Seyla, restrained by her allies.
Bravery Network Online is a Turn-Based Combat RPG with an emphasis on Player Versus Player battles, developed and published by GLOAM. The game released in Early Access for PC on February 16, 2021. The official Twitter page for the game is located here
.The game has you in the future world of Tower 6, competing in the ultimate sport: Bravery. Technology has made resource scarcity a thing of the past, and the citizens lovingly battle each other to stay plugged in. You play as their coach, trying your best to make sure your fighters are confident and focusing on what'll help them win!
Tropes:
- After the End: The setting takes place after at least three worldwide crises, with the main cast confined inside Tower 6 due to the Endless Winter outside, and the only records of pre-tower time are scrap and discarded magazines.
- Amicable Exes: Grace's recruitment mission reveals that she and Clint used to date twenty years ago, and are still good friends and frequent Bravery partners even though Clint is now dating Keiban.
- Blood Sport: The titular "Bravery" is one, in which people take turns fighting in teams of five until their opponents surrender. However, it's downplayed due to everyone being immortal and capable of coming back from death.
- But Thou Must!: There will be multiple times when a list of dialogue options doesn't really matter, and it's usually lampshaded, such as the second fight with Lise including the choice "None of my options can de-escalate this situation!"
- Character Class System: The move set of every fighter is dependent on which two Classes they are. These classes are all based on Tower 6's society, such as "Amie" (Buffing moves used by both the genuinely friendly and the manipulative fighters), "Dissident" (Captain-targeting moves used by rebels that fought against the Tower's original corrupt leadership), and "Candle" (powerful digital-type moves due to an innate connection to the Fire).
- Character Customization: In addition to altering your becker's chassis and face, and the palette of your team, you can adjust individual characters' stats and combat abilities at any time.
- Cosy Catastrophe: Although the outside world is apparently rather bleak, life inside of Tower 6 is actually quite chill, with everyone being effectively immortal, connected to a global psychic/technological force known as the Fire, being able to create infinite resources, and having fun playing Bravery.
- Defunct Online Video Games: Since March 2nd, 2023, the game's servers have been down, rendering all multiplayer and singleplayer content inaccessible. Besides a brief message sent on the 5th of the same month (which reassured they're "working on it"), the developers have been completely radio silent for almost a year.
- Endless Winter: The outside of Tower 6, which is shown when moving to different locations, is in a frozen-over, ever-snowing state. Talking with Tazu during their recruitment makes it clear that this was an after-effect of the second (of at least three) worldwide crises.
- Heel: Lynn, one of the Bravery fans that duels you when you first enter the Lounge, acts dismissive and rude while also whispering with her friends about if she's doing it right and how excited she really is. Additionally, Annora's recruitment starts with her acting haughtily, but has her briefly break character after she's beat and admit that some Bravery fighters intentionally fake bad attitudes to emulate authority figures of the old times.
- Hot-Blooded: Seyla, the girl that activates the player (as well as a LOT of other beckers) in order to get a decent coach, is also easily goaded into fighting entire teams by herself before Radney's group proves too defensive and her friends step in.
- Humans Are Psychic in the Future: A lot of how society in the setting functions, such as why people can come back from death or be able to fight themselves, is explained as people being connected to a mental/technological force called "Fire" and manipulating it in different ways. The ones born with an innate connection, like Fel, are referred to as "Candles", and are powerful enough to have Medium Awareness.
- Living Forever is No Big Deal: Everyone living within Tower 6 is incapable of truly dying, though it's still possible to suffer, as Odette's recruitment has her talk about how the first people in charge of the Tower's food starved everyone else before the Dissidents threw them out (and in the process learned that they return to mortality outside, in the inhospitable Endless Winter). However, aside from the boredom that lead to the creation of Bravery, none of the other people in the Tower ever make a big deal over their current condition.
- Medium Awareness: Some characters are aware that the "becker" with a personality from the 2000's is actually being controlled by a player, such as Fel's recruitment mission directly addressing "the you in front of the screen, reading this".
- Mirror Match: It's possible to fight someone on an opposing team that you've already recruited, even though they're all presented as unique individuals. Lise's recruitment mission states that copying themselves is just one of the many powers that people of the era have, thanks to the Fire.
- Player Versus Player: Although there's some single-player content, the main draw of the game is to go "Online" and fight other players with their own customized teams.
- Retired Badass: Amma, Ferran' wife and the grandmother that sells new color palettes for your team, boasts that she quit Bravery because it was too boring and too many people held grudges after she killed them. When you fight her and her grandchild to unlock her services, she proves it's not a bluff, as she has high attack stats and a personal talent that doubles her total HP at the start of combat.
- Sibling Rivalry: Clint's recruitment mission starts with Seyla revealing he's her big brother, and that they can't stand each other. However, it's obviously one-sided on Seyla's part, as Clint is incredibly polite while Seyla thinks he's snubbing them for attending a planned meet-and-greet with fans instead of immediately dueling the player.
- Verbal Judo: In addition to physical and digital attacks, Bravery fighters can also Allure, Bribe, offer a Lunch Invite, or other similar techniques to defeat their opponents.
- Weird Currency: Obtaining new customization options, accessories, or allies requires "Sway", which is (to quote the Facerater) "your social status, quantified".
- You Have Researched Breathing: Every character starts with three default moves and an ability, and can permanently learn new moves by equipping one at a time and being in enough Bravery matches to gain the confidence to master it. Said moves can include things like "asking someone to lunch" (which inflicts the Hunger ailment, causing damage over time) or "making a mess" (which reverses speed values).
