A Victorian-era setting for a multiplayer couch brawler?

Not very likely but on Brimstone Brawlers it is. It even calls itself full of industry, fear and an assortment of peculiar characters roaming its streets with a very keen interest in getting into fights.

That doesn’t sound anything like dark fantasy and neither does the new alpha game-play trailer; what it does make for though is seemingly pretty use of the Unreal Engine. Brimstone Brawlers eccentric cast of characters features at least those of the Witch Hunter, Vampire, Bomber, Alchemist and Engineer categories.

As the trailer demonstrates each comes with their own assortment of attacks; the Bomber in flinging his pyromaniacal inventory of Pyrogoo, the Alchemist in his box of potions when not drinking his favorite Turtle Shell defensive tonic, the Engineer in all her strength that comes from working overtime on colossal airships, and the Vampire in his hungering leaps – to name a few.

Brawls transpire across stylized environments of the medieval variety, while combat itself may vary from being simple to complex depending on how effective a player you are.

Projectiles for instance may not only be dodged but deflected; props as simple as arrows may be freely ignited, abilities combined to create explosions, while the destructible environment throws ample surprises.

All this would be no fun without full controller support and/or online multiplayer included, so Brimstone Brawlers will include both. Trash talking too. The upcoming Alpha version however, of which the above trailer is a preview, will be local-only in the absence of any networking capabilities.

Its purpose will be to gauge interest in the game before its forthcoming early access release on itch.io. The itch.io early access release will subsequently be priced, translate into a corresponding Steam Early Access release, and evolve therefrom into the final version of the game.

New brawler visuals tweaks incoming! #UE4 #indiegame #gamedev pic.twitter.com/AvKRIj1EpS

— Brimstone Brawlers (@BrimstoneGame) June 10, 2018

All one would need to partake in the Early Interest Alpha test for now is a willingness to render continuous feedback on the game’s Discord channel.