Es divertidísimo (sobre todo en cooperativo) y está repleto de novedades que hacen que jugar con estos extraterrestres extravagantes merezca la pena. Muy recomendable, sobre todo por su buen precio. Lo compré en oferta.

Nov 2, 2025·6h

Steam User 0975STEAMRecommended

I got super happy when ToeJam and Earl followed me on Twitter.

Oct 23, 2025·1·Verified

Steam User 4243STEAMRecommended

O original era um ótimo jogo de mega drive, ótimo para jogar várias vezes, um Roguelite da decada de 90. O remake é basicamente uma versão modernizada do jogo original e pelo preço atual, não precisa nem esperar uma promoção, quais jogos hoje vão custar menos de 30 reais.

Recomendo para a coleção de qualquer jogador, em especial que ainda joga com alguém do lado.

Oct 23, 2025·5h·Verified

Steam User 6737STEAMRecommended

Awesome throwback to an all-time favorite.

2 player mode is super fun.

Oct 11, 2025·10h·Verified

Steam User 9496STEAMRecommended

great game

Oct 7, 2025·12h·Verified

Steam User 7510STEAMRecommended

I wanted to like this game, I really did, and I did.

Oct 2, 2025·29h·Verified

Steam User 9178STEAMRecommended

童年就好玩！！！

Sep 27, 2025·10h

Steam User 5415STEAMRecommended

Muito bão

Sep 23, 2025·2h

Steam User 7037STEAMRecommended

fun with friends. pick this one up if you wanna play something chill with your buddy.

Sep 19, 2025·2h

Steam User 9057STEAMRecommended

Good rougelite alone or with a friend. Get on sale.

Sep 10, 2025·4h·3·Verified

Steam User 2603STEAMRecommended

Goodness, me. This is an absolute delight. A faithful recreation of the first game with lots of new elements added including some groovy bits from Toejam & Earl 2 (this thrillingly includes occasional visits to the Hyper Funk Zone). Thanks, Macaulay Culkin! (...no, really)

Aug 30, 2025·11h·1

Steam User 5511STEAMRecommended

The original TJ&E was and still is one of my all time favourite games. My sister and I had spent hundreds of hours back in the 90's sitting in front of our old CRT mindlessly playing and verbally mimicking everything. Going into this remake I was very skeptical because I was so used to the original of old.

I purchased it at launch and spent very little time on it as I was put off by the new artwork and music. Fast forward years later and I managed to give it a good play and beyond the new look and music it still feels like the original game to me. We always would play the random level game and it took me a few attempts to even beat the fixed world.

There's a lot of memories that flood back and it's brought back old recurring dreams of myself walking among disappearing/reappearing platforms in outer space. There's quite a lot of nostalgic humour and I'm ecstatic that the secret level is still hanging around.

...and seemingly the hula dancers aren't as rage inducing as in the original.

It's not a perfect game but it has a ton of replayability and is a great game to play with a friend in either couch co-op or online.

Aug 19, 2025·34h·2·Verified

Steam User 9515STEAMRecommended

peak

Aug 16, 2025·12h·Verified

Steam User 2587STEAMNot recommended

https://youtu.be/ZqiozNSfeqg

Definitely a remaster/remake of the original that retains the nearly confusing level design and gameplay.

Aug 14, 2025·2h·1

Steam User 6989STEAMRecommended

Feels just like the old game. Its a chill vibe of exploration fun.

Aug 10, 2025·10h·Verified

Steam User 5888STEAMNot recommended

For nostalgia, get it when its cheap. Don't buy otherwise.
6 year old game, remake of a much older game, and yet it still has glaring bugs and lacks polish:
- In co-op, reward prize from ship part shows one thing and gives another (ie, shows extra life, gives money)
- After credits it doesn't let host return to main menu.
- Pixel-perfect edges of map can lead to stupid ways of losing health.
- I could go on but meh.

Jul 27, 2025·7h·1

Steam User 5825STEAMRecommended

Jul 19, 2025·6h

Steam User 6041STEAMNot recommended

It had potential but they missed the point, somehow.

Jul 19, 2025·1h·5

Steam User 3867STEAMRecommended

super hitops

Jul 13, 2025·4h·4·Verified

Steam User 9376STEAMRecommended

Please give us Toe Jam & Earl 3 remastered. Bought this remaster to show support for the IP.

