Braveland Review

Reminiscent of games such as Heroes of Might and Magic, Braveland is a fairly charming affair. It's a little simplistic in execution, but time passes nicely while playing it and there's that steady urge to see what comes next - even if it is inevitably over all too soon.

A turn-based RPG, players control a warrior's son as he attempts to raise an army of his own. Peculiarly, players don't control the son on the battlefield but instead maintain his army throughout. That army can be gradually built up through meeting new acquaintances as well as spending money on hiring mercenaries. Each unit type is stacked up, meaning they move en masse when confronting their foes.

Combat mostly involves taking turns to move forward and then clash with the enemy, chipping away at their defenses. Special abilities can be used too, after a time, such as the defensive armor spell or shooting fire arrows at the opposition. It's a slow and steady affair, and while sometimes I wished it was possible to speed up the movements it's still fairly satisfying.

Progression elsewhere involves following a set of linear paths. At times, events branch off but only usually for a few steps in order to gain a new bonus or set of troops. It's a fairly restrictive process, right down to one's inability to replay previously completed battles. There's also no distinctive penalty for death in battle other than a reduction in gold gained, so Braveland is rarely especially challenging.

Distinctly casual in nature, Braveland is still plenty of fun. It could have been made even better by a bit more variety and open-endedness but I still enjoyed my time with it. It fits into the mobile gaming motif well, making it easy to achieve something in a short space of time while remaining steadily pleasant.