Brutal Orchestra

This game's approval rating is highly deserved.

It offers a highly replayable formula of turn based strategy and roguelike gameplay, akin to games like slay the spire, with its own twist on resource management. You'll have to figure out which of the bad guys to punch up first so that you can fuel your party's attacks correctly, which leads to sick combos of actions. I can't even count the amount of times I felt a rush of dopamine from having a string of moves execute itself perfectly like dominos, especially considering the game's chaotic nature which wants to make you work for it.

The artstyle of this game is stunning, both in shock and awe. I adore the grotty and misshapen aspect. It gives to most creatures and it really leaves a lot to the imagination, despite showing such grotesque details. I feel that it lives and dies by the phrase: "Art disturbs the comfortable and comforts the disturbed", a sentiment that is fueled by the absolutely heavenly soundtrack you'll hear throughout the adventure in this rotting world. Every enemy you'll meet has their own standalone soundtrack and, while you won't hear every monster's song change throughout the fights as they perish. Some are even dynamic to the point of having different versions play according to criterias in the battles. A feature most known from the music men you'll face off against.
Some monsters will have goofy music tracks and others, horrendous melodies to make you lie awake in bed at night. Even the environments are highly memorable and enjoyable, which is great for when you just want to kick back a little after a tough fight.
With both the art and the music of this game getting so much praise, you'd expect the story to come next and it would have, but sadly I prefer to leave this part to you to explore if you become convinced of going through with a purchase. I will say however, while it is a simple premise, the execution of it has outdid most games I've seen in the 6 years. It is able to explore its themes in depth while also not pushing aaside its own gameplay for the sake of its lore and gives a lot to interpret on the player's own.

Speaking of the gameplay, it's enthralling. The fights manage to push you into taking decisions with immediate consequences and results. You cannot escape the fore-told timeline of enemy actions described to you. The game knows this and will toy with you as much as it can; using displacement, stealing your resources, giving you the wrong ones, all sorts of monsters exist with a wide variety of effects on the field. You really have to watch your hubris with this one, or don't, Icarus atleast got to fly afterall.
Despite the relentless beasts you face on your quest, you have your own tricks up the sleeve. Whether it be the vast cast of foolish followers you meet and bring with you to their doom, or the pile of items you can use to give yourself the upper edge, there's plenty of ways to combine their effects and some might even cause some absolutely wicked synergies. I also love how the items you find are either references to world wars, biblical texts or even other titles from ItsTheTalia, one of the devs who made this gem, a lot of the flavor text associated with them always makes me want to gush about them.

If I may, now, I will say one thing heavy in spoilers directed towards the final act of the game:

It fixed me, I hope it can fix you too.


LAST SPOILER WARNING:

Despite saying I wouldn't talk about the story, I have to say that Osman Sinnoks is now the best boss fight I have seen ever, nothing has yet to even beat it in terms of what it accomplishes. Working as an insidious thought trying to have the doorway to Nowak be opened for him, just for him to then try to break the golden boy both physically and mentally, shattering his dreams of purgatory with an insane assault of punches and a gut ripping special attack. "Mortal Horizon" is never going to leave my mind, mark my words. That man is more of a demon than anything in the underworld we find him in and he relishes it, trying to mark our mind with his promise of beauty in violence and blood. It's no wonder why he was modeled after the works of the gore artist Francis Bacon and I wouldn't have it any other way. It also adds to his identity as an onthologically similar being to Nowak, as if they had been on the same paths with different lives. Showing a dark, yet darker facet of how Nowak's life could have transpired. His dialect drove a splinter through my mind about the inner works of his mind. An artist whose brushes are of knuckles and whose paint is pried from one's veins. (Reminds me of Muse from Daredevil now that I think of it, no wonder I liked the latter when I first heard of him). His soundtrack solidifies his imposing stature as a threat. I remember feeling stress and anxiety as I fought him, but his decay sent me into full blown fear and panic along with a frantic music change.

As for Heaven, the more I think into the being, the more I seem to like it. Wasn't as much of a fan as I was for Sinnoks at first, it was still amazing as an encounter, meeting it on my first real run had me shook from the presentation of it, then, I was able to slowly enjoy every facet of it. The way it forces burdens upon you. How you feel like it wishes to actively punish for making hasty choices. The intensity of "Come Home". The symbolic representation of the games' themes of existentialism and human nature being confronted by an animalistic representation of the divine perfection of the world. It all piles up and twists and turns into a picture you can't help but lose yourself into.

An artwork of divine excellence, painted by the abborent reflexion of a man and what he never will be. The perfect catalist to Nowak's realisation, that the journey will forever haunt him in his final moments. Yet, he finally understand what made his struggle worthwhile, despite having given up on life, he manages to give himself the closure he yearned for and paints one final time. Free of the torment of perfection and recognition, he embraces the simple beauty of colors.

In death, he is one, in death, he has lost fear.


Thank you for reading this, I have to admit that I let out a lot of built up admiration into this from more than a year's worth. I hope you may find the joy I have discovered.

And thank you Talia.

One of the most beautiful masterpieces I have ever had the opportunity of playing. Not only in its story but also in its design and gameplay.

This is art. In its purest form.

Great game, good mechanics, kind of a tabletop game with a unique vibe.
Very replayable, gameplay loop is fun, and you can go in depth with combat as you learn ,its well made
only complain i have is that its a bit rngbased on runs sometimes, but its okay, its a rogue like

good game