Jul 10, 2025·1h·9·Verified

Steam User 8754STEAMNot recommended

Joguei o jogo original de 1991 extensamente no Mega Drive.

Pontos negativos:
Mal-balanceado.
Muitos inimigos em uma área pequena não torna o jogo difícil, torna cansativo.
Itens positivos ou ofensivo são escassos. Péssima hitbox.
Botão de ação não devia ser o mesmo botão para o ataque.
Aggro range dos inimigos não faz sentido algum.
Sneaking do personagem controlado não serve para nada, senão para chegar de surpresa no Papai Noel ou passar por inimigos que tem uma chance mínima de dormir.
Câmera extremamente próxima, devia ser mais longe igual acontece no jogo original de 1991.
Mesmos inimigos se repetem em todos os níveis.

Ponto positivos:
Mais itens que o original.
Mais personagens para escolher agora.
Além da vida, os outros atributos melhoram do personagem controlado.

4/10.

Jul 5, 2025·9h·1·Verified

Steam User 8272STEAMRecommended

Me he divertido mucho jugándolo en local a 4 jugadores. Es increíble que este juego, a pesar de los años que tiene, se siga viendo tan fresco y distinto a todo lo que hay en el panorama, es que sigue siendo un juego muy loco como si hubieran tirado cosas a una parrilla sin saber muy bien que iba a salir. Por cierto, si tienes niños les gustará, mis sobrinos con 6 y 7 años lo han disfrutado de lo lindo,se pueden poner en modo distinto de dificultad por jugador y se agradece.

Jul 1, 2025·9h·1

Steam User 0163STEAMRecommended

A faithful recreation of the original. I would go as far to say you dont even need to play the original, just play this

Jun 13, 2025·7h·2

Steam User 2336STEAMRecommended

It's quite a funky fresh game.

Jun 10, 2025·9h·Verified

Steam User 1698STEAMRecommended

I know this game is like 6 years old, but I just gotta say. After finally beating a playthrough after owning it on the Switch for like 3 years, this game is great. I didn't expect to sink 3+ hours straight into a single, standard fixed run, but I did. It felt just challenging and tedious enough to make me really strategize, but not enough to make me feel like it was unfair. And the joy I felt hearing the game's theme in the final level was insurmountable.

I ♥♥♥♥♥♥' slept on Toejam and Earl dude.. this used to be just a fun, quaint little pick-up-and-play game I owned on Switch, now I consider it absolute peak.

Jun 4, 2025·6h·1·Verified

Steam User 4487STEAMRecommended

This takes me back to playing on the Genesis. This is an excellent remake with some of the catchiest funk out there.

May 5, 2025·8h·Verified

Steam User 1364STEAMRecommended

ITS TOEJAM AND EARL. WHAT MORE CAN I SAY?!

May 3, 2025·3h·Verified

Steam User 8721STEAMRecommended

LA LA LA JAMMIN!

Apr 28, 2025·6h·1·Verified

Steam User 0801STEAMRecommended

Never played the original, so consider me a new convert. The game oozes style: graphically, sonically, even in the gameplay. I expected a platformer or at least an attack button. Instead you mainly walk around and avoid enemies, collecting parts of your ship and leveling up. I can’t imagine how cool this game would have been back in the day, but it’s still worth your time for a playthrough or two.

Also Macauley Culkin produced this? What?

Mar 21, 2025·4h·4·Verified

Steam User 5414STEAMRecommended

It's the original game but with a load of new stuff added to it and 4 player support. I prefer the original a little more, but this is a really solid follow up, and probably a ton of fun with 4 players. Get it on sale. Jammin'!

Mar 7, 2025·2h·15·Verified

Steam User 7486STEAMRecommended

Such a fun throw back to the original game with just about enough new stuff for new comers. I love it. Only down side is that this took away from me any reason to play the original.

Mar 4, 2025·22h·Verified

Steam User 2430STEAMRecommended

retro goodness!

Mar 2, 2025·3h·Verified

Steam User 0170STEAMNot recommended

The original Toe Jam & Earl is one of my all time favorite games. This just...doesn't feel the same at all. The maps are too small for one, and visually...I think I just liked the textures of the original. It has a really unique look to it. The pacing just isn't quite the same, either. Can't stay interested in this at all.

