Game review: Strange Brigade is a strange gaming experience

In honor of The Mummy 20th anniversary, I played a game to incite the same feelings, but did “Strange Brigade” hold up or does it need to be mummified?

Strange Brigade is a third-person shooter that was developed and published by Rebellion Developments. It is an adventure game set in the 1930’s and allows 1-4 four players in the campaign. I played solo, so my review will be for an entirely solo run. Maybe the experience is a little different for those who play with friends, but normally gameplay is considered more difficult when playing solo, so that’s how I will run. Onward, adventurers!

I was excited to play this game. I loved The Mummy, I love archaeology and Egyptology, so my inner child was hoping to be wild for this game but this game is just…strange.  You choose to be one of four characters: Nalangu Rashida, Gracie Braithwaite, Archimedes de Quincey and Frank Fairburne. In the DLC, there are five additional characters and three additional levels to play, but this review is for the main game alone.

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Each character has their own special abilities. On top of that, you can upgrade and purchase new weapons the more levels you play. In the levels themselves are limited-ammo heavy weapons that you can purchase for bigger battles.

Once the ammo is used up, the gun gets discarded. Each level introduces a new kind of more difficult enemy, but none are truly THAT difficult. The story follows a group of people who protect the British Empire from supernatural issues and when an archaeologist opens a cursed tomb for notoriety, the Strange Brigade gets the call to send the evil Seteki back where she belongs.

Image courtesy of Rebellion Developments

In the nicest way possible, Strange Brigade is just…okay. The levels are all really similar, the enemies are all really similar, the fights and puzzles are all really similar and it’s all just okay. It makes me so disappointed because I wanted this game to be SO good.

The narration is witty and funny, the graphics are cartoonish but fun and the controls are user friendly. But everything is just so repetitive. After about two hours of gameplay, I began to feel bored, like I had seen everything already.

Even the final boss doesn’t FEEL like a final boss. While it is more difficult than previous fights, it was fast and there was no catharsis. It was just done and that’s it.

Strange Brigade is still selling for $50 on Steam which seems extremely steep for around a 5-6 hour game, considering a game like Final Fantasy XV is 100+ hours and only $10 more.

If you and a friend can find this game in a big sale, it may give you a few fun hours in co-op, but if you are looking for a full story experience, expansive gameplay and replayability, then this may not be the game for you. I’d give Strange Brigade a 5/10, middle of the road. It is available on PS4, Xbox One and Windows.

Have you played Strange Brigade yet? Let us know in the comments.