Mario & Luigi: Brothership

2024 has been a great year for role-playing games. Any year that starts with the double-whammy of Final Fantasy VII: Rebirth and Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth would normally have nowhere to go but down, yet somehow we're still hitting one home run after another.

In the wake of yet another modern masterpiece, Metaphor: ReFantazio, comes Mario & Luigi: Brothership, a decidedly smaller scale and pared down RPG-adventure that has no intention of duking it out with its bigger rivals. But that's exactly the kind of climate we're in, no matter how unfair that is.

Beyond the obvious genre similarities, Brothership is more an action-adventure title than it is an RPG. Yes, it does hit the same tropes as its predecessors, from the turn-based combat to dialog heavy exploration. But unlike the 100+ hour mammoths, Brothership is still a Mario-title at heart. Which means that it's easy to pick up, play for a quick session, and then put down again. It keeps the player engaged with quick-witted dialog, easy mission structure, and – sometimes to the point of frustration – a tutorial-heavy gameplay loop that helps even when you might not need it to.

So, if you're out looking for another ReFantazio, Like a Dragon, or even a new Dragon Quest, you're bound for disappointment. Mario & Luigi: Brothership knows its audience, and it adamantly plays for them – and no one else. It's the same bullheaded, almost painfully determined attitude of sticking to their guns that Nintendo has perfected during the decades. You either love it or hate it, and I can easily see the argument for both.

In simplistic terms: If you liked or loved Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door and want something similarly light-hearted, you'll probably at the very least enjoy Brothership. If you haven't year played Paper Mario, you should do that first. It's the superior game of the two. After that, though, I warmly recommend to giveBrothership a go.

Brothership is set in the world of Concordia, a kingdom of island which serve as stages for the main adventure. Each island hosts its own unique story, and can be completed in an hour or two, depending on the player's experience. Which, in turn, makes Brothership is uniquely casual experience in the RPG landscape. You're never lost when it comes to the plot, as the condensed and often quite sparse storyline never gets away from you.

This is both a blessing and a curse, as I couldn't call the story in Brothership great by any measure. It's funny, often delightfully wholesome, and features some terrific puns (which always gets points from me). But at the same time the characters are one-dimensional and despite a great eco-friendly message about working together to preserve our planet, Brothership never goes beyond a storybook level depth in its writing.

That's fine, though, as this is a game aimed at younger players and first-timers in the RPG landscape. Approach it like that, and you'll find Brothership a wonderfully accessible experience.

Beyond exploration, Brothership has its fair share of combat and puzzle-solving, both of which work well. The combat is a mixture of turn-based battles and reflex-based button mashing that surprisingly isn't as tedious as you'd expect. Both of the brothers have their place in combat (even if not on the world map), and there's a lot of fun in figuring out the best way to utilize their skills for long combos and damage multipliers.

Similarly, the puzzles are a fine mix between easy and obtuse, made all the more accessible by chatty NPC's who will come up to offer solutions and ideas at the drop of a hat. Once more, experienced players will probably find this part of the gameplay infuriating. But approach it as someone who's only just getting started, and Brothership once again proves that it understands its target audience perfectly.

Mario & Luigi: Brothership is a slapstick-heavy comedy full of heart and wit that still won't be for everyone. I appreciate how heavily it leans into the puns and wordplay, something that I've come to love about Nintendo's titles in the past. The wholesome message about communicating and embracing differences is lovely as well.

But it's not a deep experience, nor is it as memorable as Paper Mario or the classic Super Mario RPG, both of which saw fantastic remasters this past year. Instead, it's more like their younger sibling, still figuring out where it fits in the big picture. Veterans will dismiss it for the repetitive and heavily hand-holding dialog, but I would argue that it's unfair to do so.

That's because Brothership is a great first-time-RPG, one that teaches about the genre as much as it does about kindness and compassion. Give it to someone who hasn't played Final Fantasy yet, and they'll be enamored by the possibilities Acquire's adventure presents.

On that level, Brothership is a huge success.