There are 2 very marked trends in recent years in terms of indie titles: pixel art and gore. Games like Eastward and Unsighted have exemplary art, while Blasphemous and Moonscar are brutalities that border on aesthetically beautiful. No Place For Bravery brings these elements together almost perfectly, but it leaves out a few details along the way.
A STORY THAT THE PROTAGONIST CARRIES ON HIS BACK
Let’s start with the good. This instalment is a 2D action RPG with a view from above and that has the essence of the souls very marked. The developers say their biggest inspiration is Sekiro, and it shows because the combat is spattered with blood and gore.
In this adventure, we will take on the role of Thorn, a man who lives in a small town that one day is invaded by dark sorcerers, and one of them kidnaps his daughter. After chasing after him to rescue her, the villains escape from her, leaving behind a boy named Phid, who has both his legs broken for unknown reasons.
Thorn feels sorry for the boy, so he decides to adopt him as his son and quickly grows fond of him. Although they do not share blood, their interactions are tender and serve to also make us feel affection for Phid, who accompanies us in almost the entire game.
Outside of Thorn and Phil, most of the characters are grey and forgettable, mainly because they have little screen time and very short dialogue. Even the Warlock, who is the main villain, appears for brief moments, mostly when our protagonist talks about him. Still, the central plot, which is the quest for Leaf, is interesting.
There are moments with little dialogue, which is also irrelevant, but there are also twists and turns that surprise you because you don’t see them coming. That is a great point in favour of No Place For Bravery because being a soul with a complicated difficulty, knowing what will happen later motivates you to keep going.
PRACTICE MAKES A MASTER
Speaking of difficulty, this title isn’t as frustrating as Sekiro or Dark Souls, but it’s still quite a challenge, especially at first. We start our adventure with only a sword, so the first confrontations usually end in defeat due to being attacked from all sides.
There is no need to worry too much about this. First of all, because we will die often and because, as we discover secrets and paths on the map, we will find weapons, objects and abilities with various uses. For example, the hammer that we receive in the middle of the way is used to eliminate enemies and also to break blocks and make our way in some areas of the map.
Because we eventually get powerful and get a full arsenal, the difficulty curve is fair and well-implemented. In the first 2-3 hours of play, we’ll struggle a lot to defeat our enemies and take as little damage as possible, especially against bosses, but then things level out and we’re a lot more proficient, which feels like progression. organic.
Of course, this depends on the player: if you are used to this type of game, you will probably agree with me and eventually, everything will seem easier to you; if he’s new to the genre, we’ve got good news too, as I’ll explain shortly.
A GOOD FIRST STEP FOR THOSE WHO WANT TO ENTER THE GENRE
No Place For Bravery has several accessibility modifications. In addition to allowing us to choose a difficulty, it is possible to increase health, and reduce that of enemies and other details so that no one is left wanting to finish the game despite having two right hands.
As much as the fights can be brutal, the game forces us to use multiple moves, which adds variety to the combat. On offence, we’re not just spamming the attack button, there’s also the weapon swap button and those that help launch projectiles. For defence, the shield is very helpful, as it is used to make parries that leave opponents defenceless, as well as rolling and using potions.
The only problem with this is that it’s sometimes awkward to do the button combinations needed to throw knives or take a potion. On Switch, you have to press ZR and then A, B, X or Y, depending on which item you want. In a calm moment, there is no problem, but in the middle of a fight against several enemies it can be confusing; I, a couple of times selected the wrong item.
Music is another point in favour of No Place For Bravery; there are beautiful themes, like the main menu. It is a combination of Gregorian chants, ambient music and subtle orchestral arrangements that adorn the adventure very well. It’s not superb all the time, either, and there are enough songs to make it memorable.
Before moving on to the negative, I have to highlight his superb and magnificent art. As I mentioned, there are plenty of great pixel art indies over the years, but No Place For Bravery beats most because its landscapes are a visual delight. Discovering and exploring each area is a pleasure.
NOT ALL THAT GLITTERS IS GOLD
Now let’s move on to the negative, which is unfortunately very obvious. Several users complained from the day the game was released because the technical errors are very annoying and even ruined their experience. They said the same thing about Sonic Origins and it didn’t seem bad to me, but this time I was very disappointed because the bugs and malfunctions were very present.
While the visuals are mind-blowing, details like a drastic drop in frame rate and turbulent camera movement are like a nail in the ground: you can live with it, but there are times when it doesn’t let you think. One of the game’s biggest draws is the violent, sadistic, and explosive executions, but being so slow and crude spoils the experience a bit.
Maybe it’s a creative decision and not a drop in fps because it happens so often. If that is the case, Glitch Factory made a very poor decision, as a smoother motion would have a better visual impact, especially since normal attacks look good with the fluidity they have.
Being a 2D game with a view from above, camera movement when moving from one room to another is common and ideally, it should be smooth, but it is the opposite. It feels choppy and bumpy, like driving on a rocky road and ends up getting annoying after a long game time.
VERDICT
Many times when moving from one room to another the panning is immediate and seamless, but when we enter a new temple or dungeon we have to wait for the game to load. This would not matter if the load times were short, but sometimes they are very long and constant, so they end up desperate.
These bugs tarnish the experience a bit but could be overlooked due to the gameplay being so much fun and the story enthralling at times. In my case, I found 2 bugs that made me restart the game. In the first one, I was facing a boss that wasn’t on screen but was attacking me. The other was a simple crash that closed the app.
If the game had a constant autosave I wouldn’t have minded, but the game saves every time you pray at a campfire, and sometimes those points are far apart from each other, so I had to go back a long way because of this shutdown unexpected.
In conclusion, No Place For Bravery is a game that goes to extremes: it shines in some aspects and makes blunders. On the one hand, I thoroughly enjoyed its combat, difficulty, exploration, story, progress, art, and music, but on the other, its technical bugs constantly stressed me out.
