Brandish 2: The Planet Buster

About

Brandish 2: The Planet Buster follows Ares, a warrior tasked with reclaiming his magical sword from a warlock’s clutches. Set three years after the first game’s events, the story unfolds as Ares navigates a large underground prison filled with traps, enemies, and shifting layouts. Combat happens in real time with melee attacks, spells, and environmental interactions like breaking obstacles. Players solve light puzzles while managing resources across procedurally generated dungeons. The focus stays on relentless action and exploration as Ares pushes through increasingly complex challenges. The game’s standout feature is its rotating screen system, which shifts the environment around the stationary character who always faces upward. This approach creates disorienting but clever level design that forces adaptive thinking. Released in 1993 for Super Famicom and PC-9800, it blends top-down action with early 90s RPG tropes. While not widely discussed today, fans of retro dungeon crawlers appreciate its tactile controls and unpredictable layouts. The fixed perspective and real-time mechanics remain distinct even among modern entries in the genre.