Broforce

The player-character is a bro, a hypermasculine action hero-style commando, who fights terrorists and rescues his bro teammates and prisoners of war from captivity. The game's destructible environments wear away with the player's gunfire. The levels end when the player defeats a devil boss, hoists an American flag, and leaves via helicopter while the scenery explodes.

The Broforce includes dozens of characters, and the player earns more as they rescue a certain number of prisoners of war. These Broforce characters, under direction of "Nelson Brodela", are parodies of mostly fictional action heroes, including John Rambo, Die Hard's John McClane, Chuck Norris, Mr. T, Alien's Ellen Ripley, and Terminator's T-800; they are often named by adding the word "bro" to the original name in some manner (e.g., Rambro, the Brominator). The player does not have control on which Broforce character they will start the level with, and each time that character dies or a prisoner of war is rescued, they will be switched to a different Broforce character. Each character has unique attacks and moves based on the fictional hero; for example, Ripley's character has a flamethrower special ability, while the Indiana Jones–based character primarily uses a whip.

Free Lives submitted Rambros as an entry in the April 2012 Ludum Dare 23 game jam. It won first prize for "fun" and received enough positive feedback to continue as a team project. The developers thought to add a cooperative mode with another character, Brommando, which then became the core game concept of collecting "bros" with a "violent action movie feel".

The game's interest in "bros" stems from game director Evan Greenwood's love for action films from the 1980s and 1990s, which led to the game's aesthetics, themes, and gameplay, like traveling to outer space, fighting a dinosaur, and racing sharks. The bros share a kinship in each other's self-defense and when fighting terrorism together. Greenwood has called Broforce a "loving portrayal of action heroes". The developers debated the addition of female heroes and their place alongside the game's existing tropes. They chose not to add a "token female" or to create a rival female Broforce for plot or romance purposes, and instead made the female characters part of the existing team so as not to distinguish by gender.

Eurogamer's Jeffrey Matulef described the game demo as an "instantly addictive throwback to retrogaming" and noted the uniqueness of its destructible environment. Several reporters compared the game to Terraria. IGN awarded it a score of 8.8 out of 10, saying "Beneath Broforce's bad puns and bulging biceps lies a brilliant ode to action cinema and retro gaming." The Escapist awarded it four and a half stars out of five, saying "Broforce is a silly, but sincere love letter to iconic action movies, refined to perfection with rich environments and wonderfully-crafted enemies."