DCF Studios may be a small team of developers based in Brazil but the scope of their ambition is broad, so much so that they entered into the industry with a goal to create a shared gaming universe known as the DCFU.

Each entry will be a stand alone title story with a beginning, middle and an end. Interwoven within the narrative to varying degrees, dependent on how grounded or supernatural the individual title is, will be a broader mythological scope that enhances the overall narrative.

By contributing to a bigger picture with each game, DCF intend to satisfy the casual player whilst also servicing those who plan to stick with the series and offer glimpses of what’s to come.

A shared game universe isn’t an original concept but there’s very few examples of any that exist today with a similar approach to what DCF strive to achieve. A series of standalone titles with a larger than life interconnected narrative.

For comparison, the Marvel Cinematic Universe is so far comprised of 23 films, 19 of which were stand-alone entries with the 4 Avengers films laid out at regular intervals pushing the overall narrative forward and with it, the next batch of stand-alone films.

Bunny Battle Arena

2015 (Mobile) / 2018 (PC)

DCF launched Bunny Battle Arena on Mobile back in 2015 and it has since made its way to PC but not a console release.

The official synopsis reads; “How about anger management treatment through stabbing humanoid bunnies with a possessed princess in love with Death? Bunny Battle Arena, the best medicine for anger issues management!”

Battling through a series of waves against multiple variations of rabid bunnies as a possessed princess is an interesting premise. The gameplay consists of hacking, slashing, jumping and shooting these violent bunnies until a boss spawns. These boss encounters are more difficult and when lower class bunnies fight alongside them it can be difficult to survive.

Conquering the boss will end the Wave and give the player the opportunity to unlock different weapons, support abilities and increase their damage, speed and defence stats for instance by spending souls earned throughout the gameplay.

Checkpoints occur every 5 Waves, so if the player loses all of their lives in Wave 8, they will revert to Wave 5 or if they lose in Wave 14, they’ll revert to Wave 10.

Players do however keep all of their previously acquired upgrades, making it a little easier to push forward though they will no extra lives unless they unlock more by spending their souls.

It’s pretty fast paced and can be chaotic with multiple bunnies on screen at once, especially with a boss involved. The gameplay is fun and simple but a little clunky with its execution. It’s a fairly mindless affair that is different, engaging and most importantly… bloody violent.

One thing DCF take pride in is the violence of the combat in their titles, making sure to spill blood at every opportunity. With all of their titles intent for mature, adult audiences, we should only expect more graphic violence with each release.

Cruz Brothers

2017 (PC) / 2018 (PlayStation 4) / 2020 (Xbox One)

Originally launching in 2017 on PC, and 2018 on PS4, Cruz Brothers was radically overhauled into what would become known as Cruz Brothers: Combat School Edition.

By listening to player feedback, DCF rebuilt the combat system, added a wide range of new attacks, animations, modes and other technical improvements to create the ultimate Cruz Brothers experience. Launching earlier this year on Xbox One, Cruz Brothers: Combat School Edition had all of the mentioned features and more.

Official synopsis is as follows; “After the murder of his best fighter by the hands of Tray Sorrow, leader of the Sons of Subversion. Coach Marcus Luz becomes discredited in life and in the fighting world. His flame turns back to shine, after accidentally meeting the Cruz Brothers, Felipe and Igor.”

Cruz Brothers is a fictional story though it’s leading men, Felipe and Igor Cruz, are very much real people. Felipe has in reality found great success in MMA including winning multiple championships.

On the surface, Cruz Brothers is a boxing/fighting title with a story told via comic style illustrations. Getting into the gameplay sees the introduction of supernatural, energy attacks that may seem out of place initially. By the time the credits have rolled on the story, it becomes clear that Cruz Brothers is just a single step in the giant leap towards the greater DCFU.

There’s a reason these people have access to supernatural energy and the Sons of Subversion motorcycle gang and Mayhem characters have links to a deeper mythology. Cruz Brothers is a classic example of a self-contained story that is influenced by a bigger picture, a grander plan than may initially be obvious.

By completing various aspects of the game across its several modes, the player unlocks DCFU cards in the menu that begin to reveal the deeper connections to the DCFU.