Mar 1, 2025·15h·1

Steam User 9001STEAMRecommended

I love this game! It got me to hyperfixate and get a crush on ToeJam as a character! Playing the Fixed World on Normal difficulty can be a challenge, but the ending was SO worth it for me! [spoiler] Hearing ToeJam's singing voice meant the world to me! [/spoiler] Although the Online Multiplayer doesn't really work, I've been enjoying playing it via Steam Remote Play with my friends and family! Definitely worth the purchase!

Feb 20, 2025·58h·Verified

Steam User 9897STEAMRecommended

Funky music, though the gameplay felt a bit simplistic. The voice acting was pretty nice

Feb 16, 2025

Steam User 8400STEAMRecommended

volver a los 16 bits de sega con un titulo gamberro, divertido y agil. nuevas armas y otras conocidas,viejos y nuevos enemigos, mas personajes, nuevos modos de juegos, logros, desbloqueables, musica pegadiza... un titulo para disfrutar muchas horas

Feb 16, 2025·4h·Verified

Steam User 6421STEAMRecommended

funk ya buddeh wooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooh

Feb 15, 2025·1h·Verified

Steam User 7065STEAMRecommended

Easy to pick up and play with friends.

Feb 13, 2025·20h·Verified

Steam User 8856STEAMRecommended

I've been playing this game off and on for a while now. People complain about how "random" the skill ups are or the fact it gets harder in the back half of the game.

That's the point.

If they had advertised this as a rogue-lite, which it is, it makes complete sense. You can choose a starting character with your primary stats, and you get random upgrades that may hinder or help your run.

Last half of the game does require effort to play, but if you play smart and use the presents you got in the literal first half of the game, than you will be fine.

Overall, I played the OG one a long time ago and I'm actually happy with the progress. I can't wait for the next one. Maybe up to 4 players? Wishful thinking.

Feb 12, 2025·12h·4·Verified

Steam User 8250STEAMNot recommended

got this game from a super cheap 5 random steam keys thing so I can't really complain but man do not buy this game lmao this is pure garbage

Feb 8, 2025·1h·2

Steam User 4349STEAMNot recommended

It's... it's not good. Not at all.

Feb 6, 2025·1

Steam User 0586STEAMRecommended

Ah the memories

Jan 28, 2025·1h·Verified

Steam User 0524STEAMNot recommended

A huge fan of the original Genesis games, I was excited to return to the wacky universe of T.J.&E, but after a couple completed playthroughs, my excitement is nullified.

Simply put, the game is too hard in the back half, even on Normal difficulty, to be worthy of even a fraction of the playthroughs the achievements deem necessary to 'Unlock' everything. Now, to be clear, the game itself isn't too hard to complete, at least not on Normal difficulty, but it simply becomes no more fun to play after the midway point.

And, seeing as how only 11.6% of players who've played the game on Steam have bothered to even complete the game a single time, well I don't think I'm alone.

Enemies become so numerous and so persistent, it's just utterly obnoxious. This is mainly because the only way to defeat said enemies is by seeking out 'Presents', VERY specific 'Presents', which are primarily found hidden within bushes/houses/trees and whatnot -- but, this gameplay mechanic of searching for potential ammo becomes nearly impossible halfway through the game do to how dense the enemies are. So much so, I ended up abandoning even trying to find any presents about an hour into each game.

Not to mention, IF you manage to find a present and IF the random contents don't kill you or seriously ruin your current standing, the chances of getting 1 of the 3 actual presents in the game that can hurt your antagonists on the offensive is null as there are over 60 possible presents in game! I suck at math, but I know enough to know that's some ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ odds.

I played three games, a FIXED world game, a RANDOM world game, and a HARD world game and my results were the same for the first two and impossible to determine on the third*. I found about 3 presents per those first two playthroughs with Tomatoes (the one source of 'ammo' that can defeat a foe), and being a time-based power, that averaged out to about 90 seconds/game of actual retaliation. The rest of the time I was slowly and pointlessly trying to walk out of the way of usually faster and always aggressive enemies.

