Developer: Hit Start Studios
Publisher: Hit Start Studios
Platform: PC, PS5, Xbox Series X/S
Tested on: PS5
Brave Escape – Review
Thanks to titles such as It Takes Two and Split/Fiction, co-op games have been extremely popular again. Granted, there aren’t that many titles that reach the same level of quality and entertainment value as the aforementioned two titles, but there are quite a few hidden gems out there. This brings us to the subject of today’s review: Brave Escape, a cooperative platformer that amps up the difficulty. We tried out the game with a buddy, and while not everything was perfect, we quite enjoyed ourselves.
Story
The game begins with a short introduction where Colin hears a sound in the distance and decides to check it out. Before he knows it, he falls into a crevasse and finds himself in the company of a friendly robot, Floyd. Sadly, there is no way up, and the newly found duo will have to make their way through obstacles and pitfalls. After a short while, they discover a massive computer that tells them what they have to do to make it out. There is a bit of story content in between the different biomes, but other than that, the narrative takes the backseat for most of the experience. We didn’t mind the absence of a fleshed-out story and appreciated that there was any story value at all.
Graphics
Brave Escape is a retro-inspired title that uses a pixel-art style many indie developers use nowadays. The graphics are reminiscent of SNES-era games, and we quite like this style ourselves. You’ll be treated to different biomes within the game, each with their own hazards, but Brave Escape remains a simple-looking title throughout the experience. We didn’t mind this, as it’s all about the gameplay here. That being said, there are some fun small details to be found in the levels, and generally the design team made an effort to design all the different assets. Thanks to the chosen art style, the game does not suffer from frame drops or stutters, making sure that your untimely demise is only met due to poor timing or bad communication with your co-op buddy.
Sound
All in all, the sound design certainly isn’t bad for Brave Escape. The music is actually fairly chill, which does help to keep your composure after dying for the umpteenth time. The SFX provide decent audio feedback for the jumps, abilities, and, of course, meeting your untimely demise by one of the game’s many obstacles and traps. As a whole, everything sounds simple but polished.
Gameplay
Brave Escape is a cooperative platformer where two players need to work together to overcome loads of obstacles. You’ll play as either Colin or Floyd, each having their unique abilities. While Colin will keep his trusty rope throughout the adventure, Floyd’s skillset changes depending on the biome you are in. The offset is simple here, as you’ll have to work together and communicate clearly if you want to overcome what the game throws at you. There are two difficulty options to play through, with the hardest one truly being one for masochists. Don’t get us wrong, we loved the fact that there are difficulty options, as it means there is a lot more replay value.
As stated above, Floyd has different abilities depending on the biome you wish to clear. In combination with new hazards and obstacles in each biome, it does prevent the game from growing stale. The new abilities test how well you can communicate with your co-op buddy, and they make it so that you have to learn new things each time again. That being said, Colin is left in the dark here, as his skill set simply remains the same. It would have been nice to see Colin’s skill set change as well. Even so, both characters feel equally important for most of the game, so it’s not that noticeable that Colin is more dependent on his single ability than Floyd using multiple ones.
With two difficulty options available, you’ll have quite a bit of content to go around. We do suggest starting on the lowest difficulty to eventually try amping up the difficulty if you feel like you can comfortably clear the normal levels. Even so, there are several difficulty spikes, and these often don’t have to do with great level design. We found that some levels were more designed to be extremely annoying, rather than being skill-based. This may just be our opinion on the matter, but some of the levels simply weren’t a lot of fun and took away from the overall enjoyment factor the game otherwise has. Don’t get us wrong, most of the stages were clearly designed with care, but some simply felt annoying and underwhelming.
Conclusion
Brave Escape was an entertaining but tough-as-nails co-op platformer title. While we enjoyed most of the experience, there were moments when the level design was annoying rather than challenging, which did take away some of the fun. Luckily, those moments were few and far between, and we really enjoyed ourselves playing through this one. Even on the lower difficulty setting, beating all the levels felt like a true achievement. If you’re looking for something challenging to play with a buddy, then we suggest checking this one out.
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