Hands-On With Brigador Killers

Stellar Jockeys have spent the last seven years developing a follow-up to 2016’s Brigador. Although Brigador Killers retains the original game’s destructive isometric action, its protracted development period reflects some larger ambitions.

Currently available through Steam’s Early Access program, Killers need to show that it can support several new systems without losing the focus of its predecessor. Naturally, rhe destructible sandbox returns, complete with an introductory sequence that lets you demolish city blocks. However, this time, it’s joined by on-foot combat, vehicle salvaging, inventory management, fabrication, arsenal progression and what could be described as an extraction-lite gameplay loop. After spending time with the Early Access launch build, I’m cautiously excited by what Stellar Jockeys is building, even if several of its systems still need some refinement.

Revenge Rooted in the Rubble of the First Game

Brigador Killers does more than revisit its predecessor’s universe: it inverts the player’s perspective. The original cast players as mercenary pilots betraying their planet in exchange for a payout and a way off-world. Piloting mechs, tanks, and hovercraft through Solo Nobre, you helped dismantle an oppressive government, all while leaving much of the city in ruins.

The sequel focuses on people living with the consequences of these actions. Set on the world of Mar Nosso, Killers casts the player as a member of Team Anchor, an insurgent crew operating behind enemy lines. Its members fight corporate forces, assemble a private arsenal, and of course, hunt the Brigadors who created the devastation of the first game.

Largely, it’s an effective reversal. Instead of controlling mercenaries trying to escape the aftermath, you are pursuing some of the people who profited from it. That gives the violence a more personal motivation without making Team Anchor’s methods too heroic. If you appreciate a bit of moral ambiguity, Killers seems posied to please.

Meet the Hellbent New Insurgents

Several characters from the original game return as targets, allowing longtime players to confront characters they may once have controlled. Familiarity with Brigador adds a bit of spice to those encounters, but the new cast’s motivations remain mostly understandable without it. It has been a few years since I played the original Brigador, and a refresher was almost essential.

The Early Access campaign also strives to improve the richness of the storytelling. Detailed character portraits, pulpy dialogue, and short scripted sequences provide more characterization than the original game generally offered. Best of all, the headshots aren’t small, allowing us to peer into the eyes of the Killlers.

Your early operations function as compact tutorials. One mission has you use a payphone to lure a target into a sniper’s line of fire. Another sends you driving a van packed with explosives. Subsequent assignments introduce turret emplacements, vehicles and finally a full mechanized assault. The sequence escaltes the scale of things while establishing the members of Team Anchor and teaching you how Killers’ different systems all fit together.

Of Scavenging and Escalation

The progression system is where Killers feels a bit like an “extraction-lite” game. Players deploy with equipment they have collected, search missions for weapons and vehicle parts, and attempt to return with their haul intact. Successful excursions create opportunities to tackle more dangerous missions containing higher-tier equipment, providing a bit of Hitman-style autonomy.

Beginning an operation on foot with little more than a sidearm, then commandeering a car, armored vehicle or mech during the same mission, gives the combat a sense of escalation the original game lacked. Meanwhile, limited carrying capacity means you’ll make tough decisions about what to keep and what to abandon. Back at the garage, salvaged parts can be used through the Fabricator to create or modify vehicles, while collected weapons and equipment expand your arsenal.

The loop is compelling, but it is also responsible for some of the current build’s issues. Inventory management can be fiddly, difficulty sometimes rises abruptly, and the interface frequently interrupts the momentum of combat. Fortunately, the initial post-launch hotfix reduced enemy numbers and reinforcements, increased ammunition drops, and reworked a few encounters.

A Grim Atmosphere, Turned Up

Visually and aurally, Killers builds on Brigador’s foundations. Its isometric environments retain the original’s look, and are elevated by detailed sprites, new tilesets, improved lighting and yes, plenty of highly destructible scenery. On-foot play gives those environments a different sense of scale. Moving between infantry and vehicle combat makes each increase in firepower feel tangible. Makeup and Vanity Set return to score the game, and the industrial synth soundtrack is every bit a part of Killers as the collapsing buildings and burning machinery.

The launch version contains more than 30 missions. Roughly half are narrative-focused operations with restricted equipment, while the remainder offer up a more open campaign. Many missions outside the tutorial incorporate semi-random enemy deployments, item drops, or alternate layouts, allowing for some replay.

A Substantial but Uneven Early Access Build

At present, the game also has more than 30 firearms, alongside combat rigs and an expanding collection of vehicles. Stellar Jockeys expects the Early Access period to continue at least until the end of the year, with no firm date announced for version 1.0. Naturally, additional story material, factions, units, environments, vehicles and weapons are all planned. It will be interesting to see how these things expand Killers’ ambitions.

Expectedly, the current Early Access version is officially available only for Windows. Controller play is possible, but the developers recommend using a mouse and keyboard. Some commands are not fully confiured for gamepads or Steam Deck, and several menus still require pointer-like navigation. That said, better controller and Steam Deck support are planned for the 1.0 release. Some placeholder art can be seen, while balance and some interface work need to be done. This is a substantial Early Access release, but it shouldn’t be mistaken for an almost-finished product.

Early Access Is Promising, but Clearly Early

Brigador Killers knows what it wants to be: a bigger, meaner and more personal sequel. It preserves the destructive spectacle that made the original a cult favorite while giving that chaos a stronger sense of progression and purpose. The shift between being a vulnerable infantry combatant and becoming a formidible mechanized force is the game’s most successful addition. The expanded narrative also gives that destruction some purpose beyond chasing a mission score.

At the same time, the launch build’s inventory system, balancing problems, unfinished presentation and limited controller support make the Early Access label important . The ambition is visible, but there’s plenty of work that needs to be done, as well. Even in this unfinished state, Brigador Killers scratches an itch that few other games attempt to reach. I’m looking forward to seeing whether Stellar Jockeys can turn its promising collection of systems into a cohesive, and suitably chaotic successor.