Brandish

"One of the most mysterious games I have ever played"

Brandish is an RPG with an odd style. Originally released for Japanese PCs in 1991 by Falcom, the game is like a first-person dungeon crawler viewed from overhead. Your character moves like a first-person rpg character, meaning that when you turn left or right, the screen turns left or right. The game was finally brought to the US in 1995 by Koei. Brandish has an unconventional and somewhat clunky interface that takes a little time to learn, but those who are patient enough to learn the basics could have a very enjoyable adventure. This is yet another Falcom RPG with that trademark addictive, fundamentally sound gameplay.

Brandish starts off with our hero, Varik being chased by Alexis, for killing her master. As Varik is chased off, they both end up falling into a 40-floor dungeon. Varik must defeat vicious enemies and solve many puzzles to get back to the surface, all while avoiding the wrath
of the lovely Alexis.

As I said, Brandish is like 1st-person RPG in the way the environment turns with your character. However, you have the option to set the controls with strafing as default, and only turn by holding L or R. Your orientation is shown by a compass, and the dungeons have a very helpful automap which displays treasures, doors and areas you've visited, while unvisited spots are in white. The best way to navigate is to strafe, keep your orientation north to line with the map, and turn when you want to view walls. Varik can equip a weapon shield and armor. Most weapons will break after a specified number of uses, and a few are permanent. Combat is very basic hack 'n' slash. You just tap attack to kill of an enemy while maneuvering around to get a hit. Given the movement scheme in the game, enemies must line up right in front of you to get a hit. Along the way, you can pick up some magic spells, all of which are very useful. Magic spells can give big advantages in combat or let you teleport all over a dungeon. There are stores every few floors where weapons, items, or magic can be bought.

There are numerous reasons that Brandish can be very fun and
involving.

First, there is special attention paid to fine details in leveling up. You can level up attributes just by using abilities. Your level goes up by slaying enemies, but every strike you make in combat or spell used raises your knowledge or strength with swords. Also, the item and spell selection is concise but useful. Every spell has a distinct purpose that can make life easier. Furthermore, you can change the speed of the game. One can use fast for open and relatively safe areas, and slow for enemies that require timing and evasion.

Additionally, the basic elements come together well in Brandish. The game has that old-school joy of exploring dungeons leveling up with concise combat, and solving many puzzles. The puzzles are creative and fair in difficulty. There are many of them, and a few of them may require a guide, but they're satisfying to solve and not overwhelming.

Finally, Brandish has an overall alluring and mysterious feel to it. Along the way, you meet many shopkeepers who've given up on escaping the dungeon, yet they still want money for goods. The situation with some of the prisoners of the dungeon is very creepy when one thinks about it. Though Brandish is not story intensive, the most powerful part of the story is what is untold. Also, the art direction in the game is very good. Character portraits are lively and well drawn, and the enemies you fight in the dungeon are very cool. They range from creepy gorgons to headless giants. There are many nice enemy designs and this no doubt adds to the games allure.

The graphics in Brandish are nothing special, and they don't try to be flashy. There animations are not so fluid and the areas tend to have repetitive and uncolorful drawings. Thankfully, the character portraits are at least well drawn, and the graphics are not terrible. The music in Brandish is a better situation. There is not much different music, but the tunes do not get annoying and they fit in with the whole aura of the game. The music helps convey the message
that you are all alone in a desolate area.

Brandish is an RPG that some will despise. There's hardly any interaction with townspeople, and you spend all the time in the game in challenging dungeons. Although the game lets you save anywhere, you're constantly under the threat of dying, often by surprise. Plus, although the interface made more sense as I kept playing, things like using items could have been a little cleaner. But the fact that Brandish throws so many things out the window is why I found it fun. Just throw me in a dungeon, give me quick hack 'n' slash combat, and challenge me with puzzles. No trying to find the right townsperson or a spot on the world map. In a sense, Brandish is tough, yet it does away with qualities I do not care for in an RPG. Like other RPGs of this type, it can actually appeal to my arcade-minded nature.

Lengthwise, expect Brandish to take 15-25 hours. I found this length quite sizable but not too large to play through. Some may complain about every RPG that is not 50+ hours, but they do not consider that many gamers would rather enjoy an RPG and still have room left for other games. Moreover, it is very impressive that Brandish managed to squeeze 40 intense floors in that time frame, leaving no impression of a watered-down game.

Overall, Brandish is one of the more memorable and compelling RPGs I have played. It kept me addicted to the very end, and I was desperate to finally help Varik reach the surface. Here are my end of game stats: 174 deaths, and about 15.5 hours of gameplay. If you're looking for an addictive dungeon crawler with oldschool gameplay and plenty of puzzles, Brandish is a pretty affordable way to do so. It seems that more Falcom games are making it to the US, and hopefully, we'll get to enjoy their classic RPG gameplay more often.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 08/23/07