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Brütal Legend

As rough as the back of an old rockers throat, but gleeful whether you dream heavy metal nightmares or not.
Brütal Legend Game Cover
89%Game Brain Score
music, story
grinding, stability
94% User Score Based on 10,884 reviews
Critic Score 80%Based on 5 reviews

Platforms

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Brütal Legend Game Cover

About

Brütal Legend is a single player and multiplayer open world real-time strategy game with fantasy and comedy themes. It was developed by Double Fine Productions and was released on December 15, 2009. It received mostly positive reviews from critics and very positive reviews from players.

"Brütal Legend" is an action-adventure game set in a heavy metal-themed universe. Players control Eddie Riggs, a roadie who becomes the world's savior, wielding deadly guitar-based weapons and commanding troops of headbanging heroes. The game features a star-studded voice cast and a cranking soundtrack of metal music. Explore, battle, and embark on a rocking open-world adventure.

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Brütal Legend screenshot
Brütal Legend screenshot
Brütal Legend screenshot
Brütal Legend screenshot
Brütal Legend screenshot
Brütal Legend screenshot
Brütal Legend screenshot
Brütal Legend screenshot
Brütal Legend screenshot
Brütal Legend screenshot
Brütal Legend screenshot
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94%
Audience ScoreBased on 10,884 reviews
music2.2k positive mentions
grinding101 negative mentions
  • music
    4,605 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The music in "Brütal Legend" is universally praised, with many reviewers highlighting its extensive and iconic soundtrack featuring over 100 tracks from legendary metal bands like Black Sabbath, Judas Priest, and Motorhead. Players appreciate how the music is seamlessly integrated into the gameplay, enhancing the overall experience and immersing them in a vibrant, metal-themed world. The combination of humor, engaging voice acting from stars like Jack Black and Ozzy Osbourne, and a rich musical backdrop makes the game a must-play for metal fans and a nostalgic trip for those who grew up with the genre.

    • “Music is at the heart of Brütal Legend's identity, with an extensive soundtrack featuring iconic heavy metal tracks from bands like Motörhead, Judas Priest, and Black Sabbath.”
    • “The seamless integration of music enhances immersion and reinforces the game's homage to heavy metal culture.”
    • “The soundtrack, featuring an extensive lineup of iconic metal tracks, further immerses players in the game's vibrant and audacious universe.”
    • “Love the writing and the music, but the gameplay is just bad.”
    • “The only bad thing about this game is when you start a mission, the song stops and another one starts... I did lose a lot of time waiting for a very good song to end before starting a mission...”
    • “If you don't like metal, it's still a really fun game to play but you might want to turn the music volume all the way to keep the music from getting on your nerves.”
  • story
    3,536 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The story of "Brütal Legend" is a unique blend of humor, heavy metal culture, and epic fantasy, following the protagonist Eddie Riggs as he navigates a vibrant world filled with memorable characters and rock legends like Ozzy Osbourne and Lemmy Kilmister. While the main narrative is engaging and often hilarious, many players note that the pacing can feel rushed towards the end, and the side missions tend to be repetitive, detracting from the overall experience. Despite these criticisms, the game's charm, voice acting, and outstanding soundtrack make it a must-play for fans of metal and action-adventure storytelling.

    • “The story is charming, epic, funny, and captivating as you get to meet the different inhabitants of the world and grow to care and fight for them.”
    • “Brütal Legend stands out as a unique and exhilarating action-adventure game that blends heavy metal culture with epic storytelling and engaging gameplay.”
    • “The game's narrative unfolds with humor, wit, and nods to heavy metal legends, making every quest and encounter memorable and entertaining.”
    • “The whole thing easily becomes super tedious after the first mission, and the game does very little to mix it up.”
    • “They do a lot of plot dumping at the end, and you never really get time to deal with it.”
    • “The storyline ends abruptly in my opinion, rather than coming to a more natural-feeling conclusion.”
  • gameplay
    2,204 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The gameplay of *Brütal Legend* is a mixed bag, combining elements of hack-and-slash, real-time strategy (RTS), and driving mechanics, which some players find innovative while others deem it clunky and unpolished. Many reviews highlight the fun and engaging aspects of the combat and exploration, but criticize the RTS segments for being tedious and poorly executed. Overall, while the game is celebrated for its unique setting, humor, and outstanding soundtrack, the gameplay often feels repetitive and lacks depth, leading to a divisive reception among players.