*Now, as for my HARD world game, I made it to Level 4 and quit. Not out of rage that I wouldn't be able to do it, but more so apathy, as I didn't feel like playing against the enemy density of the endgame, 5 minutes into a fresh one. Which would mean no searching for presents, no casual discovery and even stronger and more aggressive enemies, whom even if I could fight back against, are so numerous, it'd be like waging a war on an army of ants with a toothpick. You might get a couple, but why ♥♥♥♥♥♥' bother? And, that's where I'm at with replaying the game that was built to be replayed... why bother?

Also, I'm not much a fan of the redesigned characters. T.J. and Earl look fine, but the rest of the Funkatron fam look drastically different from part 2, and it really bummed me out they didn't even bother have my alien hommes act like their former selves. These characters used to have character, now they are here like an afterthought.

Maybe I'm the problem, I could just suck at the game. Either way, I'll stick with the far more fun to play OG games. I can't tell you how many DAYS I've played part 1 and 2, but looks like Back in the Groove has my attention capped out in less time than a single afternoon and that's a total bummer.

Good tunes, tho.

Jan 27, 2025·6h·15·Verified

Steam User 7558STEAMRecommended

For casuals it's great. An excellent remake from the original. You can play couch co-op, so pick a friend and have fun, but... if you're a completionist... oh god.

Prepare yourself to finish this game 20+ times, 4 of them in hard mode that is a complete rng mess, this game is extremely rng based and sometimes it's just impossible (you can close the game with alt+f4 and save scum, but even using this, can be a chore).

Now that I almost completed all achievements, I can tell: I HATE every... single... enemy in this game. Oh wish I could jump into the screen and punch 'em in the face (that F***** lady with the baby can just explode, her chase range is absurd), and now I have an Ice Cream Truck trauma.

Won't play this one ever again Lol.

Jan 25, 2025·64h·1·Verified

Steam User 3970STEAMRecommended

Сюжет 1/10
Геймплей 2/10
Реиграбельность 1/10
Итого: 1/10

НО
это одна из любимейших игр детства. В детстве она завораживала и притягивала к себе своей непонятностью и загадочностью. Но сейчас ее шарм безвозвратно утерян.

Куда уходит детство, куда ушло оно?
Наверно, в край чудесный где каждый день кино
Где также ночью синей струится лунный свет
Но нам с тобой отные туда дороги нет (Туда дороги нет)
(ВИА Сливки - Куда уходит детство)

Jan 25, 2025·2h·Verified

Steam User 6448STEAMNot recommended

Not Recommended

Jan 10, 2025·5h·3

Steam User 8299STEAMRecommended

nice

Jan 8, 2025·13h

Steam User 3209STEAMRecommended

muito bom, exceleite

Jan 6, 2025·9h·Verified

Steam User 3577STEAMNot recommended

Total Delusion at level 25

Jan 3, 2025·11h

Steam User 7277STEAMRecommended

[b]ToeJam & Earl BitG[/b] Is a re-imagination of the classic roguelite genesis title. Player loop is find all the ship parts & unlock hats & characters. Some minor bugs still present. Worth a purchase if your into chill coop games. 6/10

Average completion time: 75 hours
Number of achievements: 49
Difficulty: casual
Replay-ability: tied to achievements
Online playerbase: virtually none.

Dec 24, 2024·71h·Verified

Steam User 0143STEAMNot recommended

Maybe some nostalgia should stay in the past. Dated gameplay meets dated world.

Dec 12, 2024·3h·1

Steam User 3593STEAMRecommended

oh ♥♥♥♥ they added crossplay

Nov 29, 2024·33h·Verified

Steam User 1769STEAMRecommended

Coops quite a laugh and its the usual dodging fun. It has some learnable depth to it but if you recognize something from the original it wont act too differently. A great modern sequel to a classic game

Nov 25, 2024·6h·2·Verified

Steam User 0536STEAMNot recommended

Its a ''mostly positive'' game, not a ''very positive'' game... 6.5-7 / 10 ...
Achievements are fun, but the hats are a grind... May be fewer runs for getting the hats, and achieve the extreme runs or some time trials in endless...

Nov 23, 2024·75h·1·Verified

Steam User 2417STEAMRecommended

Mt engraçado, recomendo!

