Brazen Blaze Review

Country leadership contests should be decided with punching, and I can’t be the only person who thinks like that. Especially since developer and publisher MyDearest has released Brazen Blaze on VR systems, a multiplayer brawler with guns, grenades, and destructible environments. The story, such as it is, has a bunch of people literally fighting for the right to become the President of Earth.

Admittedly, I’m not really big on PvP (I already know you’re better than me, why prove it?), but I am quite a fan of MyDearest, so I figured that it would even out at best. After signing in to my MyDearest account (you can also log in using Discord), I ran through the tutorial and got the gist of things. Guns are kinda useful, but fists are where the real damage is done — stun someone and you can punch them into the sky like Team Rocket. You also have a limited number of grenades, and occasionally special items are dropped, which could be a big umbrella, a single-use rocket, or a few others.

Brazen Blaze has two game options: “Round Team” 3v3 team fights, or “Survival” with six players brawling. Oh, and Target Challenge, to try out characters. Once you choose your mode, you select your Presidential candidate (Runners) out of the nine options and then you’re put into the arena.

Combat is pretty straightforward, you can grab your guns from your shoulder, grenades from your hips, and power up a punch when you like. Well, saying that, you can do two or three powered punches (Runner depending) with each fist, alternatively you can repurpose that energy to boost you in the direction you’re pointing. Once someone takes enough damage they’re stunned, and the next punch will knock them out of the arena and into the sky. Everyone has three lives, and once each respawn is used up, the person remaining is the winner.

The arenas are filled with destructible buildings, and every so often a section will drop, leaving you to evacuate to (relative) safety. My favourite strategy is using explosives to knock people towards the far side of a falling section, as it’s fun to watch people struggle to reach safety but run out of boosts first.

The graphics in Brazen Blaze are pretty good, with well designed Runners each looking distinct, and you can unlock costumes for them using in-game or premium currency. They’re not super cheap, however, probably to try and aim people towards just buying currency. This isn’t a free-to-play game, but saying that, it’s not like it’s an expensive one either.

You gain premium currency by completing the Battle Pass (it’s a live service game after all), so to level that up you’re given daily and weekly tasks; such as winning a match or playing three times. When you’re not out there fighting, the lobby has a basketball hoop and a punching machine to help you pass the time.

Unfortunately, this is very much a standing game, given the amount of twisting and turning I found myself doing. There’s no teleport movement, it’s all done with the sticks with snap turning by default. It can be a little awkward at first, but I found myself really enjoying what was there, and it’s nice to play a game that has you moving.

Brazen Blaze is exciting to play, literally launching yourself towards your foes to claim the knock-out punch. While it’s not suitable for everyone, it might be worth a look even if you’re not a fan of PvP.