    • “Brütal Legend stands out as a unique and exhilarating action-adventure game that blends heavy metal culture with epic storytelling and engaging gameplay.”
    • “They put a little of everything in terms of gameplay here - you have your combat combos, you can play guitar solos which are short 'Guitar Hero' mini games, you've got a badass vehicle you can ride around, and you lead armies of metalheads to rock the enemy's stage.”
    • “The inclusion of strategy elements, where players command armies in large-scale battles, adds depth and strategic thinking to the gameplay experience.”
    • “Even other games that suffer from similar issues like FFXVI and MGSV give you more to do than just drive around (thanks to having solid core mechanics, which Legend doesn't).”
    • “Granted, I've had a decent chunk of experience with RTS games like Empire at War, but even going by what little I've played, the mechanics in this game alone are straight garbage.”
    • “Love the writing and the music, but the gameplay is just bad.”
  • humor
    1,449 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The humor in "Brütal Legend" is widely praised for its clever writing, engaging dialogue, and the comedic talents of Jack Black, who voices the main character, Eddie Riggs. Players appreciate the game's blend of metal culture references, absurdity, and over-the-top scenarios, which create a lighthearted and entertaining experience. While some feel the humor may taper off in the latter parts of the game, the overall comedic tone remains a highlight, making it a must-play for fans of both metal music and quirky humor.

    • “The game's narrative unfolds with humor, wit, and nods to heavy metal legends, making every quest and encounter memorable and entertaining.”
    • “Jack Black brings a lot of his humor to the game.”
    • “Brutal Legend's story is both hilarious and epic, featuring a cast of memorable and often eccentric characters.”
    • “Some of the jokes can be dated and unfunny, animations stiff and ugly.”
  • graphics
    872 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The graphics of "Brütal Legend" are generally considered dated, reflecting its 2009 release, with many reviewers noting that they show signs of age, including graphical glitches and subpar animations. However, the game's unique art style, inspired by heavy metal aesthetics, is praised for its creativity and charm, often compensating for the technical limitations. Overall, while the visuals may not be groundbreaking, they effectively contribute to the game's immersive atmosphere and appeal to fans of the genre.

    • “The art style and animation are great and look better than some AAA games that came out this year.”
    • “Visually, Brütal Legend impresses with its bold art style and attention to detail in character design, environments, and special effects.”
    • “The graphics in Brütal Legend are striking and imaginative, with detailed character designs and a vibrant, cel-shaded art style.”
    • “The graphics themselves are not pretty and take you back to that smeary, Unreal 3 engine time.”
    • “Gameplay is repetitive, graphics are garbage even for 2009 standards, and the storyline is not very interesting.”
    • “Graphically the game is, in one word, dated.”
  • atmosphere
    159 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The atmosphere of the game is widely praised for its distinctiveness and immersive quality, heavily influenced by heavy metal culture, music, and humor. Players appreciate the vibrant visuals, engaging soundtrack, and character interactions, which collectively create a unique and memorable experience. While some critiques mention gameplay shortcomings, the overall atmosphere remains a standout feature that captivates fans of the genre.

    • “This game is absolutely phenomenal, the atmosphere of the world is unlike any other game I've played.”
    • “The atmosphere is amazing, the attention to detail is great, the voice acting is great (Jack Black y'all!) and of course, the music is amazing!”
    • “With the metal soundtrack from all over the range of heavy metal plus so many iconic landmarks in the game looking like they were painted by Frank Frazetta & put on a heavy metal album just oozes with so much rich atmosphere that you have to see it.”
    • “Yes the game seems very fun but it doesn't take long that the fun is replaced with boring repetitions, uninteresting main story, unimpressive side missions, poor driving and fighting mechanics, soulless and almost empty open world atmosphere and really confusing RTS battles.”
    • “The atmosphere is what Brutal Legend sells itself on, but it comes up short here too.”
    • “It has a beautiful world coming straight from a heavy album cover, and it has both the atmosphere and music to tie the weak story, boring strategy and non-existent melee combat together in this amazing knot you won't be able to forget.”
  • optimization
    124 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The game's optimization has received significant criticism, with many players reporting frequent stuttering, frame drops, and inconsistent performance, even on high-end hardware. While some users experienced smoother gameplay, the overall consensus is that the game is poorly optimized, leading to a frustrating experience that detracts from its otherwise enjoyable elements, such as voice acting and gameplay. Despite its engaging content, the technical issues hinder long play sessions and overall enjoyment.