Nov 21, 2024·26h·Verified

Steam User 3497STEAMRecommended

мы потерялися.
потерялися мы!
мы так сильно потерялися,
что потеряли то место,
где мы потерялися

Nov 16, 2024·1h·Verified

Steam User 5625STEAMRecommended

Nice peaceful (no attack button) arcade "dodge'em" gameplay with random level generation. Having good laughs in local co-op with a kiddo.

Oct 31, 2024·9h·5

Steam User 9910STEAMRecommended

Still riddled with bugs and likes to lag or crash randomly but it's Toejam and Earl, a game like no other - equal parts fun and horribly frustrating. An average game from start to finish (if a van or flying girl doesn't KO you right before you get that last piece) takes a few hours and, if you're playing a random world, it's a different kind of stress every time. The style is unmatched, the soundtrack is funky, the exploring and playing with presents is fun, it's great for idle hands and all the added elements in this game make it a worthy successor to the original. Nothing like the 2nd or 3rd (in my opinion, this is more than fine) and basically a roided-out definitive version of the first. TJ&E for the Genesis is one of my favorite all-time games and I probably still enjoy that one more since this game has newer, meaner enemies including itself if you start hearing your computer's fan.

Oct 30, 2024·18h·1·Verified

Steam User 1921STEAMRecommended

Falopa de la buena.
Un remake de una joyita oculta de Sega Genesis fiel al ambiente del original.
Tiene online y local coop.

Oct 20, 2024·7h·5·Verified

Steam User 8945STEAMNot recommended

For those who played the original Toe Jam and Earl for the Genesis back in the day, this review is probably for you.

This game as a whole has not aged well. My biggest gripe by far is the piss slow walk speed. Toe Jam with his high walk speed makes him an instant pick, everyone else is far too slow to escape from enemies that can chase you.

Then you've got the infuriating RNG when opening presents. Do you like the idea of getting instant killed from opening a present, or having random Earthlings kill you opening a present? I sure don't, and you'll run into this BS constantly when playing.

It's not the worst game in the world, but it should be far better than this. Don't buy it unless there's a deep sale, and even then, go in with low expectations, and you might not disappointed.

Oct 13, 2024·17h·4·Verified

Steam User 3689STEAMRecommended

Good Game

Sep 28, 2024·6h·Verified

Steam User 5436STEAMRecommended

fun game buggy man use to be my most hated enemy but now i hate the red guy that sends you down a level.

Sep 9, 2024·7h·Verified

Steam User 3100STEAMNot recommended

I am a big fan of the original, so I was quite disappointed with how this remake turned out. It’s a shame, maybe I’ll try playing it again another time and see if I change my mind. I really wanted to like it.

Aug 22, 2024·1h·1·Verified

Steam User 7759STEAMRecommended

Best Multiplayer Party Game EVER !!!

Aug 13, 2024·235h·5·Verified

Steam User 7464STEAMRecommended

A funky fresh reboot of the Sega Genesis classic. Still smells like warm rootbeer and funyuns after all these years.

Jul 25, 2024·4h·1

Steam User 7813STEAMRecommended

Great improvement of the 90s original with a lot of the same feel. Its a lot of fun

Jul 21, 2024·9h·1·Verified

Steam User 7698STEAMRecommended

love it

Jul 20, 2024·1h·1·Verified

Steam User 2660STEAMNot recommended

[h1] Лучше бы ремастеры старых частей выпустили... [/h1]

А в это играть было тяжело морально. Очень странная то ли бродилка, то ли аркада, где нужно собирать всякое барахло в коробочках и периодически применять. Потом дальше поднимаемся на лифте. И вот так всё выше и выше. Потом как-то поднадоело и было принято решение удалить игру. Ну просто сил уже нет.

Русского перевода по традиции нет и было решительно непонятно всё происходящее безобразие. По сюжету вроде бы по дурости два этих оболтуса открыли чёрную дыру и их засосало в стиральную машину. Потом выскочили и начали измышлять. Ни до чего не дошли и пришлось уже игроку тупо пытаться разобраться.

Очень невнятный игровой процесс и очень нелепая анимация. Такое ощущение будто играешь в какую-то флеш поделку. Притом разные чубрики пытаются персонажа отпинать. А сам персонаж толком ничего не может сделать. В общем, сборная солянка крайне кислотных решений, которые явно придумывали под какими-то веществами.

