''Brotato'' is a 2023

top-down Top-down may refer to: Arts and entertainment * "Top Down", a 2007 song by Swizz Beatz * "Top Down", a song by Lil Yachty from ''Lil Boat 3'' * "Top Down", a song by Fifth Harmony from ''Reflection'' * "Topdown", a song by Channel Tres from the ...

shoot 'em up Shoot 'em ups (also known as shmups or STGs) are a Video game genre, subgenre of action games. There is no consensus as to which design elements compose a shoot 'em up; some restrict the definition to games featuring spacecraft and certain typ ...

roguelike Roguelike (or rogue-like) is a style of role-playing game traditionally characterized by a dungeon crawl through procedurally generated levels, turn-based gameplay, grid-based movement, and permanent death of the player character. Most ro ...

video game developed by French

independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in Pennsylvania, United States * Independentes (English: Independents), a Portuguese artist ...

developer Thomas Gervraud under the studio name Blobfish. It was initially released in

early access Early access, also known as alpha access, alpha founding, paid alpha, or game preview, is a funding model in the video game industry by which consumers can purchase and play a game in the various pre-release Software release life cycle, developm ...

Steam Steam is water vapor, often mixed with air or an aerosol of liquid water droplets. This may occur due to evaporation or due to boiling, where heat is applied until water reaches the enthalpy of vaporization. Saturated or superheated steam is inv ...

in 2022, during which it sold over one million copies. ''Brotato'' has garnered positive reviews from both critics and players and has since been ported to multiple platforms.

Gameplay

Players control one of several potatoes from a

top-down perspective A variety of computer graphic techniques have been used to display video game content throughout the history of video games. The predominance of individual techniques have evolved over time, primarily due to hardware advances and restrictions ...

. Many of these characters are unlocked as the player progresses through the game and possess different starting attributes. The objective is to defeat as many waves of enemies as possible using the potato. After each wave, players can upgrade and enhance various attributes and weapons, which can be purchased with materials collected during gameplay. ''Brotato'' is classified as a

. Shooting is automatically managed by the computer, although players have the option to change this setting to enable manual aiming.

Development and release

''Brotato'' is the fourth game developed by Blobfish, a one-man indie studio based in

Lyon, France Lyon (Franco-Provençal: ''Liyon'') is a city in France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of the French Alps, southeast of Paris, north of Marseille, southwest of Geneva, Switzerland, north ...

(now in

Zurich, Switzerland Zurich (; ) is the largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is in north-central Switzerland, at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich. , the municipality had 448,664 inhabitants. The urban area was home to 1.45 ...

) during its development. It entered

for

Windows Windows is a Product lining, product line of Proprietary software, proprietary graphical user interface, graphical operating systems developed and marketed by Microsoft. It is grouped into families and subfamilies that cater to particular sec ...

on September 27, 2022, followed by the full release on June 23, 2023. The Android and

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ports, developed and published by Erabit Studios, were released on March 28, 2023. On mobile devices, ''Brotato'' is available in both

free-to-play "Free-to-play" ("F2P" or "FtP") video games are games that give players access to a significant portion of their content for free. The term "free-to-play business model" or simply, "free-to-play model", refers collectively to business models tha ...

and

premium Premium may refer to: Marketing * Premium (marketing), a promotional item that can be received for a small fee when redeeming proofs of purchase that come with or on retail products * Premium segment, high-price brands or services in marketing ...

versions. The

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version was released on August 3, 2023. Versions for

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, and

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were released on January 30, 2024, and became available via

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at launch. The game's first DLC titled "Abyssal Terrors" and an update which added local co-op gameplay were released in October 2024.

Reception

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'', which reviewed the game during early access, compared it to "a hit

Flash game A browser game is a video game that is played on the internet using a web browser. They are sometimes referred to more specifically by their format, such as Flash games or HTML5 games. They are generally free-to-play and can be either single-play ...

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in 2006". While they appreciated the retro gameplay, they noted that death occurred a bit too easily. ''

TouchArcade ''TouchArcade'' (stylized as toucharcade) is a mobile games journalism website. It was launched in 2008 as a sister site of ''MacRumors'' by its founder Arnold Kim and Blake Patterson. ''TouchArcade'' also hosts a forum and a weekly podcast. ...

'' remarked that although it initially appears to be a simple clone of '' Vampire Survivors'', it incorporates

elements and is more strategic, thereby establishing a distinct identity. ''

Screen Rant ''Screen Rant'' is an entertainment website that offers news in the fields of television, films, video games, and comic books. It is owned by Valnet, parent of publications including Comic Book Resources, Collider, MovieWeb and XDA Developers. ...

'' described the game mechanics as addictive, quick, and easily accessible, providing ample freedom for strategy and experimentation. The website included it in their list of the best indie games of 2022. ''

Digital Trends Digital Trends is a Portland, Oregon-based tech news, lifestyle, and information website that publishes news, reviews, guides, how-to articles, descriptive videos and podcasts about technology and consumer electronics products. With offices in P ...

'' referred to it as a "smart evolution of the ''Vampire Survivors'' formula" that emphasizes more dynamic character builds. It was one of the most popular roguelite games on Steam in 2022 and 2023, receiving "overwhelmingly positive" reviews from users. As of September 2022, it had sold over a million copies, and it was even nominated for "Best

Steam Deck The Steam Deck is a handheld gaming computer produced by Valve Corporation, designed to run a portion of games available on the Steam storefront client. Built upon the experiences gained from Valve's earlier ventures with Steam Machine and th ...

Game" at the 2023

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Notes

References

External links

* {{Official website, https://blobfishgames.notion.site/Brotato-cb88a14520ba4703ae9aed4ab438427c/ 2023 video games Android (operating system) games Arena shooters Godot Engine games iOS games Indie games Nintendo Switch games PlayStation 4 games PlayStation 5 games Roguelike video games Shoot 'em ups Single-player video games Top-down shooters Vampire Survivors–likes Video games developed in France Windows games Xbox Cloud Gaming games Xbox One games Xbox Series X and Series S games