Asura's Wrath: A Toe To Toe Bromance

As I previously discussed, I think Asura’s Wrath is a great game. Developers CyberConnect2 and publisher Capcom carefully crafted a largely uncompromising brawler with a strong emphasis on story-telling and quick time events.

That said, I also felt as though co-protagonists Asura and Yasha shared a very strong, and at times distractingly silly, bromance with one another. And that got me thinking about how a bromance can be used to effectively illustrate an otherwise serious story through the lens of two men engaging in non-romantic affectional intimacy with one another.

“Smells Like Teen Spirit”

I’m currently playing through Asura’s Wrath’s fourth and final chapter right now. It is purchasable DLC named Nirvana, and it, like the three chapters which preceded it, is great fun. However, I found myself wondering increasingly why Yasha and Asura constantly find themselves with enough time on their hands to fight one another. Just to provide story context, both of these protagonists are currently friends and allies, and are working together to stop a looming threat which is attempting to erase human existence.

I suspect that whoever was responsible for writing the game’s script determined that the best way for Asura and Yasha to express themselves was through violence inflicted onto one another. Both characters represent two stoic emotional extremes, with Yasha being contemplative and depressed and Asura being superficial and angry. Neither is ever all that clear in stating that they respect the other, except for when they get into heated fights. 

In providing the player with a chance to control Asura and to fight Yasha, we are able to peek into the minds of each of these protagonists as they battle one another. We can view the differences in each demigod’s fighting style as rooted in their psychological makeup; and their inability to open up to one another is a nice contrast to how evenly-matched and on-point they are when fighting one another.

Or maybe Asura and Yasha fight each other because it makes for fun entertainment. Either way, the bromance between both characters is striking in how commonly it occurs, and distracting in its silliness.   

Final Thoughts

I’m curious to hear what others think about bromances in video games: do you feel that they can be an effective way for certain character archetypes to express themselves to one another, or do you see them as nothing more than distracting plot developments?