Right now, the top game on the App Store stars none other than Felix Kjellberg. I took the game for a spin, and here’s what I found.
PewDiePie: Legend of the Brofist is a $US4.99 mobile game where the big bad villain is…a barrel. Yes, you read that right. An evil barrel. To the average person, this might seem ridiculous. To fans, it will make total sense: Barrels have their very own Pewdiepie Wiki page,which explains how this inanimate object turned into the blonde YouTuber’s “arch-nemesis” after playing through horror game Amnesia. Of course barrels make an appearance during the game, even if the result is pretty damn silly:
Really, I imagine that most of the game is aimed at hardcore Pewdiepie fans to begin with. They’re the ones who will understand the inside jokes. They’re the ones who will appreciate the cameos by other YouTube stars. For the rest of us, though, Brofist is a tougher sell.
If you watch gaming YouTube videos, you’re probably familiar with that certain type of wacky video game that makes for great footage, regardless of what the commentator is actually saying. “YouTube fodder,” some (unfairly) call it. We’re talking stuff like Goat Simulator, Surgeon Simulator, physics games, and so on. We see games like this so often, they almost make their goofy charm look effortless. One of the most common criticisms I’ve seen is that many games are now engineered to look great while highlighted by a YouTuber, and in doing so, don’t need to actually be good in order to be popular. I don’t think this cynicism is warranted, and Pewdiepie’s very own game is proof of that.
There’s a certain point in the footage above, for example, where Pewdiepie is about to get wrecked by the eviiiiil barrel. In comes Markiplier to save the day with a fighter jet that he says he bought on the internet. OK, so far, kind of silly, but not that bad. Then you have to play through a shoot-em-up section where you’re killing barrels (sure), ducks (makes sense), rainbow farting unicorns (huh?), UFOs (why?) and giant Orcas (wut?). If there is a logic to that madness, I don’t know what it is. The game just kind of keeps going like this. Soon after the shoot-em-up section, you have to head to the North Pole because of reasons, and along the way you find a big-arse T-Rex. Because why not? I hate being this critical of something that’s clearly not supposed to be serious, or perhaps is meant more for kids, but here we are.
There is stuff to like here, don’t get me wrong. The pixel art is top-notch, and I appreciate the lack of in-app purchases, too. The platforming, while tough even on easy mode, feels pretty good on iOS; there’s a lot of weight to your jumps. I really love the inclusion of Pewdiepie’s pugs, which bravely fight alongside you — and sometimes even sacrifice themselves to keep you alive. Cute! But man. I can’t really get into the “lol so random” aspect of the game — instead of being funny, it just falls flat for me. Legend of the Brofist is a tryhard of a game.
Comments
16 responses to “Pewdiepie’s Game Tries Way Too Hard”
Tries too hard?
Sounds like Pewdiepie himself. Authentic game experience!
How hard would you try for $7m+ a year?
Sooooo hard!
My Derpaderp channel never took off and then Pewdz took my concept. And refactored it just enough to avoid paying my royalties. 🙁
Ew .. a bro-child game. No thank you! So glad the author had the courage to outright call this cowpoo for what it really is.
I used to dismiss Pewdiepie like I imagine most other older gamers do. Just some good-looking dude who makes silly voices at games, right?
But then I saw some of his non-gaming videos, where he talks about issues with vlogging, celebrity, etc, and he seems to be one of the more level-headed famous people around. I still don’t really watch his gameplays, but you have to respect his hustle. For a hard craft, he has mastered it like no one else.
For these reasons, I plan to buy his game. I won’t get the jokes or maybe enjoy the absurdity, but I’ve heard good things about the gameplay and the lack of in-app purchases. Very excited to give it a shot.
What most people dismiss, myself included, is the persona. That abomination just needs to die in a fire. The man himself is a legend. What hes accomplished and what he does for things like charity are fantastic. Granted all that achievement is based around that annoying shrieking douchebag he portrays but it has to be said its obviously what people wanted.
Not sure I want a future where a game is popular not because its a good game, but because someone popular was involved in it…
I wonder if it’s popular because PewDiePie. I wonder if people are genuinely interested in the game. For me, not my type of game and I have no plans at all to purcahse it or ever give it another look besides from this article. Not because of who made it or what it’s about. but because it looks quite boring to me.
Yes its popular because pew di pie, still looks lile a fun game though.
I enjoy absurdity in games if thats what its going for and have really enjoyed this game so far. I only started watching pewdiepie after his screaming phase had passed (to a degree) so i dont get all the jokes but if your looking for a well built, wacky platformer, this is a great choice!
Pewdiepie’s Let’s Plays are highly annoying but his best stuff is his non-gaming content.
Agree completely. Gaming vids seem like the silly Pewdiepie persona, everything else seems like a genuinely nice dude.
that dude is fail imo. i dont find him even remotely funny or entertaining but that’s okay. this interests me even less than a silly internet video of over reacting to stupid games so yeah, nah.
How about instead of writing an article making a jab at the game you could make something possitive, like how he didn’t ask for a kickstarter like 80% of other people would, or how he paid to make the game himself 😛
I’ve never really paid attention to this guy. Never seen a video. I was informed today that he has 40 million subscribers and made over 7 million last year. WTF
I keep away from people like Pewdiepie. Never been a fan of the over the top, exaggerated, wacky act that seems to attract viewers like flies. Seems so insincere and fake.