    • “Doing this seems to give it the proper look and much smoother performance.”
    • “Performance is great, controls are great, plenty of options to make it fit your PC.”
    • “Expect for a few technical issues, the game runs smoothly and sounds great.”
    • “Performance was pretty dodgy too, with weirdly inconsistent framerates on my end.”
    • “I loved this game on PS3, but it is poorly optimized for PC, way too many annoying performance issues for a game that is like 10 years old.”
    • “Poor optimization makes for laggy performance, leading to cluttered, disconnected combat.”
  • grinding
    111 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The grinding aspect of the game has been widely criticized for being tedious and repetitive, particularly in its RTS elements and combat mechanics. Many players found the gameplay loops monotonous, with long battles and mandatory side missions that detracted from overall enjoyment. While some appreciated the art style and humor, the overwhelming sentiment is that the grind significantly hampers the experience, making it feel more like a chore than fun.

    • “It has a great art style, a comedic script, competent combat that is simple but not grindy, the best OST ever, and is just a good example of a console port.”
    • “These are somewhat bland, mostly small wave battles and races, but they aren't that tedious since they're over quickly.”
    • “The whole thing easily becomes super tedious after the first mission, and the game does very little to mix it up.”
    • “Simply put, the tower battles are long, tedious, and soul-crushing.”
    • “I have to say that I was genuinely misled; I thought it would be a fun hack and slash open world game, but what I got is a tedious RTS game with the bare minimum of game design.”
  • stability
    93 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The game's stability is frequently criticized for being buggy, with numerous graphical glitches and occasional crashes reported by players. While many enjoy the gameplay and overall experience, the presence of these bugs can detract from enjoyment, particularly in the PC port, which is noted to be messier than its console counterparts. Despite these issues, most players find the game still enjoyable, with only minor glitches that do not significantly hinder gameplay.

    • “While this game isn't as polished as some, I played through it glitch/bug free and enjoyed myself.”
    • “Had the Xbox version and well, PC looks better and plays well too, no glitches.”
    • “The game runs great, but is clearly outdated in terms of gameplay and quality of life features from a more modern game, some of which you might notice immediately.”
    • “I love this game, I had it on my Xbox 360, it's an amazing game, but holy crap, it's so buggy I can't play it without it crashing or the models vibrating, it needs to be patched ASAP.”
    • “First you’ve got to understand that this game is a pool of bugs and glitches, nothing game breaking but when they pile up, all that stick to your memory is a terrible experience.”
    • “Too bad the game is too buggy to fully enjoy.”
  • replayability
    76 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    Replayability in this game is a mixed bag; while some players find it highly replayable due to hidden secrets, unlockable abilities, and engaging gameplay, others note its short length and linear story arc limit replay value. Many reviews highlight that the game can be enjoyable for multiple playthroughs, especially with different difficulty levels or multiplayer modes, but some feel it lacks substantial replay incentives beyond the initial experience. Overall, the consensus suggests that while there are elements that encourage replay, the game's brevity and certain gameplay mechanics may deter long-term engagement.

