Recent reviews by Parity

A brilliant 2D brawler. I usually don't like 2D brawlers because of their iffy hit/hurtboxes, but this one feels as tight as you can get. The characters and weapons are constantly buffed/nerfed to the tides of the community as the devs release their weekly updates. This ensures that the tier list is very balanced. Common advice is to learn whoever looks cool to you, as you can truly be great with everyone. The paid DLC is all cosmetic. There is nothing that you can buy that will give you any advantage at all, or even adjust anything but the looks. This is how DLC should be done in a F2P game. To top it all off, a new character is added every month.

I highly recommend this game for anyone who enjoys Smash Bros, and even many who don't.

Comparing it to Smash Bros:

The characters are much floatier. Air combat plays a huge part in this game, and there is almost no reason for you to fall of the stage. 3 jumps (2 if you jumped from the ground instead of walked off), a recovery, and an up dodge should rescue you from positions that would be hopeless in Smash.

The devs are also working on distancing themselves from the Smash series, even going so far as to reject technicalities that are similar to Smash, such as grabbing and wave dashing. They instead focus on features that Smash doesn't have. The dodging system is currently amazing. You can dodge in all 8 cardinal directions for an extra boost. They just added chase dodging, which allows you to pull of an amazing combo, send your opponent flying, then zip towards him. This, combined with dodge-canceling allows for the chaining of chains.

There is also a technique called gravity canceling. This involved spot dodging in the air, then immediately attacking. It allows you to perform ground attacks in the air.

Further separating this game from Smash is the focus on weapons. In Smash, unarmed combat is the default. In Brawlhalla, armed combat is the preferred method.