Prepare to juggle your Nintendo Switch like you are part of the Greatest Showman’s .. show (the movie, with Hugh Jackman..? Yes, I do more than writing gaming reviews). Rotating Brave is an action game in which you control a pixel-art character (gotta love those) and take on enemies while spinning. So let’s enter a hybrid baby of Jetpack Joyride and every rogue dungeon-runner on the market..
Rogue Dungeon games are everywhere nowadays. Pick a character, get items, defeat enemies, die – retake run with upgrades aaaaaand repeat. Rotating Brave does the same trick, so let’s get rid of the elephant in the room. Yes, this is an action game in which you fight your way through a dungeon-esque designed level system in which you defeat enemies to gain points. With said points, you can buy upgrades, like more health or different skills etcetera.
Rotating Brave Mechanics:
Once you die you will get more points, which unlocks new skills and stuff to buy to make the runs easier. See, what I just described could have been the handle for DUNGEON CRAWLER X, a new indie game I just came up with. But what most of the good dungeon crawlers have in common is something that sets them apart. Crypt of the Necrodancer has its music and rhythmic killing, Isaac has its unique item system (and cultish following), Rotating Brave has you doing juggling, and we loved it.
Juggle-time!
Basically, what happens in this game is: You start off holding the Nintendo Switch console vertically. Then, as you progress from one stage to the next, you play while spinning the Nintendo Switch console, sometimes holding the Nintendo Switch horizontally and sometimes holding it vertically. This really needs some getting used to since it’s not the easiest to play with your Nintendo Switch vertically and still controlling your character on the touchscreen. Yes, you read that right, you can’t play this game with a Pro-Controller, nor in docked mode (and yes I tried, did not work, only made my neck hurt).
Storywise
Once you are used to the concept of Rotating Brave, you can slaughter your way through the monsters, which have a weird sense of ancient Greece mixed with Steampunk (which was nice, made me think of Oceanhorn a bit). In every few stages, you will encounter memories, which will help you puzzle the story of the game together. I won’t spoil much on this, but it’s a little bit cliche. The official storyline for this game, as taken from its website, explains why:
An endless war with a foreign country.
In order to claim victory and end this war, our country decided to use an ancient shrine which holds vast energy.
We began to gather shrine maidens who could offer prayers to the shrine to harness its energy.
My childhood friend was also selected as a shrine maiden and went far away to the ancient remnants.
Soon after, the vast energy was unleashed from the shrine and it ran rampant. With no means of controlling the energy, the surroundings were brought to ruin as it destroyed both enemy and ally alike.
I was on the battleground as a warrior at the time, but I somehow escaped danger and made it out unscathed.
But my childhood friend is still at that shrine.
Within the depths of the shrine, I’m shown memories of my past with her. Is that an effect of the energy? Or could it be…
Rotating Conclusion
So basically, you collect this energy from the enemies you destroy (they look like energized glass pieces to me). With this energlass, you use your skills, but you will also become more of this energlass when you die. Kind of philosophical, isn’t it? The game itself plays fine, once you get used to the turning and twisting. I really couldn’t get a nice way to play with my Nintendo Switch in the vertical position. I get what they were trying to achieve, and it works fine. But it’s just not my cup of tea. You can watch some gameplay here, to see what I mean. Rotating Brave does bring something new to the table, so let’s applaud them for it (and it’s cheap). A decent game, with a decent story and overall decent aspects. Rotating Brave is out now on the Nintendo Switch eShop.
