Broforce: Complete Guide

A player's guide to Broforce after its final update, Broforce Forever: how lives and bro-swapping work, how to use destructible terrain, which bros shine where, the Forever additions (new bros, Muscle Temples, flexes), co-op and versus tips, and the level editor.

Researched September 2026 — current as of the Broforce Forever final update (August 8, 2023) and the December 21, 2023 hotfix. Live games change; check the linked sources if something differs.

Status: Free Lives called Broforce Forever the final update. The game is complete; the December 2023 hotfix (versus mode fix, Indiana Brones whip fix, Mega Satan fix) is the last patch. Online play still works through Steam.

Quick Start

• Rescue prisoners. Every caged prisoner you free gives you an extra life and instantly swaps you to a random bro. This is the core loop; never skip a cage if you can reach it.
• Your bro changes constantly. Learn every bro's primary fire, special and melee a little, because you cannot pick who you get in the campaign.
• Everything explodes. Terrain is fully destructible. Red barrels, propane tanks and fuel drums chain; use them on enemies and stay away from them yourself.
• Checkpoints are flags. Touch a checkpoint flag to raise it. Dying respawns you there as long as you have lives.
• Specials are limited. Each bro has a small number of special uses (grenades, airstrikes, time slow and so on). Picking up special ammo refills them.
• Reach the chopper. Most levels end by killing the boss or the final objective and then escaping; hang on to the ladder or get inside to finish.
• Suicide bombers and dogs rush you. Shoot them before they get close.
• Dig. Tunnelling through the ground with melee or explosives is often safer than the obvious route.
• Play co-op. Up to four players locally or online. It is chaos, and everyone shares lives.
• Unlock more bros by rescuing more prisoners. New bros join the roster as your total rescue count rises.

Core Mechanics

Lives and Bro Rotation

• Each rescued prisoner adds a life and swaps you into a new bro.
• When you die, you respawn as another bro at the last checkpoint if you have lives left.
• In co-op, lives are shared. Rescuing a prisoner when a friend is dead can bring them back.
• If the squad runs out of lives, the level restarts.

Destructible Terrain

• Almost all ground and walls can be destroyed by explosions, melee, and many guns.
• Enemies on destroyed platforms fall; fall damage and debris kill.
• Collapsing a building on a group of enemies is often faster than fighting them.
• Be careful digging under yourself near barrels or cliffs.

Special, Melee and Flex

• Special: each bro has a signature special with limited charges. Grenades, airstrikes, clusters and summoned allies all appear across the roster.
• Melee: close-range attack that also breaks terrain and knocks enemies around.
• Flex: Broforce Forever added flexes, special powers you unlock as rewards from the four Muscle Temples. They give each bro an extra trick on top of their normal kit.

Muscle Temples in Detail

The four Muscle Temples are Forever's challenge levels. Each one has its own new Threat Level plus specific enemy types and hazards, so treat them as skill tests rather than normal campaign stages:

• Go in with plenty of lives banked; there is less room for sloppy play than in early campaign levels.
• Learn the hazard pattern of each temple before pushing forward, the same way you would scout a boss arena.
• Clearing a temple rewards a flex, which then works across the rest of the game, so doing them early pays off for the whole campaign.

Enemies

Expect standard mooks, riot-shield troopers, bruisers, suicide bombers, attack dogs, mech units, alien facehuggers and xenomorph-style creatures, and demonic enemies in the late game. Broforce Forever added motorbike maniacs, large machine-gun placements and bazooka-firing blimps, plus barbed wire and sandbags in urban levels.

Threat | Why it kills you | How to handle it

Suicide bombers | Sprint at you and blow up terrain along with you | Shoot on sight; never let one reach melee range

Attack dogs | Fast and low, easy to miss with slow weapons | Hold ground and fire early, or jump over and melee

Shielded troopers | Block frontal fire | Explosives, melee from behind, or drop them through the floor

Big bruisers | Soak damage and knock you around | Keep distance; use specials or collapse terrain under them

Motorbike maniacs (Forever) | Cover ground fast and hit hard | Clear a line of sight early and fire before they close

Machine-gun placements (Forever) | Shred anything in their lane | Come from above or below; dig under and let them fall

Bazooka blimps (Forever) | Fire from the air and wreck terrain under you | Keep moving and focus them before advancing

Alien facehuggers and eggs | Swarm in tight hive corridors | Flame and sustained fire; do not rush into unexplored hive rooms

Barbed wire and sandbags (Forever) | Slow movement and block shots in urban maps | Blow them apart before committing to a lane

Notable Bros

The roster is huge and every bro parodies an action hero. Some standouts:

Bro | Parody of | Strength

Rambro | Rambo | Reliable machine gun and grenades; a safe all-rounder

Brommando | Commando | Rocket launcher; great for terrain destruction

The Brominator | The Terminator | Minigun and endoskeleton mode; strong against crowds

Ellen Ripbro | Ripley | Flamethrower; excellent vs. aliens and tight corridors

Indiana Brones | Indiana Jones | Whip and revolver; whip fixed in the December 2023 hotfix

Time Bro | Timecop | Slows time; great for tricky sections

Broniversal Soldier | Universal Soldier | Revival-themed special

Broforce Forever Bros (August 2023)

Bro | What they do

Seth Brondle | Acid-spitting fly-man; climbs on ceilings and uses explosive teleportation

Xebro | Close-range fighting plus a flying chakram

Desperabro | Uses music to enchant enemies, then finishes them with dual sawn-off shotguns

Broffy the Vampire Slayer | Throws stakes, purges the unholy and can resurrect herself

Burt Brommer | Overkill sniper who picks enemies off from range

Demolition Bro | Bouncing Bomberman-style bomb and a Freeze Grenade

Descriptions follow Free Lives' Broforce Forever announcement.

