I bought this game a week ago and have logged 25 hours, can hardly keep my hands off it. I did not expect the action to be this deep or satisfying. The tactics feel realistic, in the sense that you have to take everything into account, from your vehicle and weapon parameters, to the geography and architecture of the battlefield. You need a familiarity with the controls, and steady nerves, in order to accurately engage multiple moving targets with the mouse while maneuvering your own vehicle with the keyboard. There are many ways to play. The Campaign missions (story mode) start off slow by introducing you to the different vehicles, weapons, and enemies. Later, they become much harder and they give you a variety of 3-4 preset loadouts to choose from. As a rule of thumb, choose the largest mech or tank available if you want a more forgiving (or mindless) experience. Their armor and heavy weapons trivialize firefights that would spell death for one mistake in a lighter craft. I would describe this game's visuals as retro-futuristic, maybe cyberpunk, or a term that I just learned because of this game: "neon noir". They match the synthwave OST. I love the aesthetic. I don't know what else to say about this, the game is gorgeous and immersive. So I'll mention the bad points about Brigador. 1) The controller support is bad. I wanted to play on a controller, but you must use the right analog stick to control your aim, and it is so clunky compared to the mouse controls that it is essentially unplayable. 2) This game's story is told entirely through setting, atmosphere, and text blurbs. There is no voice acting, no cutscenes, no NPCs, no script. It's like Dark Souls, 'the lore is in the item descriptions'. It's forgivable because it's an indie game, and everything else about it is so solid, but you know how it is with a good indie game: You see where the budget limited them, and can imagine how much more cool stuff could have been added. Still worth full price.
This is my favourite point-and-click adventure game. It is short (2-3 hours), but good for at least one replay. I found the puzzles to be not hard, but not too easy either - just right. The art is like nothing else in gaming. The story stands out as well: It's mature, mysterious, nightmarish, and I wish there was more of it.
Worth buying on sale if the trailer intrigues you. I have to recommend the game for its atmosphere and its premise. I got enough of what I was expecting to justify playing through to the end. That being said, it's short, has lazy level design, and the story feels rushed.
Not everyone will like this game. It has the deepest combat in any Metroidvania I've played, but some of the most frustrating movement. Immediately when you start, you have to decide if you can tolerate the basic walk/run mechanics. It's momentum based, and coming from other games in this genre, the acceleration from a starting position feels sluggish. Other than that, my only problems with the game were a couple of annoying bosses, low framerate during one of the late-game bosses, and a bug that prevented me from completing a quest. You march around Greek mythology and fight all the different gods. Levels are typically the domain of that particular god, which are connected to a hub. The hubs are populated and are safe, however, if you choose to break the rules you can explore, trespass, steal from and attack the NPCs. You can avoid the guards, or attack them directly and aggress the whole town if you can handle it. You progress to each hub in a certain order, but the levels branching off each one can be completed in any order. There are dozens of different weapons, divided by about six broad categories that can have their damage upgraded. Weapons have durability, but they drop everywhere, and you can carry one stack of every single weapon in the game at the same time, if you want. You can focus on whatever type of weapon is easiest for you to use, like using spears for the range, or clubs so you can break shields; or, when you get comfortable, you can quickly switch between a huge variety of weapons to suit the situation. You can also loot, buy, and craft consumable items including traps, bombs, and potions. It's deep and keeps things interesting on multiple playthroughs. If you run to the edge of some of the levels, you will be able to see that the background looks like stone, giving the visual effect of all of the game's events taking place as Grecian-style artwork painted on masonry. It's an unique concept that is executed perfectly.