    • “Players can discover hidden secrets, unlock new abilities, and engage in optional activities that extend the game's replayability.”
    • “Amazing game - amazingly written, funny, engaging, very replayable, and Jack Black is amazing as always.”
    • “Still holds up very well 10+ years later with great replayability, and has a very fleshed out soundtrack that appeals to all kinds of metalheads.”
    • “Unfortunately, the game is incredibly short and has little replay value outside of multiplayer, which understandably lacks public matchmaking.”
    • “There is not a lot of replayability in this title.”
    • “I believe that a single play-through is worth your time, but because of the subpar hack and slash gameplay, as well as the poor RTS implementation, there's not much replay value.”
  • character development
    63 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    Character development in brütal legend is highlighted by its vibrant and imaginative character designs, which are deeply influenced by heavy metal culture and complemented by strong voice acting, including performances from notable actors. Players appreciate the humor and unique personalities of the characters, particularly the dynamic between Eddie and Ophelia, although some express a desire for deeper character exploration in future installments. Overall, the game's artistic direction and engaging character interactions contribute significantly to its appeal.

    • “It's only worth playing the main campaign because of character development, especially the dynamic between Eddie and Ophelia, along with the crazy characters they come up with.”
    • “Clunky controls and aged graphics aside, the storyline and world that is created are fresh, the all-star musical cast is fantastic, and the humor and character development keep my attention.”
    • “The character design and dialogue are hilarious, and they actually brought in a lot of big-name voice actors.”
    • “If there is a sequel, I hope to see each mission and side mission have better variety and deeper character development.”
    • “It's only worth playing the main campaign because of character development, specifically the relationship between Eddie and Ophelia, and the crazy characters they come up with.”
    • “The character designs are simply brutal.”
  • emotional
    44 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The emotional aspect of the game is characterized by a blend of humor and heartfelt moments, with many players expressing that it made them laugh and cry throughout their experience. While some found the story's emotional depth lacking due to contrived plot points, others praised its ability to evoke strong feelings, particularly through its music and character arcs. Overall, it is seen as a touching tribute to metal culture, leaving players with a sense of nostalgia and connection.

    • “Made me a heavy metal fan, made me cry.”
    • “This game is a masterpiece; I cried when this game ended because I loved it dearly.”
    • “The end was emotionally satisfying, sneaking away, yet finding yourself surrounded by friends that simply ask you to never forget them, at which point you’d likely say that you won’t, then driving into the sunset while your girlfriend watches, smiling and dropping a tear.”
  • monetization
    12 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The monetization strategy of the game has drawn criticism, particularly for EA's focus on multiplayer and microtransactions at the expense of single-player content, which led to the cancellation of a sequel. Despite the lack of microtransactions in the game itself, players feel that misleading advertising and poor support from EA have negatively impacted its success and overall experience. While some appreciate the game's honest gameplay, the monetization approach has left a sour taste for many fans.

    • “Hours and hours of honest game with no trash microtransactions!”
    • “The game's multiplayer is dead, combat feels a bit janky on a mouse and keyboard, and the developers cut content that they were going to put into a sequel, but EA cancelled because it didn't make them enough money and EA hates singleplayer because they don't make as much money as multiplayer with microtransactions.”
    • “It wasn't in any advertising for the game and it really adds a weird element to the game that doesn't match its tone of 'over the top metal.' It's not the worst gameplay element in the world, but I think hardcore metal fans and RTS fans are a small niche.”
    • “A hack & slash/RTS game that sold poorly on consoles due to EA's misleading advertising.”
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80%Critics’ scoreBased on 6 critic reviews
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12h Median play time
68h Average play time
9h Main story
24h Completionist
5-23h Spent by most gamers
*Based on 28 analyzed playthroughs
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Frequently Asked Questions

Brütal Legend is a open world real-time strategy game with fantasy and comedy themes.

Brütal Legend is available on Steam Deck, iPhone, Windows, Xbox Series X|S and others.

The main story can be completed in around 9 hours, while the entire game is estimated to take about 24 hours to finish. On average players spend around 68 hours playing Brütal Legend.

Brütal Legend was released on December 15, 2009.

Brütal Legend was developed by Double Fine Productions.

Brütal Legend has received very positive reviews from players. Most players liked this game for its music but disliked it for its grinding.

Brütal Legend is a single player game with multiplayer support.

Similar games include DmC: Devil May Cry, Darksiders, Psychonauts, Batman Arkham Asylum, Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor and others.