[2] The game features 64 playable characters, referred to as "Legends", each with unique stats, varied loadouts, and cosmetic skins and crossovers.

As a result of this, Ubisoft took over publishing duties and Rayman, alongside two other characters from the franchise, were added to the game on November 6, 2018.

On July 6, 2018, Ars Technica released an article detailing precise player counts for Steam games obtained through a leak as a result of a "hole" in its API.

[8] In most of Brawlhalla's game modes, the goal is to knock one's opponent into one of four areas outside of the visual boundaries of the map referred to as blastzones, similar to Super Smash Bros.

Custom games can be hosted online and locally, and they support up to 8 players per match, experimental maps, and region changing.

Controls include movement keys and buttons for attacking, performing special moves, picking up or throwing weapons, and dodging.

During a match, gadgets (which can be switched off in the ranked game modes) and weapon drops fall from the sky semi-randomly and can be picked up by the players.

Weapons include blasters, katars, rocket lance, sword, spear, cannons, axe, gauntlets, hammers, bow, scythe, orb, greatsword and battle boots.

Blasters, rocket lances, bows, and spears perform well at a distance from the opponent, while katars and gauntlets are more effective up close.

The game offers 9 selectable characters to use for free from a weekly rotation, making it more accessible for newer players.

Brawlhalla has also introduced a battle pass system with 85 tiers of exclusive skins, emotes, and colors.

[12] The deluxe pass was added into Brawlhalla, offering an additional 25 tiers to the premium and free reward track.

[13] Cross-play allows players on PC, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series S/X, Android and iOS to queue against each other in online ranked play and to create custom lobbies which a player on any platform can join.

Players with the highest points from each region at the end of the season will earn a spot in the World Championship in November.

[17] In 2019, Blue Mammoth Games planned to host 5 in-person tournaments at their events throughout the year.

[18] In more recent competition the Brawlhalla Pro Series (North America) was a weekly event that started April 9, 2019 and ended May 4, 2019.

The event once again took place at the Cobb Galleria in Atlanta in the United States where players competed locally on November 3–5.

The championship was played alongside tournaments of other popular fighting games, such as Super Smash Bros. Melee, Dragon Ball FighterZ and Tekken 7.

[23] The 5th annual Brawlhalla World Championship was shifted to an online competition due to the Coronavirus pandemic.

The 2020 World Championship is largely considered to be one of the most controversial Brawlhalla tournaments in its history, due to it being dominated by a single weapon, Greatsword, which was in an extremely powerful state.

The 1v1 World Championship was won by "Yüz" for the second year in a row, and the 2v2 World Championship title went to Murilo "Kyna" S and Lorenzo "Lores" C. One factor that is critical to the longevity of a game is whether the players feel that their opinions are being heard by the developers.

It was especially common earlier in the development of the game for there to be a section included in the patch notes titled 'Community Requests'.

Three jumps and nearly unlimited wall scaling make for fresh strategies and the buff in mobility means a lot of the high-adrenaline action happens off-stage.

[28] Push Square stated that while it is not quite as tightly designed as the seminal Super Smash Bros., the large roster, a wide range of modes, and a reasonable level of depth help it achieve a similar balance of accessibility and challenge, scoring it at 7 out of 10.

[29] Nintendo Life said that it "stands as a solid example of how to do a proper platform fighter, with several game modes, a diverse cast and a beautiful art style making this one easy to recommend."

PCMag summarised it as "a worthwhile entry in the platform fighting genre that you can enjoy for free."

On the PlayStation store chart, it was the 2nd most downloaded game in North America,[30] and number 3 in Europe.