YMMV / Punch Club

• Cliché Storm: While the series intentionally leans into 80s action, martial arts, and sports movies tropes, it plays them so straight that the player can pretty much accurately predict every plot beat except for two things: save for the end of the Dark Hero storyline and who killed the protagonist's father.
• Scrappy Mechanic: Stats degrade every day unless you keep building them up through training, or earn a skill that prevents them from decaying past a set level (usually sacrificing the other skills in the process). In theory, this is supposed to encourage the player to set aside some time every day for training and encourage the player to focus on building up one area of training instead of trying to raise all three stats. In practice, a lot of players either forget or don't realize that the game is a time-management simulator instead of an RPG, and thus quickly get frustrated. In response, the console versions added an easy mode that foregoes the stat decay, and the sequel also drops the stat decay mechanic.
  • Another disliked element is the chance of being mugged if the player is carrying over $100, as will likely happen if they're looking to buy gym equipment. Later in the game, the mugging is trivial but annoying, but early on, the player will lose their hard-earned cash and it can help lock a player into an Unintentionally Unwinnable scenario if it happens before the player unlocks the bar.