Malaysian-based developer Passion Republic now has its very own IP. Called Gigabash, it is a 4-player top-down kaiju brawler, with inspirations from the PS2 classic War Of The Monsters and Super Smash Bros.
Designed with couch multiplayer in mind, the brawler features kaijus (and at least one mecha) bash each other, and the diorama-looking environment around them, into pieces. It has a normal attack, special attack and a jump button ala Smash. But you can also grab opponents or the environment. Each monster can power-up into S-Class (essentially, grow bigger) and pull off a super move.
First revealed at Tokyo Games Show, Gigabash caught the attention of the folks at Famitsu and 4Gamer as Indie Prize Nominees, with Dengeki awarding the Indie Prize Award. Gigabash also picked up top honors at the SEA Game Awards 2019, bagging four of ten categories including the Grand Jury Award.
Our impressions are in line with the many award givers too. The diorama-like where the scale of some buildings and objects are fudged a bit is eye-popping and interesting to look at. The circular arena have some neat ideas. You can toss buildings in the streets of Tokyo or hide in the bushes to lame it out in the jungle map.
Defeated players can also still influence the tide of the match. They can fire lasers to weaken any player they choose or at least make a nuisance of those that are still playing to win.
The game is geared for casual play, the couch multiplayer focus is apparent here. But talking with the devs on the show floor, the game will be considering players that want to go competitive with their kaiju bashing.
The four playable monsters all have an archetype they filled in. You have the long-range poker with projectiles, the up-and close brawler, the cute but annoying one that can gobble up others like Kirby and do a Blanka ball spin when powered up, and a mecha with a giant sword. Each has different advantages, as you’d expect from a sort-of fighting game.
As we predicted in our recent round-up of the best games we played at Level Up KL 2019, their huge booth at Level Up KL Play is both always filled with people and they were many happy faces. At this stage already, Gigabash is already fun. Now is the case to get enough content for release- at least 10 characters on launch from what we learned from the developers and more arenas.
Our short impressions are strongly positive. It has snagged a lot of awards from critics. It looks like a lot of people trying out the game are also impressed. Gigabash looks like it’s brimming with potential, let’s hope the final product lives up to what it feels like playing right now.
Gigabash will be out in Q4 2020 for the PS4 and PC.