Brigandine Abyss got the best of me, which makes me excited to play more

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To be honest, I didn’t know anything about Brigandine: The Legend of Runersia before seeing the NIS America booth at PAX East. This strategy game, developed by Happinet and Matrix Software, first came out in 2020 for the Nintendo Switch, and was later released on PlayStation 4 and Steam. I actually discovered it while researching Brigandine Abyss, a new strategy game NIS America was showing off at the event.

I was really surprised by a new game from Adglobe – the creators of Ender Lilies and Redemption Reapers. It looked completely different from their other game at the show, which was a fast-paced action game like Disgaea. However, I soon learned it wasn’t a new series at all! It’s actually the third installment in the Brigandine franchise, and it’s coming out this year – six years after the last game. Even though I hadn’t played any Brigandine games before, I got to try it out at PAX.

The demo lets you play through a battle that typically takes about thirty minutes, which is a reasonable length. It starts with a very short introduction to the story before throwing you right into the action. I would have appreciated a bit more background information about the characters and their motivations. Because of the limited demo, I couldn’t get a sense of how strong the game’s story and character development are – elements that can really make a strategy RPG stand out.

While the game’s concept is solid, the actual gameplay is more complicated. Battles are fairly simple – you control different types of units, each with unique abilities. The game uses a hexagonal grid for movement, which allows for a lot of flexibility, but can also be confusing. Some abilities depend on how far away you are from your target, and I often struggled to clearly see which spaces my units were on or could move to. The hexagonal layout sometimes blocked my view, making it frustrating to select where to move or attack.

The biggest factor determining whether you’ll enjoy this game is likely its difficulty. Usually, demos at events are designed to be easy and showcase the best parts of the game. However, the Brigandine Abyss demo at PAX was surprisingly challenging – I wasn’t able to win within the time limit. While I’m not a strategy RPG pro, I’m also familiar with the genre. I do tend to be a bit reckless with my units, which probably contributed to my struggles.

Even so, I was surprised by how much strategy the game required. If I’d understood all the character abilities better, the battle might have turned out differently. That’s a good sign for a tactical game, and it’s exciting to think about after only playing the demo. It definitely makes me want to check out the previous games in the series.

At the very least, this demo should encourage people to try The Legend of Runersia, which has been out for a while. We hope it enhances Brigandine Abyss without being essential to enjoying it. If this demo is representative of the full game, and the story is as good as the gameplay, it could be a really enjoyable experience. A little more refinement to the controls before release would make it even better.

Brigandine Abyss is currently scheduled to release in 2026 on Steam and PlayStation 5.

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2026-04-09 05:56