Brotato

Brotato is a top-down arena shooter with roguelite progression. After a spaceship crash, the titular potato has to survive alien hordes on an unknown planet. Up to six weapons can be equipped at once. The focus is on short runs, changing character traits and which weapons and items combine best.

Weapons fire automatically by default but can also be aimed manually on PC. Players must dodge enemies, collect loot and decide on the next upgrade to their build after each wave they survive.

The Steam version launched in Early Access on Sep 27, 2022 and came out as a full version on Jun 23, 2023. Native versions for PlayStation, Xbox, Switch and mobile devices were added later. Individual DLCs do not necessarily release on every platform at the same time.

The large expansion Abyssal Terrors is already available. The next expansion, Primal Dread, is set to follow on PC on Nov 2, 2026; the exact release date for other platforms is yet to be confirmed.

Standalone versions are available for PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch, Nintendo Switch 2, iOS and Android. On Steam, Brotato is offered for Windows, macOS and Linux.

PC features such as Steam Workshop or Remote Play Together must not be automatically carried over to the console and smartphone versions. Availability of additional expansions also needs to be checked per platform.

Each wave usually lasts between 20 and 90 seconds. During that time you need to dodge and defeat as many aliens as possible. Materials collected between waves serve as experience and currency for new equipment.

The large number of characters changes the starting conditions and encourages different strategies, such as tough melee fighters, fast ranged fighters or unusual combinations. Repeatedly choosing between attack, survival and collection stats decides whether a build survives the later waves. Extra difficulty levels and endless mode extend the challenge.

With Abyssal Terrors, Brotato gets its own underwater setting with new enemies and build options. Primal Dread moves the fighting into a prehistoric jungle with twenty redesigned enemy waves, more characters, weapons, items, pets, elite enemies and bosses.

The new Evolution system in Primal Dread lets you focus on Mecha or Mutation. This choice affects both equipment bonuses and the type and attack patterns of enemies. The expansion requires the base game and is not a free add-on to it.

Steam lists the following for PC, among others: 4 GB RAM, a 2 GHz processor, OpenGL 3 with 128 MB graphics memory and around 200 MB of free storage. The store page still lists Windows 7 as the OS, while the current Steam client requires Windows 10 or newer. Mac and Linux specs are listed separately.

The PC version supports local co-op games with up to four players. Steam Remote Play Together makes local mode playable over a remote connection too. The PC version has Steam Workshop with mod support.

The developers also offer permanent adjustments to enemy health, speed and damage. This lets you change the difficulty beyond the usual character and mode choices.