The best Vampire Survivors-inspired game finally comes to mobile - Brotato Quick First Impressions
PLAY IT OR SKIP IT?
Play it! There are plenty of Vampire Survivors clones out there—I should know—but few of them have received the top-to-bottom adoration of Brotato. That praise is well-earned. This simple wave-based survival game asks and answers timeless questions: What if a potato had guns? What if it had six guns? Or maybe three guns, two swords, and a laser? WHAT IF?
Well, after six months of becoming one of the most popular Vampire Survivors alternatives on Steam, Brotato is finally hitting mobile as well. The beta is available now for Android devices exclusively via TapTap, and I’m happy to report that it appears to be coming together super well!
TIME PLAYED
It’s hard to track time played, because to be honest, the hours just kind of melt away when I enter the Brotato zone. I’ve spent at least five or six hours doing runs through the game, and even with the limited content available in the beta test, I’m still itching to jump back in for more.
WHAT’S AWESOME
• Simple but cute aesthetic. Brotato’s got a clean, cartoony look that almost reminds me of Invader Zim. It’s not like the best-looking game in the world or anything, but it has a unique look that sets it apart from the dozens of Vampire Survivors clones that are also aping the pixel art approach.
• It’s fun as hell. This is really the key to “horde games” or “bullet heavens” or whatever else you want to call this new genre. Dodging around legions of alien scum while your potato auto-blasts at their extraterrestrial faces feels great. It’s just captures that indefinable sensation of how a game should play.
• Compelling choices. The other key to a great horde game? Providing tough power-up choices when you level up or shop. Brotato only gives those choices between waves, but they’re propped up by a resource-farming system and the ability to pay money to refresh the item shop. It almost feels like the most addictive element of Vampire Survivors combined with the most addictive element of Auto Chess. It rules, and it leads to some very tough choices and unique builds.
WHAT SUCKS
• Beta limitations and missing content. Brotato is still in early access on Steam, but developer Blobfish has added new characters, weapons, items, game modes, and other bits of content at an astounding rate. All of that will presumably make its way to the full version of Brotato on mobile eventually (which will be a paid app), but this is just beta.
That means you’re limited to five character choices, a much smaller arsenal of weapons, and no system for unlocking new content at all yet, which is part of the hook that makes playing the PC version over and over again so compelling. There are also some parts of Brotato on mobile that just don’t appear to be functioning yet, such as the run records for each character type. Still, it’s a free beta, so it’s hard to complain too much!
💬 Lock ’n’ load, spuds! Will you be grabbing a weapon and joining the fight against the aliens in Brotato, or are you skipping this starch-fest? Leave a comment below and let me know.
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