Have you ever wondered what would happen if all the protagonists of the most popular fiction books lost their memory? This is the opening words that the guys from Digital Tales to create Bookbound Brigade. It is a title that follows the Metroidvania style and that we got to try during Milan Games Week 2019. The version in which we got our hands is an advanced stage of the title, because it is now close to release.
Bookbound Brigade will in fact be available at the end of 2019 on PC, PlayStation 4 and Nintendo Switch. Subsequently the game will also be available on the Microsoft console, this is because Digital Tales wanted to give precedence to the version for the hybrid console from Nintendo.
The plot that will accompany us during the adventure is quite simple: the Book of Books - or the most important tome on our planet - contains all the words created by man since the dawn of time. Inside there are all the tales of the great heroes, including the chivalric feats taken from the greatest fiction books.
Suddenly a shocking event happened, the Book of Books is stolen, throwing all the literary works inside into chaos. All the protagonists have suddenly lost their memory, our task will be to find the missing pages in order to bring the literary kingdom back to normal. Not all the protagonists have lost their memory, there are some who still remember some glimpses of their past adventures, and these heroes will make up our brigade. Only a powerful figure will have the memory completely intact, namely the Narrator, the one who will guide and help us during our crazy adventure.
The element that struck us most about Bookbound Brigade is undoubtedly the brigade. During our adventure we will not have a single character, but 8 different heroes. Although we can move them simultaneously, each character in the brigade will be completely independent. Each of them will attack in a dependent manner and will suffer damage individually, although the life bar will be unique and divided into several notches. The attacks are also independent: each character in the brigade will attack the enemies individually, and if we are surrounded, we will hit the bad guys, from both sides. Each character of the cheerful brigade, in addition to having their own dialogues and jokes, will also have two types of attack that we will unlock only during the adventure and different passive skills, which can be purchased using the pages recovered from the manuscript, which will have the function of currency.
Each unlocked special attack will consume some Stamina, so we will have to carefully and accurately weigh each of our attacks. We can equip up to a maximum of two passive skills per character, but nothing prevents us from buying them all and modifying them during the course of the game, in order to better face the adventure. In Bookbound Brigade our brigade will move through four different formations, which will allow us to better face the title. During the development of the game, the guys of Digital Tales have completely modified the level design in order to force us to change our training suddenly and use the one that best suits the level. The fights will undergo attack changes depending on the formation we are going to adopt: if we use the vertical one it will be possible to launch the smaller enemies towards the mini bosses.
In Bookbound Brigade we will have four fully explorable worlds available, five if we also want to consider the library that will have the function of Hub. Inside, in addition to finding the connection with all other worlds, we will be able to view all the historical artifacts collected, inherent to the characters we will help during our crazy adventure. All four worlds are inspired by the most famous literary works, embellished with pop culture quotes. Each world is extremely colorful, rich in detail, and traveling far and wide in each of them is extremely beautiful and fascinating.
All four are extremely vast, with tons of alternative routes. We will have to consult the mini map often otherwise we will get lost finding ourselves in the midst of very complex and difficult to overcome dungeons, even if once we have succeeded in the difficult task, it will leave us a feeling of satisfaction. As mentioned earlier, in Bookbound Brigade, each world will force us to use all four formations, in order to solve the various puzzles placed along our path. There will also be objects to destroy, such as chests or chests to open, where inside we will find either life points or pages of the Book of Books.
Bookbound Brigade is extremely beautiful to look at because of the immensity of colors used in each world and because of its unique style. The soundtrack that will accompany us along the journey is equally beautiful and immersive, with a truly huge number of audio tracks for an independent production. The dialogues, not spoken but written, are also of the first order and are the result of collaboration with Dean Wilkinson, English writer known in the videogame scene for writing the Little Big Planet dialogues. In Bookbound Brigade each character will have two biographies, the classic one we all know and a nefarious result of the disappearance of the Book of Books.
According to the developers, the title will keep us glued to the screen for more than 30 hours, this if we follow the main plot as low as possible. If, on the other hand, we also want to tackle the secondary missions and explore the maps in every corner, the longevity will increase dramatically.
During Milan Games Week 2019 we had the opportunity to try a very advanced version of the title. Our test of about half an hour took us to explore two worlds and the library. If we just follow the main path, the title is not very demanding and lets itself be played well but, as soon as we take a secondary road, the difficulty will increase dramatically, forcing us to throw the pad on the ground.
This is because the level design forces us to take on different formations in a short time, and to understand well how to deal with the level we will have to die several times.
Bookbound Brigade by Digital Tales is an extremely interesting title with unique features. During our test it literally captivated us, both for the fun gameplay, and for the visual beauty of the title itself. The gameplay hides a Metroidvania-style structure that fits perfectly with the level design offered by the title. The game also seems to offer excellent longevity, thanks also to the high number of alternative routes. If you are interested in Bookbound Brigade, all you have to do is wait until the end of this year to get your hands on it.
► Bookbound Brigade is a Platform-Adventure-indie game developed by Digital Tales and published by Intragames for PC, PlayStation 4 and Nintendo Switch, the video game was released on 30/01/2020
Bookbound Brigade is a beautiful game that cannot be missing from your collection: we have decided to evaluate it with a 80%, if you are interested in learning more you can read the Bookbound Brigade Review
