- Brandish
- Brandish 2: The Planet Buster
- Brandish 3: Spirit of Balcan
- Brandish VT
Before the events of the first game, Ares was implicated in the murder of Dela’s master, the mage Balcan. This third game, which caps off the main trilogy, recontextualizes this with the prologue. Ares and Balcan visit the kingdom of Fiberia, where they meet the mad king Gizer, who’s been possessed by the God of Darkness. The two are able to stop the king, but Balcan sacrifices himself in the process, with Ares delivering the final blow at his master’s command. While the evil has temporarily dispelled, it’s still not gone forever, leading Ares and Dela to revisit the kingdom many years later at the request of Balcan’s spirit.
Brandish 3 is once again very similar to its predecessors, with few noticeable additions, one being the zoomed in mini-map, so you don’t have a squint. There’s a new jump attack, a charge attack, and a backstep maneuver too. Also new is a tool shop where you can store your goods, along with abnormal status effects.
The biggest change is that there are four playable characters. You can still play as Ares, plus you can now play as Dela, after finally graduating from her role as a secondary character. Also added are the brawler Umber and the ninja Jinza, which were boss characters from the second Brandish. Although they differ slightly in their abilities, the events, and some of the levels they traverse, the storylines aren’t drastically different between them. The story also includes several more important story characters, including Mirelle, Dora’s adopted sister. You’ll get a lot more out of the story if you’ve played the previous Brandish games, though they’re not technically required. There are also seven enemy characters that are playable in an omake mode, but their story is the same as Ares’.
Characters
Umber
Umber is a tough wrestler and the champion of the arena in Brandish 2, upgraded to playable character in Brandish 3. Fitting with the fantasy tough girl stereotype, her judo thong reveals quite a bit of her (somewhat frightening) bodybuilder physique. She fights with knuckles, axes, boomerangs, and morning stars.
Jinza
Jinza is a master ninja – he begins his quest by burglarizing someone house, before he’s unceremoniously beaten up and sucked into the main adventure of Brandish 3.
The intro cinema looks fantastic, and the music is excellent as usual. Altogether, it’s more Brandish, though sadly this one went unported compared to the previous two games. It’s a shame, since this is also the most ambitious of the bunch.
