Review: Brave Escape
- Guilherme Ribeiro
- 5 hours ago
- 3 min read
Only coordination can save you.
THE GAME
Brave Escape is a cooperative platform game developed and distributed by Hit Start Studios. Explorer Colin and robot Floyd team up on an adventure where progress depends on their cooperation, whether through precise jumps or using their abilities at the right time. Call a friend or find someone online and brave the dangers of Brave Escape.
MY IMPRESSIONS
The first thing I want to highlight about Brave Escape is the existence of the Friend's Pass. Since it's a game that, theoretically, you can only play with one other player, having a way to play with someone who doesn't own the game is commendable. It might seem like a small thing, but many games don't do this and require multiple copies to be purchased just to play cooperatively. It's smart to do this because perhaps without this pass, not a single player would buy it because they'd have to get a friend to buy it too. Even though there's a way to find other people online to play with, it's not the same as playing with a friend, with more coordination and intimacy. Furthermore, having to depend on someone playing at the same time as you, and perhaps not being as interested or at the same pace as you, makes the game too restrictive to rely solely on this method of finding online players. Therefore, I think it's important to put this as the first and most important point to be made about Brave Escape.
The game is in Brazilian Portuguese, although it doesn't have much text or a particularly intriguing story to follow. The game consists of advancing through themed maps using cooperation. While Colin uses his rope to help Floyd (and even himself) reach high places, the robot can be used as a trampoline by the explorer to jump higher, as well as adapting to the environment's theme and acquiring new mechanics. The level of challenge is quite high at times, as players often need to make precise and coordinated jumps or even time their actions to overcome the challenge in the correct time. With many different themes, there are maps with electricity, ice, fire, and even in twilight. Each one unlocks a new mechanic for Floyd to use exclusively on that map, which prevents the game from being just a repetition of the same idea. Overcoming some challenges would be difficult normally, but some maps have collectibles that will require players to take a few extra steps than they should to collect them and complete the level. Beyond the standard levels, there are bonus levels that will demand even more from players, with challenges far greater than normal. Brave Escape offers two difficulty levels: the standard, which offers a more relaxed yet still challenging experience, and the Brave mode, which is how the game was designed, with much greater difficulty and requiring players to be much more skilled and coordinated.
Even with a simple concept and art style, Brave Escape offers a fun challenge to players. Although some levels may seem impossible, the only thing that will stop you from advancing is a lack of coordination. It's a game that challenges you from beginning to end, with well-thought-out and well-constructed levels.
ACHIEVEMENTS
Although challenging, Brave Escape offers simple achievements. Besides completing all the levels and finishing the game, which you'll normally do, Brave Escape also has an achievement for collecting all the collectibles, requiring a bit more effort from players. Since it's a game of trial and error, achievements related to player deaths are quite common, including one for dying 5000 times. There's also an achievement for when one player causes the death of another using their abilities, which can happen intentionally or unintentionally. And if all that isn't enough, there are two achievements related to the early levels, which take place in the ancient cave. These two achievements are: completing the entire ancient cave without dying and finishing it in under 8 minutes. While with practice you can achieve these challenges, getting 100% of the achievements in Brave Escape will require a lot of patience and coordination between players.
CONCLUSION
Brave Escape manages to deliver great fun through its simplicity, showing that a game doesn't need complex mechanics to be enjoyable. A game requiring two players might seem prohibitive, but the Friend's Pass was a brilliant addition. The proposed challenge, combined with the challenge of coordinating with a friend to advance, turns short levels into fair challenges with good progression that demonstrates that only coordination is needed to move forward. If you're looking for a challenging game to play with a friend, Brave Escape will offer you everything you want.
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