Brazen Blaze Reviews

Nice game with anime protagonist vibes.

Player Base & Matchmaking Issues: - The player base is so small that full 3 vs 3 human matches are nearly impossible. - With over 50% of the Top 100 leaderboard playing fewer than 5 games a week, the player base feels nonexistent, leading to matches filled with bots, 1v1s with bots, or incomplete human teams facing full bot teams instead of proper 3v3 human matches. - Don't be surprised to see multiple players with just one win on the worldwide, cross-platform Top 100 leaderboard, a clear sign of the game's tiny and declining player base. - If they remove the bots, the player base will be exposed as nearly nonexistent, and there will be no recovery. This decision will be the final nail in the coffin, and despite the inevitable consequences, I predict it will happen soon. When it does, I’ll be here to say, ‘I told you so,’ as they’ll have pushed this agenda despite the clear risks. - Update: I'm done being a forever beta tester for a game that has been out for over 8 months, with a shrinking, dying player base, yet still feels like it's in beta, if not in an even worse state. They keep locking, removing, and re-releasing the same game modes. Removing bots from Round Team Match, only to bring them back a week later (which I clearly stated in my previous review would be a bad idea - ‘I told you so’, you have effectively killed the game), only further proves they lack the skills and knowledge to manage a live-service game, as outlined below. They have learned nothing. Poor Leadership & Mismanagement: - Leadership pushes shallow updates instead of real fixes (e.g., basketball and punching bags that nobody touches after the first few minutes). - I've never seen a team prioritize the wrong updates this badly, it's as if they're taking advice from people with no experience in the multiplayer gaming industry. - Shrinking dev team and mismanagement show they can’t handle a live-service game. - Developer communication is almost nonexistent, and events and content are dull (we had better and more events during the beta). Loss of Fun & Declining Engagement: - The excitement from beta is gone, and the game’s fun has drastically declined post-release (it never peaked the same excitement as in the beta). - Players are leaving faster than new ones join, shrinking the player base (as shown by the in-game top 100 leaderboard). - Runner balance is a mess, especially when most matches are 1 vs 1 or filled with bots. Monetization & Economy Issues: - Battle Pass offers little value, with no reason to grind (even used to be a paid Battle Pass). - Runner Pass is a total joke, pay for the game, then either spend more money or grind excessively in bot-filled matches just to unlock all five runners. - Monetization is greedy, with overpriced $35+ recolored skins. - The in-game economy is a mess with multiple pointless currencies. - "Exclusive" event rewards are meaningless due to re-releases. Social & UI Problems: - The social lobby is poorly implemented, with muted mics and idle avatars resembling Budget Power Rangers as your avatar, highlighting the small player base. - Constant pop-ups pushing you to connect Discord to find players, with no option to turn it off, feels like harassment until you link Discord. - Unwanted large Discord screen with no option to turn it off. Final Verdict: - Fun for a few games, but I highly recommend refunding within 2 hours due to the lack of players and shallow long-term content. - If it goes F2P, it will be too late to fix the current state due to mismanagement. Additional Thoughts; Wasted Potential & Lack of Communication: Brazen Blaze had incredible potential after its beta, but eight months after release, it has become a frustrating disappointment. Communication from the development team, has all but disappeared, and the excitement that once surrounded the game has faded due to poorly executed events and declining player engagement. This isn’t entirely the fault of the current community manager but rather the decision-makers, who replaced two highly active CMs with just one. From what the community can see, the current CM's workload appears to be a fraction of what the previous team handled. Instead of focusing on community engagement and growing the player base, the current CM is stretched too thin, forced to handle everything alone. With such a small player base, finding full non-bot matches has become nearly impossible. Poor Leadership & Lack of Meaningful Updates: One of the biggest failures lies in the leadership of the Brazen Blaze team. The developers seem disconnected from what the game truly needs, implementing only basic updates that should have been in place before launch while ignoring deeper, more critical issues. Events that were once engaging and well-structured during the beta now feel uninspired, and not a single post-launch event has come close to matching the quality of those from early testing. The team has repeatedly shown an inability to organize meaningful content and events that keep players invested. The Downfall of Community Engagement: The shift in community management has also been a major step backward. Previously, two highly active community managers engaged with players, organized events, and helped build a strong sense of community. Now, the team has been reduced to just one, whose efforts are far less visible and impactful. While this isn’t entirely the current CM’s fault, the level of engagement is nowhere near what the previous managers achieved, with one of them alone doing five times as much. This decline in engagement shows that the leadership behind the decision to replace the previous CMs with just one has been poorly handled, or it suggests that the leadership is ignoring the requests and feedback from the previous community managers and players. As a result, the game feels abandoned, with the remaining community left to fend for itself, and the current CM is being thrown into the pit as a messenger, with messages failing to reach both the community and the leadership. Greedy Monetization & Meaningless Rewards: The monetization strategy is equally disappointing. $35+ skin bundles consisting of simple recolors feel like blatant cash grabs, especially for a game that isn’t free-to-play. Micro transactions are far from "micro," demanding premium prices without providing any real value. Instead of adding meaningful effects or unique designs, most paid skins are nothing more than recolored versions or minor repeated patterns being added, making the pricing feel unjustifiable. On top of that, the so-called "exclusive" event rewards have proven meaningless, as supposedly limited-time items have resurfaced, making participation in these events feel like a waste of time. A Leadership Team Out of Its Depth: At this point, it’s clear that the leadership and management behind Brazen Blaze lack the knowledge, experience, and skills necessary to run a live-service multiplayer game. Key team members who once fueled hope for the game’s future are no longer involved, and the big promises they made were never fulfilled. The enthusiasm that once defined the beta has completely disappeared. After waiting months for things to improve, I’ve lost all faith in the current team. Not only do they seem to lack the proper leadership, but they also appear to be lacking designers for the shop skins, as most are just simple recolors with no creative flair. The battle pass rewards are badly implemented, offering little incentive to grind or invest in, and the lack of meaningful content to keep players engaged is evident. Unfortunately, with such a small player base, they can't even create content to keep players invested, further highlighting their inability to manage the game effectively. The small, declining community that remains still deserves better, but as it stands, Brazen Blaze is nothing more than a shadow of what it could have been.