I am currently the reigning Cruz Brothers King of Combos after winning a competition shortly after launch. Winning with a combo of 162 consecutive hits, I and DCF Studios encourage any and all challengers to send us your screenshots or video clips of you beating this record to claim the throne as the King of Combos!

Tony & Clyde

2021 (TBC)

Tony & Clyde is a twin-stick shooter putting the player in the shoes of the titular characters. I was fortunate enough to play a very early build and was pleasantly surprised. My interest was steady high after the awesome teaser trailer highlighting some of the story and gameplay earlier in the year which you can find here.

Tony & Clyde is challenging with a single bullet taken resulting in instant death. An assortment of guns and grenades to use make for some fun and silly violence.

The Pre-Alpha Demo for Tony & Clyde is currently available and playable via download at indiexpo.net at the link HERE.

Bunny Battle Nemesis

(TBC)

Bunny Battle Nemesis showcases the powerful females of the DCFU in this action slasher. Very few details have been officially revealed in regards to Ella’s Maidens and the war they will be waging in this title but a cool Alpha gameplay video below can give potential players a taste.

DCFU Explained

DCF produced a web-series that revealed more of the DCFU and sharing glimpses of the future that lies ahead.

All 5 episodes can be found in the playlist HERE and run for as little as 1-3 mins each. It is well worth a watch for anyone curious about the master plan DCF have been cooking up.

Andre Amorim, the CEO and Founder of DCF Studios has generously afforded me a great deal of his time to discuss the DCFU, plenty of which is in various stages of production or planning phases. In fact Andre went so far as to appear in the first episode of my podcast, “Talking DAYNE”, and had prepared a special animated presentation, similar to a slideshow, to guide us through talking points of the DCFU from its origins and through to its future in great length. This video podcast can be found below.

The Future

40 Steps to Valhalla, La Hacienda and Path to Valhalla are in the early stages of conceptual development and from the details my super secret source has shared with me these are going to be wild. There’s no telling how many more are on the way as the very nature of the DCFU and it’s mythological influences suggest the series could run for any length of time and span a wide variety of genres.

DCF Studios do not lack scope and the lengths of their creativity is something I’m excited to see continue to flourish with each new release. A small independent developer with this level of ambition is exciting and looks set to offer an entertaining variety of games that are worth seeing through if for no other reason than to witness the DCFU as it unfolds and reveals itself.

To keep up to date with all things DCFU you can follow them on their socials at the following links:

Website: studiosdcf.com

Twitter: @dcfstudios

Facebook: DCF Studios

YouTube: DCF Studios

Games of DAYNE will continue to remain associated with the progress of the DCFU so stay tuned for more coverage of these updates and releases as they become available here and with DCF Studios.

Oh and Andre, I still need that shirt… #DCF4Life

The post Indie Spotlight “DCF Studios” first appeared on Games of DAYNE.

DCF Studios latest release is finally making its way to Xbox, after previously releasing on other platforms, in the form of Cruz Brothers: Combat School Edition. On top of the base game, an overhauled fight system built from the ground up, four new single and multi-player modes, nine new stages and several visual enhancements, there is no better way to play Cruz Brothers. 

This fighting title is driven by a narrative, surprisingly more so than most in the genre it shares, kicked off by the murder of boxing coach Marcus Luz’ best friend Ryan Andrews at the hands of the Sons of Subversion, a motor cycle gang lead by Tray Sorrow. Marcus recruits Felipe and Igor Cruz and with his guidance, the Cruz Brothers fight though the regional ranks on their journey to championship gold and the opportunity to bring down Sorrow and avenge the death of their mentor’s friend. The premise manages to maintain its pace but it never quite escalated to the point of completely immersing the player in the story it wants to tell in its 13 chapters and weird but very intriguing post-credit scene.  

Interestingly, the cinematics in this game have been replaced by a comic book art style and narrated by the characters. It’s certainly unexpected from this type of game but it works in keeping it simple without over complicating the plot. Touted as a hand drawn fighter, the background and character models are definitely well presented despite the characters body proportions being a little distractingly off. 

