EARTH DEFENSE FORCE: WORLD BROTHERS

Earth Defense Force: World Brothers is an action shooter from YUKE’S. Alien invaders have broken a cube-shaped Earth into separate areas. As commander of a special unit, you rescue survivors and recruit new soldiers for the counteroffensive.

The game launched on Dec 24, 2020, first in Japan for PlayStation 4 and Nintendo Switch. In Europe, the PS4 version came out on May 26, 2021. The PC and Switch versions followed here on May 27, 2021.

World Brothers was released natively for PC, PlayStation 4 and Nintendo Switch. The PS4 version is playable on PS5 via backward compatibility. The Switch version also runs on Switch 2. There are no separate PS5 or Switch 2 versions.

In large battles, the Earth Defense Force fights giant insects, aircraft and other monsters. The individual areas show broken cities and landscapes made of voxel blocks. In combat, you switch freely between the four characters in your strike team.

Additional characters, weapons and missions were released for World Brothers. A Season Pass bundles some of the extra content. The packages differ by platform: the PC bundle with 19 extra content items is not identical to the console offers.

The minimum requirements list a Core i3-3225, 4 GB RAM, a GeForce GT 630 and 8 GB of free storage. Recommended are a Core i7-4770, 8 GB RAM and a GeForce GTX 1050 Ti or Radeon R9 280 with 3 GB. The older Windows versions listed in the store are not equivalent to today's minimum version of the Steam client.

You can rescue and recruit up to 100 soldiers, including well-known classes from earlier games in the series. Before each mission, you choose four characters. Their different weapons, movement types and special abilities mean the makeup of your team has a direct impact on the fight.

Several mothership of the Dark Tyrant have torn the planet apart. Soldiers and civilians are stuck on pieces of land cut off from each other. The missions lead through regions around the globe, where the remaining defenders need support.

Up to four people can play online co-op. On Switch, local wireless matches with two to four consoles are also possible. The PS4 version supports split-screen for two players, while the PC version does not support local two-player split-screen. Cross-platform online co-op is not offered.

World Brothers combines characters, equipment, vehicles and enemy types from several Earth Defense Force games. Veterans of the series will recognize the Fencers and Air Raiders. Enemies from earlier battles also reappear in the angular visual style.

The PC and Nintendo Switch versions offer English, Japanese, Korean, and simplified and traditional Chinese on-screen text. A German translation is not included in the stated language list.