Modes

Mode | What it is

Campaign | The main world-map campaign; the Forever update added to it, including desert levels

Arcade / custom levels | Play community and your own levels

IronBro | A harder campaign variant where losing bros matters

Explosion Run | Time-attack levels where the terrain explodes behind you

Deathmatch and versus modes | Local and online competitive play (versus mode fixed in December 2023)

Muscle Temples | Four Forever challenge levels that unlock flexes

Free Lives recommends starting a new campaign to experience the Forever changes.

Returning After Broforce Forever

If you last played before August 2023, the developers' own advice in the launch post is to start a fresh game and replay the whole campaign rather than jumping into an old save. What you will notice:

• New bros in the pool. The six Forever bros show up as random swaps alongside the classic roster.
• New desert levels in the campaign.
• New enemy types and urban obstacles (see the threat table above).
• Muscle Temples and flexes, which add a layer of power on top of every bro once unlocked.

Explosion Run and Deathmatch

• Explosion Run is a co-op time attack: the terrain explodes around you, so momentum matters more than kills. Keep moving right, jump early, and do not stop to fight anything that is not directly in your way.
• Deathmatch and other competitive modes turn the same toolset on your friends. Terrain destruction is the great equalizer; a well-placed explosion under an opponent is often better than out-shooting them.
• In both, communicate on who goes first through narrow gaps; bros bumping into each other near explosives is the most common wipe.

Campaign Tips

• Scout first. Levels are dense with hazards. Move a screen at a time.
• Prisoners are sometimes hidden. Look behind breakable walls and in side rooms; you need them for lives and unlocks.
• Use the environment. Drop a bridge, knock a truck off a ledge, or ignite a fuel line.
• Save specials for bosses. Airstrikes and big grenades are best spent on armored targets.
• Bosses: keep moving, destroy the platform under them if possible, and let your co-op partners flank.
• Final stages: the campaign ends with a confrontation against Satan; Mega Satan was fixed in the December 2023 hotfix so it dies properly.

Bro Picks by Situation

When a mode lets you choose, or when you are deciding whether to reroll by freeing a prisoner, use this as a guide:

Situation | Good bros | Why

Alien hives and corridors | Ellen Ripbro, The Brominator | Flame and sustained fire clear swarms before facehuggers reach you

Armored bosses | Brommando, Burt Brommer | Rockets and sniper fire deal heavy damage from a safe range

Precision platforming | Time Bro, Seth Brondle | Slowed time and ceiling-crawling make hazards manageable

Crowds in the open | Rambro, Desperabro | Wide spread and steady fire

Crowd control | Demolition Bro | Freeze grenades lock groups down

Survival | Broffy the Vampire Slayer, Broniversal Soldier | Self-revival style specials buy extra chances

Getting Unstuck

• Out of lives on a hard section? Replay an earlier level to raise your rescue count and unlock more bros, then come back.
• Boss too tanky? Look for explosive props in the arena and bring the fight to them.
• Can't find the path? The exit is usually to the right, but many levels expect you to dig down or blow a wall open.
• Keep your specials for bosses by using melee and terrain on regular enemies.

Co-op and Versus Tips

• Friendly fire and explosions are real. Do not stand next to barrels your friend is shooting.
• Spread out on screen so one explosion does not wipe everyone.
• In versus, melee and terrain destruction are underrated; drop your opponent into a pit.
• Online play runs through Steam; a 2022 patch fixed a network vulnerability in online play.

Level Editor

• The in-game editor lets you build your own levels and share them online.
• Browse user levels in the custom levels menu and rate them.
• Start small: one screen, a few enemies, a prisoner, and an exit. Test often.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

• Rushing past cages and running out of lives.
• Shooting barrels next to yourself or your friends.
• Burning specials on basic mooks.
• Standing still on a crumbling platform.
• Ignoring suicide bombers until they are on you.
• Sticking to the obvious route instead of digging around dangerous spots.

Advanced Tips

• Swap on purpose: if you hate your current bro, rescuing a prisoner rerolls you. Plan your rescues around tough sections.
• Cage chains: some sections have several prisoners close together; clear enemies first and then free them all for multiple lives.
• Terrain snipes: dig under turrets and heavy units so they fall to their deaths.
• Know your ranged bros: flamethrowers dominate corridors and aliens; rockets and airstrikes handle bosses.
• Use flexes once you have them; clearing the Muscle Temples early makes the rest of the campaign easier.

FAQ

Is Broforce still updated? No. Broforce Forever (August 8, 2023) was billed as the final update; the last patch was a December 2023 hotfix.

How do I unlock more bros? Rescue prisoners. New bros are added to the pool as your rescue total grows across the campaign.

Can I choose my bro? Not in the normal campaign; you get a random bro on each rescue or respawn. Some other modes let you pick.

How many players can play? Up to four in co-op or competitive modes, locally or online.

What are Muscle Temples? Four challenge levels added in Broforce Forever. Completing them unlocks flexes.

Should I start a new save for Broforce Forever? Yes. Free Lives says the best way to play the update is to start a new game and replay the entire campaign.

Is there a sequel? Free Lives' next game was Anger Foot (July 2024), a different genre. There is no Broforce 2.

Sources

• Broforce on Steam
• Broforce Steam news (Broforce Forever and hotfix)
• Broforce — Wikipedia