Brotato Review: Is It Worth Playing?

What is Brotato?

Brotato is a top-down, wave-based survival shooter with heavy roguelite elements. Developed by a solo creator known as Blobfish, it gained traction in early access before its full 1.0 release in 2023.

The premise is charmingly absurd: you control a potato armed with up to six weapons at once. You fight for survival against relentless hordes of alien vegetables and other bizarre foes.

Each run is a desperate struggle to last through 20 waves. Brief intermissions let you spend earned materials on permanent upgrades, new weapons, and game-changing items.

It distils the horde-survival genre, popularised by games like Vampire Survivors, into a faster, more tactically immediate package. Active aiming and constant movement are paramount.

Gameplay

The core gameplay loop is fiendishly moreish and deceptively deep. You begin each run by selecting one of dozens of unique character archetypes, each with dramatic modifiers that dictate your playstyle.

The 'Crazy' character starts with random weapons and stats every wave. The 'One-Armed' can wield only a single weapon but gains massive bonuses for doing so. This initial choice fundamentally shapes every decision that follows.

The moment-to-moment play is a frantic ballet of dodging and shooting. Unlike some auto-attack survivors, Brotato requires you to manually aim most of your weapons, adding a significant layer of skill and engagement.

Juggling up to six weapons, from flamethrowers and shotguns to psychic axes and slingshots, creates a wonderfully chaotic feedback loop of destruction. The learning curve is steep but fair.

Early runs will see you overwhelmed quickly, but each failure teaches you more about the critical importance of stat balancing. Investing in attack speed, damage, and percentage-based modifiers like 'Life Steal' or 'Elemental Damage' is a constant, compelling puzzle.

The sheer volume of items and weapons ensures no two runs feel identical. Discovering powerful synergies between your character's innate traits and your loot drops provides the game's greatest thrill.

Depth and Build Diversity

The depth emerges from an intricate stat system and vast build diversity. Do you focus on harvesting efficiency to afford better items later, or prioritise raw damage to survive the immediate wave?

Can you make a viable build around throwing screwdrivers or healing yourself with each critical hit? Brotato not only allows for these experiments but actively encourages them.

Its genius lies in making complex RPG-style number-crunching feel immediate and impactful amidst the screen-filling chaos.

Brotato's genius lies in making complex stat-crunching feel immediate and impactful amidst screen-filling chaos.

Who is Brotato for?

Brotato is primarily for solo players who enjoy hardcore, replayable roguelites and theory-crafting potent character builds. It will strongly appeal to fans of Vampire Survivors looking for a more hands-on, tactical challenge.

It also suits veterans of action-RPGs like The Binding of Isaac who appreciate deep mechanical customisation. While its 'just one more run' hook is universal, its difficulty and demand for quick reflexes lean towards more dedicated players.

Casual gamers may find the initial difficulty wall punishing. However, the accessible core controls and short run times (around 20-30 minutes for a complete attempt) make it easy to pick up in brief sessions.

It is a single-player experience through and through, with no multiplayer component.

Its perfect audience is the tinkerer, the min-maxer, and anyone who finds joy in watching a deliberately built character evolve into an unstoppable engine of vegetable-based carnage.

Graphics and Performance

Brotato employs a clean, pixel-art style that is functional and full of personality. The characters and enemies are simple but distinct, which is a blessing when the screen becomes an overwhelming tapestry of projectiles, enemies, and loot.

Visual clarity is excellent. You can always identify your potato avatar amidst the madness, and important pick-ups are clearly signposted. It’s not a graphically demanding title, and this works entirely in its favour.

On PC, it runs flawlessly on even modest hardware, maintaining a stable, high frame rate which is absolutely critical for a game requiring pixel-perfect dodging. We encountered no performance issues, crashes, or notable bugs during play.

The UI is intuitive, presenting a wealth of statistical information without feeling cluttered. The presentation perfectly serves the gameplay: no-frills, highly readable, and optimised to ensure the technical side never impedes the player's skill.

Value for Money

Brotato is typically priced at a very modest point, often under £5. For that investment, the amount of content is staggering.

With over 40 unique characters to unlock and master, hundreds of weapons and items to discover, and multiple difficulty levels that drastically alter the challenge, the game offers dozens, if not hundreds, of hours of engagement for completionists.

The core loop is so compelling that simply beating the game with every character provides a monumental task. There is no filler or narrative padding here; every minute is pure, distilled gameplay.

It represents one of the highest value-for-money propositions in the modern roguelite genre. The depth of build-crafting and the sheer variety of viable strategies give it a longevity that belies its simple presentation and low price point.

With over 40 characters and hundreds of items, Brotato offers one of the highest value-for-money propositions in the modern roguelite genre.

Verdict

Brotato is an exceptional, tightly designed roguelite that masterfully blends frantic action with deep strategic planning. It takes a familiar horde-survival formula and injects it with a level of hands-on control and build diversity that sets it apart from its peers.

The staggering number of character variants and item synergies creates near-infinite replayability, all wrapped in a performance-optimised, charmingly absurd package.

We wholeheartedly recommend Brotato to players who enjoy challenging, stat-driven action games and devising their own overpowered builds. You will love it if you relish the process of learning through failure, experimenting with bizarre weapon combinations, and experiencing the power fantasy of a perfectly optimised run.

However, it may not resonate with those who dislike high-pressure, screen-filling chaos or who prefer narrative-driven experiences with guided progression. The aesthetic is simple, and the challenge is unapologetic.

But for anyone seeking a deep, rewarding, and endlessly playable survival shooter, Brotato is an unmissable potato.