It occurs to me that people might not want to play a game in French if they themselves do not read French well or at all. No worries — La Brute is localized to many languages, including English. I just prefer to play it in the original language. If you want all the French to go away, just open the preferences and change the language.
On the face of it, La Brute is a simple game to get into. You create a “brute” from the limited customization options available, you head into the arena, you pick an opponent from a selection of six at your level, the two brutes fight for a bit, one wins and gets 2xp, the other loses and gets 1xp. You get six fights per day, and the game does not take much of your time.
When you level up, you’re given two options from which to choose; a new skill, a new weapon, a stat increase or two. And that’s it.
Sure, there’s a little more. The choices you make as you level are called your “destiny”. If you so choose, you can sign your brute up for tournaments that happen every few days. Winning one of these tournaments gives you a rank up point. You start off as a Padawan, a n00b. Winning one tournament allows you to raise your rank (to “Band-Aid Remover”), and now you have to win two tournaments to rank up again (to “Desert Flick”). Each time you rank up, you return to level one and can revisit your choices from your leveling journey. Make the same choices (follow your destiny) or make different choices (change your destiny). My two most ranked-up characters are “Beserker Soul” rank and are following their destinies in lockstep. I’m scared to change them at this point.
So, that’s basically it, and that might keep you interested for a few days, but no more.
Unless.
Clan Wars!
The name “Clan Wars” implies the existence of clans. Yup, they exist. There is no benefit in particular to belonging to one. There’s no clan hall or anything. I made one (“Les Perdants” — The Losers) just to have one after I tried to join my characters to an existing clan and got no invites.
That’s when I discovered Clan Wars. You click the checkbox showing your interest, and then you’re paired up with other clans. Each day seven(*) of your brutes are selected to face brutes from the other clan. First to win four battles without running out of brutes wins the war. The day after winning or losing, you’re paired with another clan.
Your clan has an invisible rank that raises as you win battle, pairing you against ever more dangerous foes. My clan is small — eight of my own characters and two randos who joined for some reason and then quit after their first rank. But I can use their zombie brutes in my wars, so it’s all good.
The wars can happen without your involvement. But: you can pick the brutes who get selected for the day’s war, and you can pick their numbers. This lets you win some battles you might not be able to win if you played randomly. I have ten characters, but I have won battles with clans with more than double that.
My trick: send out my lowest level character — alone. They’ll lose that battle, probably, but I can see how my opponent plays. If I replay the battle after and it shows they sent out seven random brutes, I can try to starve them by sending out bait and letting them swallow it until they have few brutes left — and then I swoop in.
Sometimes my opponents catch on. That’s fine. All I have to do is outthink them. But enemy clans with 50 brutes, that’s a different story. I send all my best brutes in the first fight. I’m gonna win one of the battles.
Now, if that were all, well…
Well, if you have a character slot free, you can make a special brute for the Battle Royale. This one levels super fast, and you can change your destiny three times for free to make the perfect brute. The max level is random for each event (103 for the current one), and after a week to prep, they start pitting the brutes together. Last brute alive gets to be promoted to a regular brute, level 1, same destiny. Every other brute gets unceremoniously deleted.
We’re two days into this tournament, and my character is still alive. This is the first time that has happened.
The header image is of my current Battle Royale brute, Shahara, named after my son’s snake. The brute named after his in-game handle, Xakkoris, was a previous Battle Royale brute who lost, but I liked him and opted to just restart him as a new regular character.
Shahara has lost a few of these, and she’ll probably lose this one. The fast leveling, and the ability to reset a few times, gives me the opportunity to try out different builds. Stat heavy? Skill heavy? Weapon heavy? Or go barehanded? Playing the battle royale gives you the skills to dominate in the regular game.
I haven’t talked about the boss battle, but I’ve rambled enough. I’ll ramble about the boss battles in a few days, when I finally defeat Ember Fang.
Join my clan. Les Perdants. I will not turn you away. You will help me win clan wars. You have to join the losers to be a winner. Deep, right?
I just noticed I talked about La Brute in Blaugust 2024! Well, I’m STILL PLAYING.
