Brawlhalla

Brawlers may not be the most popular games on the market, but they can strike big if the mechanics are just right. Otherwise, people would much rather prefer a classic fighting game between two players at a time, such is the case with Mortal Kombat or Street Fighter. Granted, brawlers are designed from the start to be much simpler and approachable.

Brawlhalla is a fast-paced brawler that should be able to provide you with many hours of entertainment, at least if you take the time to appreciate its generous offer of characters, arenas and game modes. On the other hand, it can also be an occasional hobby for you and a few friends, because the game supports both online and local multiplayer.

The core concept of Brawlhalla is to knock the enemies out of the arena and prevent them from coming back. You are rewarded one point for one knockout and you are subtracted one whenever you get knocked out yourself. It’s a simple idea, but given all the different characters and special abilities you can use, it takes a long time to really get comfortable with every gameplay element.

Each character has a unique ability and a couple of weapons that can be used during the fights, although you start out empty handed. These weapons spawn around the arena on a regular basis, and you do not really know which one you’re going to get until you pick it up. It can get pretty chaotic sometimes, especially when everyone is jumping around trying to hit someone.

Thankfully, the controls are not as annoying as the gameplay footage might lead you to believe. It’s easier to use a controller, but the keyboard is perfectly fine as well, since you only need a handful of keys to access every function. Everything is very responsive and accurate, which is exactly what you want when a simple mistake can cost you the entire match.

Although Brawlhalla is still in Beta and you may stumble into the occasional bug every now and again, the game is still very fun, not to mention addictive. It’s also oozing with content and many different game modes, whether you want to play online, in co-op, or in single player against the artificial intelligence.