The combat in Cruz Brothers is certainly unique. Stringing together combos of light and heavy attacks is a typically standard affair, if not a little clunky, not quite as seamless as you may expect. The speed of some of the attacks makes it very hard to block, they can be ridiculously fast but others can be sluggish. Faces are left bruised and battered as fights progress, a subtle touch that goes a long way in making the fights feel more impactful. The inclusion of special attack combos and super attacks, earned by filling a bar by punishing the opponent, that radiate electricity and flashes of light for example, while cool and flashy, are confusing given the context of this grounded, realistic approach adopted by the game. It doesn’t make sense but at the same time it doesn’t hinder the fights, it instead makes them a little more exciting and unpredictable, a welcome break from the standard hand to hand affair. Upon checking out the DCFU tab in the home screen, and completing the requirements to unlock a series of cards, the seemingly random special attacks are given some context, I recommend checking it out for yourself as it provides some interesting insight into what the future may hold for Cruz Brothers. 

In my playthrough of the assortment of game modes I experienced some pretty frequent, though minor, performance issues particularly surrounding some of the flashier special attack sequences or very fast combos. As little as a second or two would seem to lag before it caught itself back up. It wasn’t a dealbreaker but it was distracting, costing me a handful of victories. There are a decent variety of stages to fight in, some of which such as gymnasium breakdown throughout the fight where lighting rigs collapse and fires erupt. These don’t interfere with the fight itself but do offer a nice visual addition to the task at hand. 

Difficulty can be selected from the home screen and even on easy, the AI can be punishing and on the hardest difficulty the player will certainly be pushed to their limits. The challenge of surviving single or multiple rounds can be immense on harder difficulties and that makes it both more fun but also frustrating when you get annihilated in seconds by uninterrupted flurries of attacks.  

Outside of the Story Mode, the Career Mode puts players to the test in 8 progressively difficult and longer championship series. The road to each championship consists of defeating 7 opponents in increasingly longer matches. The first championship series are single round fights, the second championship is 2 round fights and so on up until the later championships requiring 6 round victories to win each fight. A total of 156 rounds worth of victories are required to earn all 8 championships and that is assuming not a single round is lost, potentially upwards of 200 if the difficulty becomes overbearing. Each championship series of 7 matches must also be completed in a single sitting, quitting out will abandon all progress towards the championship. This draws out in length with each new championship challenged for and becomes a little much if played continuously. 

There are an impressive total of 8 modes on offer, including the Story and Career Modes, 2 of which, King of the Hill and Versus, allow for local co-op/local multiplayer. Winning any fight awards Blood Drips, essentially an in-game currency that can be spent on cosmetics for each of the 21 fighters. Gameplay wise, their move sets play relatively the same with exception of special attacks, some of which (Tray Sorrow in particular), are especially brutal and fun to experiment with. 

The home screen is sorted into tabs the feature “Game Modes”, “Options” and “Tutorial” to name a few but there’s one that stands out called “Camps” that showcases updates to the game, already released and upcoming, similar to a simplified patch notes style list. Also worth noting is that there are 3 tabs outlining new characters, outfits and online functionality. This transparency is an excellent feature and one I am surprised I haven’t seen before. 

DCF Studios have presented a rather unique take on the 2D Fighting genre, one that intertwines a rather deep and interesting story with an alternative spin on the hand to hand combat. Minor technical issues aside, there’s a simple but fun fighting title here that appears to have bigger things on the horizon. The intrigue of the post credit scene and the contents of the DCFU tab on the home screen (seriously, check it out) will certainly have me coming back for more. 

+ Cool art style 

+ Unique combat 

+ Number of modes 

– Performance issues 

– Later Career Mode chapter length 

Games of DAYNE Rating

Developed by: DCF Studios 

Published by: DCF Studios 

Release Date: February 5 2020 

Platforms: Xbox One and PlayStation 4

* A review code was provided by the Developer/Publisher for the purpose of this review *

– Additional Links –

For more of my reviews, click HERE.

The post Cruz Brothers: Combat School Edition Review first appeared on Games of DAYNE.