BY CARSTEN SAVAGE (’17)

Recently, a Montréal-based videogame company called Outerminds published an iOS game called “Pewdiepie: Legend of the Brofist.” The game focuses on PewDiePie, a Swedish YouTube celebrity, and his Italian girlfriend CutiePieMarzia. In addition, the American YouTubers Markiplier, CinnamonToastKen and Cryaotic are featured along with the Irish gaming superstar JackSepticEye.

The game centers on PewDiePie’s battles against “The Barrel King,” a satirical villain who is out to “take all the fans” from PewDiePie and thereby gain the “power of the Brofist.” The Brofist, PewDiePie’s characteristic symbol, is the subject over which PewDiePie and “The Barrel King” fight as they trade blows and fight for the affection of fans everywhere. The plot and villains are not the only oddities, however; battlegrounds range from PewDiePie’s house itself to Africa and the Moon.

Along the way, PewDiePie meets other YouTubers who help him along in his journey to defeat “The Barrel King.” Each YouTuber has his or her own well-done followers or special abilities: PewDiePie and CutiePieMarzia have their pugs Maya and Edgar, CinnamonToastKen’s bear hat can transform him into a ravenous bear that decimates everything he comes across, and JackSepticEye is followed by a green eye called Sam who can shoot walls and enemies. The followers can aid their YouTube masters in times of need. CutiePieMarzia can ride Maya and quickly make her way to safety, for example, while PewDiePie can unleash an “Edgar fart” to defeat surrounding enemies. One of the coolest transformations, though, was JackSepticEye’s metamorphosis into an ultra-powerful Sam.

The game’s quality is equal to its quirkiness. Touch controls, which can make the difference between a successful game and a frustrating mess, are undeniably refined in “Legend of the Brofist.” Characters will always jump on an up-swipe and crouch on a down-swipe, for example, and the virtual joystick radiates precision, a virtue in a platformer. The platforms that the characters jump on are clearly-defined, ensuring that there is no excuse for missing a landing or running too far and thus falling off into the endless void below. The level design is also first-rate. Every level is unique in some way, and each one is crafted with care. There may be multiple levels set in Antarctica, for instance, but the Outerminds team gave each one different enemies, exclusive environmental obstacles and weather conditions, creating a wonderfully unpredictable and well-rounded game as a result.

The game’s graphics, gameplay and music attempt to mirror the platform games of the 90s, and it undoubtedly succeeds at its endeavor. The game has gorgeous 16-bit graphics that emanate artistic talent. The colors that the artists use are beautiful as well, and even the artwork in the distant background is a pleasure to look at; the game is a joy to experience before the player presses a button. The enemies, which are of great variety, look imaginative and are in fact all references to PewDiePie’s videos. The graphics are not the only aspect of Legend of the Brofist that is on par, however; the game’s music and sound effects are just as good, if not better, than its detailed artwork and subtle effects.

Legend of the Brofist may have a short story, but its replay value more than makes up for it. After each level is completed on the easiest difficulty, the player can go back and replay each level on harder difficulties; different enemies and collectibles populate the more difficult levels, giving the player reason to seek all that the game has to offer. The player also gets more coins by playing more challenging levels, and this can be useful when the player wants to purchase expensive abilities and characters in the future.

The game’s plot is uninspired and uneventful until the later part of the game. PewDiePie will go to new areas, beat a few levels, and meet a boss at the end, and this repeats two or three times throughout the game’s duration. This is not a problem, though, because everything else in the game is interesting and funny. For example, the player might start getting bored until PewDiePie suddenly sends himself to Africa and starts riding hippos with giant donuts chasing zebras in the background; a few minutes later, he is fighting a Russian giraffe who tries to shoot him with a sniper while spinning in circles. When bosses are defeated, the player gains new abilities. After the fight with the giraffe, for example, PewDiePie gained the power of the “360-no-scope,” a power-up that allows PewDiePie to shoot enemies while spinning in circles. Funny and interesting powers, abilities and encounters like these are what make PewDiePie: Legend of the Brofist the great game that it is.

The game has been updated since its arrival on the iTunes store with a new level, costumes, effects and enemies for Halloween. The Legend of the Brofist’s map now has a spooky, giant pumpkin that the player can click on. Once clicked on, a Halloween level begins in which PewDiePie has to jump from candle to candle while avoiding skeletons and ghosts. Characters have also been updated; each YouTuber now has a special Halloween costume that he or she can wear. The Irish JackSepticEye, for example, is dressed up like a leprechaun, PewDiePie has exposed his true fashion sense by sporting long, blue hair,  and CutiePieMarzia has made herself look like a zombie with her impressive makeup skills. This update is a good indicator that Outerminds will support the game well into the future, periodically adding content to keep the game selling on the iTunes store.

PewDiePie: Legend of the Brofist is a fantastic game marred by repetition. It makes up for its repetition, though, by introducing better characters, enemies and abilities later in the game, and the game leaves a spectacular impression on the player as a result. The game is a blast to play even if the player do not watch PewDiePie on YouTube; for his fans in particular, though, Legend of the Brofist is definitely something special. Outerminds, the developers, wanted to sell a full, quality game to every player, and so the game costs five dollars and has no micro-transactions. Five dollars might still seem like an expensive game to some people. It is important to understand, though, that many games can be free on the surface but actually quite expensive when the player becomes invested in micro-transactions. Outerminds has thus established itself as a respectable and adept videogame company by creating PewDiePie: Legend of the Brofist, and the creation of a loyal fan-base is the result. Legend of the Brofist truly is a quality game with exceptional replay value, and the entrance fee is definitely worth it for the amount of content the player gets and will continue to get in the future.