Jul 19, 2024·5h·5·Verified

Steam User 4906STEAMRecommended

More like a redux of Toejam and Earl 1. The artstyle is a bit of downgrade from pixel art, but you get past it once you start playing. Very beautiful very powerful

Jul 12, 2024·11h·2

Steam User 9369STEAMRecommended

большие письки. йоу

Jul 11, 2024·3h·Verified

Steam User 2201STEAMNot recommended

multiplayer with friends does not work

online play in general is a disaster

avoid this unless you want to play alone or locally

Jul 10, 2024·16h·Verified

Steam User 6603STEAMNot recommended

Saved games don't seem to work well for me or my friend anyway

Jul 5, 2024·3h·Verified

Steam User 7080STEAMRecommended

ToeJam & Earl has always been funky and a bit cringy, it’s part of what makes it so good.

Bop your way around stages and level up into curiously named categories but be careful not to fall off.

[spoiler]Unless you’re on world 1, then go over the bottom left corner of the map for a pointless but never-the-less classic treat.[/spoiler]

Jul 3, 2024·3h·Verified

Steam User 4115STEAMRecommended

This game is not actually good but I have to recommend it since it's a religious experience. All the gameplay mechanics are omega clunky and the game feels super unclear, aimless and unfair. I actually respect how much of a ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ they managed to create with this game.

Jul 1, 2024·3h·1

Steam User 1879STEAMRecommended

MARVELOUS

Jun 28, 2024·102h·Verified

Steam User 6520STEAMRecommended

I FALL! I DIE! I FALL AGAIN! I GET ROCKET SKATES! I FALLLLLLLLLLL ALL THE WAY BACK DOWN TO 1ST LVL! I RIDE ELVEVATOR! I find presents. :D I calm down. OOGIE BOOGRR MONSTER KNOCK ME DOWN AGAIN! 5 out of 5 stars. Will play again.

Jun 24, 2024·12h

Steam User 4015STEAMNot recommended

"ToeJam & Earl: Back in the Groove!" is a handheld (Nintendo Switch)/console game that's also been put on Steam as a bit of an afterthought, as it's very much designed for the handheld/console gaming audience. It's a rehash of an ancient Sega Genesis era game, which I will admit I never played the first time around, I wasn't a console gamer then and I'm definitely not now. It's a "roguelite" (which means the developers didn't bother doing proper level design, procgen IS content, right?)

You wander around procgen levels, doing pickups, some minigames... this is kind of like an activity set for Gen-X kids. And here's the thing, this is basically a nostalgia gouge, it's marketed towards Gen-X'ers who played the original ToeJam and Earl game, but it's not really giving a great new PC gaming experience. I can't say what the Nintendo Switch gamers thought about this and that's not the point, this is on PC and it needs to be reviewed against PC gaming standards and the PC gaming competition. Which is a comparison this fails badly at.

From a technical perspective, the game doesn't meet basic minimum requirements that most PC gamers expect as standard.

While there are options to change the resolution for the game, all this does is scale up the simplistic 2D art assets used to make the game, which makes little or no difference to the graphics quality. Without any other substantial graphics tweaks, it's not possible for gamers to improve the lacklustre 2D visuals.

The graphics are somewhat lacklustre, and a bit noisy... the game is presented in a cartoony cel shaded 3D backdrop with animated 2D cartoon characters and other props. This is kind of a "maybe" issue but while the cartoon illustration and animations are good, this doesn't exactly look like Hellblade 2.

The controls can't be customised, which will be an annoyance for many, but it can also render the game unplayable for differently-abled gamers, left handed gamers or gamers using AZERTY or other international keyboard layouts.

To make matters worse, there's no mouse input, despite this being sold on PC as if it were a PC game. This is unacceptable and somewhat insulting to PC gamers. It's a good demonstration of the poor attitude the developer has towards PC gamers, and this attitude has resulted in yet another defect in this game.

The game features no proper level design or game/story flow/plot, as they opted to try to use samey repetitive procgen algorithms as a substitute for adding such content to the game, to avoid doing the important job of level/map design. As a result, the game doesn't actually have any content worth mentioning, just endless, boring, repetitive, soulless algorithmically generated sameyness. Developers must learn that procedural generation is not an acceptable substitute for content.

