Brigador’s first level sets a perfect expectation for the rest of the game. A lone Touro-class mech confidently strides down a dark, empty street, flanked by concrete walls and flimsy barriers. Spinning orange lights cast deep shadows on the mech’s footfalls. On the far end of the street, a civilian wearing a neon yellow raincoat wanders into view. Then another. And then three more. Ten more. It’s as good a time as any to test your mech’s weapons.

A robotic voice bellows "GREAT LEADER IS DEAD. SOLO NOBRE MUST FALL". If you turned at least a handful of the civvies into red mist, you made some extra cash - congratulations on accepting the mercenary contract. Check your earnings statement. This game is for you.

Brigador is equal parts isometric vehicle sim and real-time tactics game. The campaign is structured around 3 main objective types - eliminating VIP’s, targeting major infrastructure, and whittling down the local garrison. You are given the choice of 4 different loadouts for each mission with wildly different playstyles and tactics. Complete your objective within your means and get out - couldn’t be simpler. So what’s the hook?

Solo Nobre is one of the most vivid video game cities I’ve ever had the pleasure of stomping through. The city is smothered in dull grays and browns, choked of color by the enigmatic Great Leader’s authoritarian regime. Decrepit habitation blocks adorned with harsh neon stand just outside pristinely maintained gated communities. Massive orbital guns remain trained on the unseen sky above, locked in an eternal standoff with offworld corporations. Endless stone crypts deify the city’s interstellar founders. There’s so much history to experience in these environments. Oh, and you can reduce all of it to rubble with a ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ mortar.

Every single asset within the district walls is fully destructible. Those orbital guns cook off their ammo in a huge explosion, which is pretty helpful for killing groups of enemies nearby. High walls can be rammed or shot through to get a surprise flank. Disable power relays and communication towers hampers the enemy’s ability to call for backup. Choice, risk, and reward.

This is Brigador’s remarkable texture. Contending with the game’s environment to plan ambushes or reposition for a better shot gives the player an intimate relationship to Solo Nobre’s architecture, and by extension its history. With loads of vehicles and weapons to choose from, the variety on offer is astounding. There’s also a freelance mode where you can make your own loadouts. If you like to read, the logs are just about the only ones I’ve sat down and read in a video game - they’re that good.

There’s so much to say about Brigador. Its gorgeous 2D sprites, thrilling electronic soundtrack, and the fantastic audiobook - but in my mind, I keep coming back to that first level. Accepting the contract from the corporations, inflicting unimaginable cruelty on nothing more than an impulse, feeling the weight of the mighty Touro’s stomp. It’s just rough, sinewy, glorious texture.

Highly recommended. Cannot wait for the sequel.