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The Light Brigade | Launch Trailer | Meta Quest 2Watch on YouTube
The Light Brigade | Launch Trailer | Meta Quest 2
Praying has a functional purpose in The Light Brigade. It helps you open doors, interact with certain objects, and can also be used to pinpoint enemy locations. But it’s also a smart way of orienting you within The Light Brigade’s world, merging the game’s themes of faith and righteous conflict with the inherent tactility of VR, and helping you inhabit the psychology of the game’s characters. Also, when you pray, your hands radiate with light, which would have certainly kept me from straying into atheism if it happened while being forced into saying grace.
As roguelikes go, the Light Brigade isn’t as tough as it first appears. The sliver of health you start with means you can be killed in a couple of shots, but it’s fairly easy to avoid taking damage, as cover is plentiful and enemies telegraph their attacks. If you do die, you get two chances to reclaim your body before it’s Game Over, which is easier to do once you know where everyone is. I managed to reach and defeat the first boss on my third run. It’s challenging, but not punishing.
The Light Brigade also features an impressive number of ways to tailor your character. There are five different classes, each of which has unique weapons and Light-Based “spells”, such a temporary shield of light the rifleman can deploy. Weapons can be customised with attachments found in the field or purchased from vendors, like a barrel attachment I stumbled upon that made my bullets deal poison damage. You’ll also encounter sparkling chests containing “tarot” cards scattered through levels, which provide slight but significant stat boosts. These feel a tad out of place in the broader game, but I’ll forgive this purely because of the fantastic holographic effect these cards have in VR.
My only real gripe with The Light Brigade is that visually it’s a bit basic. Its semi cel-shaded art style is pleasant enough, but it can’t conceal the sparse, cramped nature of the environments. Animations can be rough too, particularly on the wolf enemies that appear to be running through treacle. None of this is a deal-breaker, just don’t go in expecting to have your breath taken away.
For just shy of twenty quid, The Light Brigade brings a lot to the table. It lacks the big, gimmicky hooks many VR games rely on, instead weaving together an array of smaller, thoughtfully implemented ideas that I found more enticing than I anticipated. I won’t say I’m a complete convert to the Light Brigade’s truth, but neither would I slam the door in its face if it came to discuss the hereafter.