Because this is designed for handheld/portable gaming appliances, it carries a number of deliberate design deficiencies. Compromises were made to cater to the low power handheld gaming appliances that the game was designed for. These are unfortunate compromises and limitations that PC gamers shouldn't be forced to accept, but it's evident that PC was a second thought for the mobile game developers. The game is deficient as a result of these choices, and would have been so much better without the handicaps that designing games for low power handhelds forces upon a game. While this might run well on a Steam Deck, we must remember the vast majority of gamers here are gaming on PC.

These technical defects push this game below acceptable standards for any modern PC game.

So, should you buy this game? Is this one of the best of the 100,000+ games on Steam?

"ToeJam & Earl: Back in the Groove!" has the preposterous price of $15 USD, for which you could easily get any number of older AAA games. Given the defects and quality issues with the game, coupled with the unrealistic price, this is impossible to recommend.

For comparison, the $15 asking price for this game could get you games like "Monster Hunter World", "Cities: Skylines" or "Europa Universalis IV". Quality, professionally made games like those are frequently on sale cheaper than this.

Jun 21, 2024·5h·8

Steam User 1572STEAMRecommended

Good

Jun 13, 2024·177h

Steam User 3126STEAMRecommended

Although I do agree with some of the complaints about the visuals, the music and gameplay still feel pretty solid. My guess is that they tried going for a 90's cartoon aesthetic but it comes off in a sorta "so retro" way. The music is good though, pretty faithful and pretty funky. It's an OKAY game, definitely not bad.

Jun 12, 2024·1h·Verified

Steam User 8120STEAMNot recommended

This game is just insanely ugly. I can't get past the terrible visuals. It feels cheap when the original game never did. I really have to question how this game feels so much cheaper when the original when the developers spent like 4x the amount of time making it, and with the convenience of modern game development tools at that. Even TJ&E 3 on the Xbox looks better. I guess they were going for a Don't Starve kind of look, but it doesn't work. Playing this game made me wish that the original plans for TJ&E2 were brought to fruition back in the 90s instead of being replaced with Panic on Funkotron.

Jun 9, 2024·4·Verified

Steam User 7451STEAMRecommended

Clásico de la Megadrive

Jun 5, 2024·3h

Steam User 3969STEAMNot recommended

Очень странная игра, возможно в 90-ых на картриджах она и была интересна, но сейчас она смотрится странно.
Я так понял рандомно генерятся острова (помимо фиксированных миров) с врагами и предметами на них. А смысл игры в поиске запчастей звездолёта, по одному на уровне - все нашёл, выиграл-улетел, а если не хватит жизней на поиске, значит тебя убили и ты проиграл.
Слишкоооооом долго грузиться "подъём на лифте на этаж вверх", чему там грузить!?, а ждёшь секунд семь, при том что при падении на нижний этаж, оный прогружается моментально и при неудачном стечении обстоятельств если умудрится на энное количество этажей вниз упасть за считанные секунды, подниматься назад на верх ты будешь с такими загрузками в десятки раз дольше.

Jun 5, 2024·2h·Verified

Steam User 2399STEAMRecommended

💋

Jun 3, 2024·25h·1·Verified

Steam User 3248STEAMRecommended

When Toejam said "maybe (these earthlings) need a little funk", he wasn't kidding. Truly a worthy fourth game in the series, also acting akin to Sonic Mania in bringing the best parts of TJ&E 1 through 3 together and celebrating them AND THENSOME.

Already fell in love with the game watching the kickstarter telethon, and genuinely love how funky and chaotic this multiplayer top down rougelike is... because that's absolutely its genre!

It is such a specific combination that is unlike ANYTHING attempted since... yes, even Vampire Survivour is wave based and a different kind of approach, TJ&E is uniquely TJ&E. And since playing this myself, I had to grab it again for couch co-op with friends, this is such a wild ride.

May 31, 2024·8h·Verified

Steam User 5968STEAMRecommended

Such a great game and with crossplay, even better. This has been my go-to with my kid for a few years now and we always have a blast.

May 29, 2024·30h

Steam User 5833STEAMRecommended

I'm way better on the nintendo switch.
but overall a very good game

May 23, 2024·2h·Verified