Brigandine Abyss Review – Grueling Fantasy Strategy

Brigandine Abyss Review

Brigandine Abyss is a sequel to 2020’s Brigandine: The Legend of Runersia. It is a turn-based strategy game with the trappings of a JRPG. The result is a surprisingly grueling but rewarding experience for those willing to delve into its mechanics.

When I call Brigandine Abyss a strategy RPG, I’m not talking about titles like Fire Emblem or Persona 5 Tactica. This game is more like Risk meets Final Fantasy. It’s very much an acquired taste for classic JRPG fans.

A fantasy land is plunged into chaos when a new emperor declares his intentions to conquer the continent. Now, six playable nations must take a stand to save their inhabitants.

One faction seeks to save its brainwashed dragon population. Another strives for revenge. A third dreams only of freedom from the hellish existence they’ve been forced into. All of them are faced with unique struggles on their own story campaigns.

Fantasy War Simulator

Brigandine Abyss features a Story Mode and a Mission Mode. Story mode offers some interesting mechanical spins on the modern Fire Emblem-like tactical JRPG. For starters, it leaves the player large gaps between mandatory battle levels.

In Story Mode, you advance the story by fighting in Event Battles and prepare during the time between them. Progress gives you new bases and leader units. Every passing season gives you money and materials to level up bases and purchase items.

Each season has three phases: Organization, Attack, and Invasion. Troops moved in Organization aren’t available for the other phases. Adjacent bases of different factions can strike during Invasion. And if you don’t have enough troops on standby, you won’t be able to defend your bases when they’re attacked.

This game demands a lot of tactical focus from players. It’s not enough to keep your territories safe and build them up. You also need to keep an eye on the upcoming Event Battles.

Mission mode features 24 different factions racing toward their own goals. Each has different win conditions. Different missions also take different amounts of time to complete. Keep that in mind when picking one.

Brigandine Abyss is Here to Challenge You

Brigandine Abyss is quite a challenge. Story Mode offers Easy, Normal, and Hard difficulties, and Normal mode can already be grueling. Plan ahead or you will have to restart, or at least go back a few turns.

Gameplay takes place on a hexagonal grid. The party is split into three troops, each consisting of monster forces and humanoid Leaders. You can summon generic units at a base, recruit defeated leaders, or spend extra money to summon unique leaders. A successful quest can also recruit unique units.

The ability to target leaders and rout their squads can make battle very efficient. Of course, this also works for the enemy. A troop leader can also Rally one of their units, removing it from the field but gaining a new trait.

Like other strategy RPG titles, including Fire Emblem and Super Robot Wars, different environments impact mobility. However, elevation also matters when planning your campaign.

Enemy movement is restricted around player controlled units. And an encircled unit is much easier to damage than it would be otherwise. Pick your battles. Sometimes it’s better to farm enemy units, and sometimes you should go right for the leader.

Recruiting new monsters and leaders feels like a gacha game. You can try rigging the system by upgrading bases or recruiting specific characters. But it’s still a gacha game, and sometimes their stats will be crap.

This Game Could Look Much Better

Brigandine Abyss has a lot of lore tucked away in its gallery, but the game itself isn’t very narrative-driven. Most of the story is contained through character descriptions and brief dialog between attacking factions.

Cutscenes feature stylized graphics that straddle the line between anime and 3D CGI. Sadly, the rest of the game isn’t as pretty as the cutscenes.

Don’t get me wrong. The character designs are lovely and the models are nice to look at. It’s the battle maps that feel more generic. If this game took a stronger stylized approach to its environments, I would be very happy.

The Japanese voice acting is solid, but not every line is subtitled. And the battle music is pretty nice.

All in all, this is a game designed for a niche audience that will love it. If you think Fire Emblem doesn’t have enough base building and Disgaea is only slightly too much of a number cruncher, Brigandine Abyss might be up your alley.

***Steam code provided by the publisher***