Diesel Legacy: The Brazen Age Logo
Diesel Legacy: The Brazen Age Icon
Diesel Legacy: The Brazen Age

Developer: Modus Games

Publisher: Maximum Entertainment

Competititve Mutliplayer
Fighting
Co-Op Multiplayer
Action
Beat-Em-Up
  • Price: $8.99 $29.99 (70% Off!)
    Deal!
  • Release Date: Dec 3, 2024
  • Number of Players: 1 - 4
  • On Sale Through: Feb 17, 2025 [$8.99]
  • Lowest Historic Price: $8.99
  • ESRB Rating: T [Teen]
Reviews:
  • Watch this review on YouTube
    An ambitious mix of fighter and 3-lane beat-em-up that’s gorgeous but hardly ideal in execution

    One of the things I tend to appreciate the most about indie developers is their willingness to take some big swings, finding ways to defy expectations and deliver something unique. Of course, that doesn’t always work out for the best, but it’s hard not to be impressed by obvious ambition. Spending some time with Diesel Legacy, there’s no doubt that it takes some risks, essentially combining two similar-but-very-different genres into one, and then wrapping that up in a pack of fluidly-animated characters.

    Right off the bat, there’s no doubt that visually the game is quite impressive, featuring some great hand-drawn characters whose animations are wonderfully detailed. While a sense of visual flair isn’t everything, it’s obvious that a great deal of care went into making the game look incredible, and that doesn’t even appear to come with a cost to performance. Indeed, the primary selling point here, though it can also be frustrating, is the breakneck pace and chaos you’ll often be dealing with, especially in 2-on-2 matches. While the movesets for each of the game’s characters are somewhere in the middle-tier in terms of depth where fighting games are concerned, they’re at least each quite distinct in their style and can feel quite effective once you’ve gotten into the rhythm of things. Also, if you’re able to play with a friend, there’s absolutely nothing out there that feels quite like this, even if it may be a bit of an acquired taste.

    In many regards, I’m surprised there haven’t been more attempts to combine the classic beat-em-up format with fighting game mechanics already, but Diesel Legacy does a fair job of illustrating the challenges with doing so that may have given others pause. While not allowing you to move freely as you would in a normal beat-em-up works, using a 3-lane system instead, there are absolutely some issues with combining that with fighting game controls and when things get really chaotic, keeping track of which lane you and your enemies in can be challenging. Especially when the camera pulls out to keep track of all the action, it can be pretty easy to lose a sense of where you and your enemies are in the moment, especially if there’s action in the foreground and you’re trying to get things done towards the back. The controls attempt to make it easy enough to change lanes reliably, without having it happen too much accidentally, but in the heat of things managing it properly can be a challenge.

    One nice side effect of combining these two genres is that it opens the door to two approaches for gameplay, allowing you to work through each of the 10 characters’ story modes more in a beat-em-up style, or more as a traditional fighter as you work through a progression of enemies. Online play is another route you can enjoy, though with indie games like this it’s always a fair question for how long the community will last, and given the unique style of play it’s possible it could be a sustained hit or simply collapse since gamers can be fickle. There’s no question that ambition radiates from this title, with a great deal of work invested in making it look outstanding and play well, the question is more whether its unique flavor is what gamers are looking for.


    Justin Nation, Score:
    Good [7.5]
2025

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