Brave’s Rage Review: Plenty of Rage to be Had (But in a Good Way)

The field is flooded with deckbuilders right now, and I am absolutely living for it. Roguelike/lite deckbuilders, in particular, are very nearly overtaking hardcore dungeon crawlers as my favorite genre of all time. With so many offerings available, though, it’s becoming increasingly hard to stand out amongst the crowd. Rather than stick solely to the tried-and-true style perfected by Slay the Spire, ISVR went ahead and made the first active-time roguelike deckbuilder (try saying that ten times fast) that I’ve come across: Brave’s Rage.

Light on Story, Heavy on Gameplay

Brave’s Rage is, in the fashion of most deckbuilders, exceptionally light on story. The story, ostensibly, is that a big, bad dragon has kidnapped the princess of the land, and it’s up to you to save her. And… that’s it. You’re not going to get any more story development from there. So from the start, if you need a compelling narrative to stay engaged with a game, you’re going to want to look elsewhere. That’s not to say that the game suffers from the near-total lack of story and character development; while I’m sure a decent narrative could have been crafted, Brave’s Rage simply doesn’t need it. The gameplay itself is the hook, more than addicting enough to keep players coming back for more.

At the start of a new run in Brave’s Rage, you’ll be given the option to select your starting character. Initially, you’ll only have access to a single character, but as you progress through the game and meet certain goals, you’ll slowly but surely unlock new characters. Each character plays very differently – for instance, Tracy, the ranger, excels at attacking enemies in the back row and can charge her attacks for additional damage, while Sancho, the protector, lives up to his name by providing excellent frontline defense. In addition to unlocking new playable characters, you’ll also be able to recruit them and add them to your team in future runs. A big part of the fun in this game is figuring out which characters synergize the best with one another.

Be Ready for a Steep Difficulty Curve

So, how does Brave’s Rage actually play? You’ve got your standard deckbuilder mechanics – a deck of cards to draw from every turn, opportunities to either add or remove cards from said deck, enemy encounters, boss fights, all that good stuff. But how you move through the various stages and battle enemies is quite different from other games in the genre. To begin, the stages are all set on large, square grids, and the only thing restricting how far you can travel are spaces that are occupied. Said spaces can be occupied by merchants, enemies, chests, and more. Once you’ve locked in a space you want to travel to, you’ll automatically move there and trigger the event. Considering this game is a deckbuilder, it’s probably not surprising that the majority of events are battles.

As soon as a battle begins, it’s clear that Brave’s Rage isn’t quite like other deckbuilders. Instead of having plenty of time to look at your cards and plan out your moves, your enemies have an active time battle (ATB) gauge that continually fills, and they will automatically make a move as soon as the meter is maxed out. So while this does give you some time to plan, it’s drastically reduced, and you have to be much quicker on your toes than you typically do for this type of game. Not only do the enemies have an ATB gauge, but you do, as well, and you’ll need to wait for it to refill after every card you play. The ATB gauges allow for some fun tactics – you can take advantage of your enemies’ action times by timing certain attacks that will move you out of their range, thus allowing you to save your defensive cards for when you really need them.

Refreshing New Mechanics

Defensive actions are another area in which Brave’s Rage manages to set itself apart. If you time the use of your defensive cards perfectly, you can get a defensive bonus. While the bonus doesn’t seem particularly great, it can be the difference between life and death in particularly tough battles. While you can watch the enemy’s moves to try and time your activation, it’s much easier to simply slow down the battle speed and wait for the enemy to flash red. You can actually adjust the battle speed at any time, which is a welcome addition, especially if you’re feeling overwhelmed and just need a second to breathe and think.

Defeating enemies earns you additional cards that can be added to your deck (or passed over in favor of getting meat, more on that in a moment) and usually some gold, which can be used in shops. Said shops offer an array of cards to purchase, and some will allow you to pay a fee to get rid of a card from your deck. You can also purchase equipment, which confers bonuses on the character you equip them to, such as increased damage, reduced deck shuffling time, and much, much more. Defeating each stage’s boss will net you an experience point or two, which you can use to learn skills. Each character has their own unique skills, and investing in them can be the difference between victory and defeat.

Adorable on the Outside, Brutal on the Inside

Aesthetically, Brave’s Rage is far more adorable than its intense difficulty suggests. Everything has a cartoony, hand-drawn look to it, and I am here for it. The animations are fairly smooth (there’s some stuttering every once in a while, but nothing so obnoxious as to detract from the experience), the sound effects perfectly fine, if nothing particularly special. And while each stage looks sparse at first, watching everything pop up as you explore square by square is really quite delightful. The soundtrack is repetitive, but enjoyable enough, though nothing was particularly memorable.

A Bold Attempt in a Crowded Genre

My complaints for Brave’s Rage are few, the most immediate and obvious of which is the steep difficulty curve. There is absolutely zero hand-holding in Brave’s Rage, and the mechanics take quite a bit of practice to really get the hang of. Which isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but it can be off-putting to some. Additionally, the guarding mechanic could have been better explained. I was under the impression that you could block all damage if perfectly timed, but that doesn’t seem to be the case. It also felt like you never earned nearly enough money to actually use. I know that funds are usually scarce in these kinds of games, but it felt particularly stingy here.

Complaints aside, I thoroughly enjoyed my time with Brave’s Rage. It was a refreshing take on the already crowded deckbuilder genre. With engaging, unique mechanics, plenty of unlockables to encourage repeated playthroughs, various challenges, and plenty of character combinations to explore, there’s a lot to draw in fans and newcomers to the genre alike. While it’s not the easiest or most accessible of deckbuilders out there, I definitely found it to be one of the most unique and enjoyable I’ve encountered in a while.

Final Verdict: 4/5

Available on: Nintendo Switch (reviewed), PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, PC; Publisher: Astrolabe Games; Developer: ISVR; Players: 1; Released: February 2nd, 2023; ESRB: E for Everyone; MSRP: $17.99

Editor’s note: The publisher provided a review copy to Hey Poor Player.