No Place for Bravery review for Nintendo Switch, PC

As someone who?s never been able to get into soulslike games ? on account of the fact I?m terrible at them ? I have to say that I appreciate that No Place for Bravery includes a story mode that allows you to play the game with significantly easier combat. While I?m sure the very idea offends some people who subscribe to the ?get good? theory of soulslikes, I really enjoyed not dying constantly on my way to the first mini-boss fight and then giving up out of frustration. It gave me a much better appreciation for the game, you know?

I know that sounds like I?m talking in jest, but I really do mean that. No Place for Bravery can be a challenge even on story mode ? as you?d expect from a game that makes no attempt to hide it wants to be a 2D, pixelated version of Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice ? so I can hardly imagine how tough it gets when everything around you can kill you quickly. As it stood, I was pretty regularly dipping into my stash of health potions, since this game?s world is full of all kinds of monsters trying to kill you from all angles.

Not dying constantly meant I was able to enjoy much more of what No Place for Bravery has to offer ? and it definitely has quite a bit to offer, starting with its story. The game follows an old warrior, Thorn, on a quest to track down his missing daughter, and along his journey, you discover that the developers put an insane amount of thought into this game?s world. There?s a lot to uncover here, and the game does a good job of doling it out to you at just the right pace.

Also along the way, you get to experience the game?s score, which is quite exceptional. It?s all dark and haunting and moody, and it sets the tone for the game every step of the way. Even as someone who doesn?t usually care that much one way or the other about a game?s music, I noticed it (in a good way, obviously), which speaks to just how great it is.

Less great, unfortunately, is the game?s technical performance. No Place for Bravery struggles when there?s a lot of action going on ? and seeing as this is an action-filled game, that?s definitely not ideal. While the game works and never crashes (which is obviously a very low bar), it also slows down to a crawl as more and more enemies fill the screen, or as you start hacking and dodging and slashing, or as blood and guts start flying everywhere. These things are all pretty common, which means that any raves about No Place for Bravery need to be tempered.

But even with that pretty major flaw, No Place for Bravery is still a very solid game. Technical issues may mean that doesn?t like up to the standards of the games it?s trying to emulate, but even so, there?s a lot of good stuff going on here, and if you can look past those issues (or even wait for some patches), there?s definitely something here worth playing.

Ysbryd Games provided us with a No Place for BraverySwitch code for review purposes.