Brawlhalla super smashes out of early access, bros
Oh this is thoroughly smashing!
A 'platform fighter' is not someone who leaves furious comments about Xbox controllers on your lovely little PC games website but rather a sort of fighting game with pugilists whacking each other off platforms - clue's in the name, yeah? Nintendo's Super Smash Bros. game rule the roost but those aren't on PC, so we're making our own. The latest to launch is Brawlhalla [official site], which left early access yesterday. It's free-to-play but the monetisation sounds sensible, and I've heard it's a pretty good game too.
So! Up to eight players enter the arena to beat each other up, in modes from singleplayer bot battles to 4v4 and 8-player free-for-alls. Fighters have their own moves, as is the fighting game way, though Brawlhalla's are heavily altered by weapons picked up in the arena. Things like swords, guns, and bombs all change a character's playstyle a lot. Then you duff each other up, leaping around, whacking people off platforms, marvelling as they use a million mid-air moves to recover and return, and generally engaging in cartoon violence.
Here's a blast of action from recent tournament qualifiers:
Brawlhalla's free-to-play model is a bit like League of Legends: 6 of its 34 characters (and the 35th will launch today) are free for everyone, a lineup rotating every week. Players can permanently unlock extra characters with virtuacurrency earned by playing. Cosmetic items including skins and taunts are sold for a few quid each in a premium microtransaction currency. And you can buy a pack which instantly unlocks all current and future characters.
You can play Brawlhalla through Steam. It's £16/€20/$20 for the character unlock pack.