Elden Ring might pile on the difficulty, and a close round of Counter-Strike 2 will certainly get the pulse rate up, but if you want the most intense gaming experience available on PC, you need roguelikes. Between Dead Cells, Cult of the Lamb, and Hades, the genre has blossomed over recent years, but there’s another contender for the throne that you can now claim as a totally free game. Rated 96% on Steam, despite its playful aesthetic and wacky concept, Brotato is one of the most high-pressure, white-knuckle roguelike shooters available.
There’s a crisis in Potato World. An expeditionary spacecraft has crash landed on an alien planet and the sole survivor is the eponymous, bandana-wearing Brotato. Surrounded by hordes of wild animals, creatures, and mutants, fortunately our starchy protagonist can wield six guns at once. The scene is set for a rapid, frenetic roguelike shooter where runs are swift – about 30 minutes – and the screen is filled with bullets and bodies.
There are hundreds of weapons and the objective is to survive successive waves of fast-moving enemies. Your guns are autofire by default – rather than choosing when to shoot, the trick is to flail your many arms as wildly as possible and dance between incoming attacks. Between each wave, you have access to the shop where you can purchase upgrades and pick new abilities. You can also play co-op with three other potatoes and tweak the difficulty down to the finest detail, adjusting values like the health, speed, and damage output of your foes.
Of the 81,000 reviews posted for Brotato on Steam, a whopping 96% are favorable, bestowing it with the venerated ‘overwhelmingly positive’ rating. If you haven’t played it before, it’s now temporarily available as a completely free PC game.
All you need to do is go to the Epic Games Store. If you’ve got an account already, you can claim Brotato right away. Otherwise, make yourself an account, and it’s yours. Brotato is available for free on the Epic Games Store from Thursday November 28 until Thursday December 5. You can get it right here.
Otherwise, you can try some of the best free Steam games, or maybe the best indie games available today.
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