The Light Brigade: Definitive Edition

Severely undercooked. Definetely worth checking out at a discount. It's stable and playable, and there's even some progression, but it really just feels unfinished.

This is awful. I don't understand the review positivity. Incredibly sluggish, a strong emphasis on teleportation rather than smooth loco that leaves smooth loco as a huge disadvantage - including it but not balancing the game for it feels like no ♥♥♥♥♥ were given. Combat is extremely slow and clunky, with enemy AI non-existent. They just endlessly fire into walls they know you're on the other side of. Shooting enemies gives no meaningful feedback except colourful numbers popping out of their head until they suddenly drop like their strings were cut. Bosses are trial-and-error, with instant kill attacks that pass through walls without intelligible telegraphing- and as you are encouraged by game design and tutorial to constantly use cover, and as despite its ARPG skin it *is* a first person VR game so when in cover you can't bloody see what limited visual telegraphing the boss is providing for what absurd AOE/wall-penetrating magic ability they'll use next. Environments are extremely small and visually lofi, but not clean - there are a lot of assets that draw your attention like loot (and oh gods there is far too much low-value loot lying around, it's a chore to pick it up), but that are not in any way interactive or meaningful. Worse, most environmental assets do not match their bounding boxes for projectile hits and AI visibility with their visual model at all, so you constantly waste time, ammo and health firing at invisible walls surrounding trees, pillars, walls and so on. However the limited visual feedback means you can't tell this is happening unless you're very close to the point of impact and see the floating decal. It's 2016-grade indie VR with an interesting religious-fantasy premise and far too many bugs and seemingly untested, anti-fun design choices. I'll request a refund, I recommend you try something else. UNDERDOGS is a great alternative from a small indie team if you're not craving a shooter in specific.

The Light Brigade took over for me as my favorite PCVR rogue like shooter. For myself that was previously From Other Suns - an Oculus exclusive that I loved even though it felt quite unfinished. At the time of writing this review, I have not played the game in several months, but just saw the Definitive Edition update that gets me excited to jump back in to see the new content. The reason I am writing this review now is for anyone looking for a recommendation for Steam Frame games. The Light Brigade should be considered an excellent title at launch. It will be a game I will return to over and over again. In the game, you will be able to play as different classes, and each class will level up at its own rate. I always love playing as a sniper with as much stealth as I can. Although going in guns blazing can be a lot of fun as well. I'll certainly update this review after I play the new content, but with Steam Frame nearing launch (hopefully), I want to get this out there now.

There is a phrase that one bad apple can ruin the bunch. The teleporting mechanic in this game is that bad apple. The game has some really cool and well thought out mechanics, but none of them matter if when I need to be in cover, the game's teleport controls make me teleport out of cover right in front of enemies. The second boss makes this issue actually rage inducing. There are a lot of people in the discussions asking for better teleport controls for YEARS and no solution was made by the devs. Because of such a game ruining mechanic being completely ignored, I would stay away from this game and these devs unless this issue is TRULY addressed. Why would you put in so much work just to fail at this small aspect of making the game?

Its fun but real hard, maybe i just suck but all the maps are so dark and foggy its hard to aim. Gets 20x more fun when you unlock the pistoleer class and just run around with two m1911's. Defiantly worth it on sale

I primarily played this game on the quest but recently picked it up on steam, hence the short play time, but I have a lot of thoughts about this game, I think the word which sums it up best is "potential", the fundamentals are all fantastic, great gunplay, awesome art style, fun classes, interesting world building (though it could use with a bit more exposition in regards to the story which I still barely understand), but with all that being said, the game lacks in "content" (I hate that word lol) for lack of a better term, which is what makes or breaks a roguelite. More enemy types, more bosses (there are only 3 bosses in total throughout the entire game), more weapon attachments & abilities, more cards (and fun synergies which stem from different combinations) and more levels would go a long way to realising the game's potential. Oh and more things to do within the levels, as it stands levels feel like interesting places that are filled with the same things, you go through the level, find the chest, open all the crates, kill the enemies and move on, I think giving the player a reason to explore the nooks and crannies (such as the addition of secrets, minibosses, quests etc) would really help to add a bit of variety to them I say all of this from a place of love, the game currently feels like it's in a permanent state of early access despite being a full release, but my mind races imagining all of the possibilities, I think the game is already something very special, it just needs a bit more, and in my opinion what the game needs right now isn't more classes (that's one area the game is pretty fleshed out already) but more of what makes a great roguelite fun to come back to time and time again, I'm usually someone who strongly disagrees with the mantra that more = better in a video game, but due to the procedurally generated nature of roguelites/roguelikes having a larger pool of things for the game to draw from goes a long way to giving the game more variety and replay value I would highly recommend this game to anyone looking for a fun VR action roguelite, but as of the time of writing this review I would say to temper your expectations regarding the amount of "content" in the game, I really hope that this changes in the future though

Tuff ♥♥♥♥ The devs don't update it anymore tho and started making some slop instead tho

The Light Brigade is a tactical, roguelike dark-fantasy shooter built specifically for VR. The story drops you straight into a ruined world shrouded in darkness: the Obsidians have destroyed the sacred Sun and Light Crystals, the religious authorities ignored warnings from scholars, and now the realm has fallen into ruin. As a member of the Light Brigade, your mission is to fight through corrupt forces, free trapped souls, and restore light to the world. [b]The Short Answer: Is It Worth Buying?[/b] If you own a VR headset (tested on Meta Quest 3) and enjoy roguelike tactical shooters with physical weapon handling, absolutely yes. It is one of the more satisfying VR action titles available. [b]Wiki Required?[/b] No - class progression, weapon mechanics, and tarot card upgrades are easy to figure out as you run through the stages. [b]Playtime[/b] 4/10 Clearing initial runs and maxing out multiple character classes takes around 20–30 hours due to the roguelike progression and heavy grind requirements. [b]Story[/b] 3/10 A grim dark-fantasy setting where you serve as a holy soldier fighting against Obsidian corruption to rescue trapped souls and restore lost light. [b]Music[/b] 5/10 Atmospheric, somber, and immersive audio design that heightens the tense, desolate mood of the shattered world. [b]Graphics[/b] 5/10 A stylized, medieval dark-fantasy aesthetic designed within the optimization limits of standalone VR standalone hardware. [b]Mechanics[/b] 7/10 The weapon handling and gunplay physics feel exceptionally satisfying, physical, and realistic. Upgrades during runs come in the form of tarot cards, passive buffs, and weapon attachments, though run outcomes heavily depend on RNG (whether you pull good cards, scope attachments, or charm drops). Progression relies heavily on grinding soul currency to unlock permanent class upgrades and starting bonuses across different soldier kits. Location and enemy variety feel a bit thin over extended play sessions, and weapon attachment options are fairly limited. Movement options have minor flaws: while smooth joystick locomotion works well, certain environmental ledges and secrets still force you to use teleportation to reach them rather than offering a seamless, full-smooth traversal option. [b]Personal Take[/b] An exceptionally pleasant and immersive VR roguelike shooter. Manual reloading, chambering rounds, and precise iron-sight aiming feel fantastic on VR controllers like the Quest 3. While the heavy grind requirements, reliance on drop RNG, and limited environmental variety hold it back from perfection, the core combat loop is tremendously fun. If you have a VR headset, it is a highly recommended addition to your library. The game uniquely blends realistic World War-era bolt-action firearm mechanics with dark-fantasy magic - meaning manually racking a bolt, inserting stripper clips, and aiming down iron sights is just as vital to survival as casting light spells! [b]Overall Score:[/b] 79/100