Game 17 of 2023 - The Life and Suffering of Sir Brante

The Life and Suffering of Sir Brante

Developer: Sever
Publisher: 101xp
Platform: PC
Genre: Visual Novel/RPG

Difficulty: Surprisingly Difficult 
Hours: ~6

Finished: Yes, sorta
Final Rating: 8/10

I can't really say too much about my playthrough of The Life and Suffering of Sir Brante without spoiling the game. It's great, though, really.

TLASOSB is, if you can imagine, a hardcore RPG/visual novel mashup. As a kid I read Choose Your Own Adventure books religiously, and it's kinda like that plus you have stats that change with the choices you make.

You play Sir Brante from birth to death, and yeah, he often suffers. There are no 'good' or 'optimal' choices here; you can't please everyone. Someone is always going to mad at you. During my playthrough, I stood up to my asshole grandfather and he just fucking wasted me right in front of my parents with his cane, giving me my first death. You get up to five deaths before you experience 'true death' and face judgement from The Twins (the gods of Sir Brante's world).

TLASOSB is very well written and paced, with a compelling branching storyline and many complex characters. It comes to life in the pages of Brante's journal, complete with nice illustrations and character portraits. Brante's journal contains a map and pages that show your stats and relationship with the characters you've met so far.

Also, Sir Brante's voice actor sounds like a dude straight out of Baltimore.