No Place for Bravery Reviews
No Place for Bravery is another stellar soulslike for genre fans to add to their library on the Switch. By taking the best elements from Sekiro and translating those into a fast-paced, isometric ARPG with deep world-building and compelling narrative hooks, No Place for Bravery does more than enough to provide a title that stands out amidst a sea of samey competition.
No Place for Bravery tries to carve its own place in a flood of Souls-like titles hitting the market to some success. Its excellent, yet tragic, story continues to resonate strongly with me and some of its set pieces were truly captivating. The combat was serviceable with a decent amount of enemy variety and always demanded my attention. However, the game was let down by its bland pixel graphics and technical hiccups.
horn’s quest to save Leaf is exceptionally well-written, and the world of Dewr is one of the more enjoyable video game worlds I’ve explored in some time. Despite some minor quibbles with the combat and some of the world-building, No Place for Bravery is still an excellent game that players looking for a challenge are sure to enjoy.
Ultimately though, No Place for Bravery is so heavily indebted to its influences that it never carves out a real identity of its own. A game that should lean heavily on its combat, and on telling its story, instead becomes bogged down with frustrating traps and repeatedly going over the same ground. The reliance on opaque systems and too many written lore extracts also detracts from the accomplished visuals and sound. In a market increasingly crowded with games drawing from the same well, it isn’t clear that there is a place for No Place for Bravery.
No Place for Bravery is an interesting piece of goldsmithing that has been given a twist that is not new, but here it has the merit of seeming so at least. Under an umbrella of beautiful 2D art, in the form of an action adventure, we have nothing less than a sort of Sekiro. A soul-like game that goes further by appealing to direct combat and the lack of accessories, such as character level upgrades, weapons, magic... so that the calculated and precise fight is the most vital. All stuffed into a story of fantasy, epic, decadence and fatherhood. A lot of ambition of course, which is not always up to par. Rhythm and uneven situations, some problems in that combination of demanding combat and skill, in its 'action-RPG' proposal, without the RPG. But still worth it for more than just enjoying its hard-working graphics and sound.
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The current Switch build of No Place for Bravery is so buried under technical problems that you should stay far away. But if and when the problems are fixed? I wasn’t able to see the end of No Place for Bravery, making it difficult to fully evaluate. It certainly has some good pieces: great art, a strong concept, and satisfying combat. Maybe that’s enough for it to be worth a shot. Still, from what I did see, it’s hard not to feel that with a bit more thought and care No Place for Bravery could have been a much better game than it is.