City of Brass Review
Played on PC
Developed by Uppercut Games
Released 4th May 2018
As everybody knows, the only reason you download the Epic Games storefront is to claim the weekly free game they so graciously give out. Back in 2022, more specifically, from March 31st to April 7th, 'City of Brass' was being handed out for free, for the third time since its release on the Steam-rivalling storefront. It was also at this time I decided to claim this free giveaway to give it a shot as its Arabian Nights-inspired aesthetic had intrigued me a lot as, at the time, I hadn't dabbled my gaming in such a design. Fast forward to September 30th of this year and I finally start to take a shot at my overwhelmingly large backlog, with this title sitting towards the top given how long I've had it, but not yet played it. With confidence, I can say that it was an Ok experience. While necessarily not a bad thing, it did disappoint me given the context behind its ideas and potential execution. 'City of Brass' was developed by a team of senior 'Bioshock' developers who decided to give procedural generation a shot after they found "hand-crafting every nook and cranny" for their previous indie effort 'Submerged' quite a resource-draining. Using 'One Thousand and One Nights' (better known as 'Arabian Nights') as background influence for your game's visual and narrative themes and procedural generation in the hands of the same people who made a critically acclaimed first-person shooter comes across as a recipe for something brilliant. Unfortunately, that brilliance wasn't quite captured in my 3-hours with the game.
Story
The story is quite surface-level given how it's simply there to serve some contextual purpose and thus I won't have it affect too much of my final verdict. The narrative is simple; you play as a thief on their way to reach the treasure that is hidden deep within the mythical, booby-trapped city. That's kind of it. Like I said, there isn't much to it but given that it has an introductory and finalising cutscene, I expected there to be much more, whether in dialogue, environmental clues and storytelling, at least something more than what was offered. It's not bad, but this lack of "something" does make it disappointing given the game is inspired by a folktale and the premise is otherwise interesting.
Gameplay
The idea behind a first-person, melee-centric, procedurally-generated rogue-lite could've had some more polish applied to have its full potential seen. For what it is though, it's quite enjoyable. Before writing this review I wanted to see the consensus on the title and was surprised to see a mostly negative output from critics. Then I read their reviews. The negative reviews are simply a case of video game journalists being bad at video games as the difficulty in the game is in the vain of needing to repeat and polish your skills. Being able to whip a crack at an enemy's head to stun them or a button to open the door; knowing when to pull in, push back or strike at a foe; having that mobility of slide-jump-sprinting past traps - these are all the factors that will decide whether you successfully get past each of the 13 levels.
There is a case that can be argued in which the damage done against the player is too high for how crowded the levels can be generated, but the game provides you with so much utility that it balances itself out; from potions with differing effects like one-shotting enemies, speed boosts, invulnerability and more, to upgrades and new weapons that you can buy from the genie using the currency that is littered across the maps. The game simply gives you enough resources to combat these opponents and while luck in the procedural generation does play a part in how far you progress, most of it comes down to pure skill.
To make the game easier there are options to skip to later levels (assuming you have defeated the boss that the previous 3 levels build up to), and the option for Blessings and Burdens. These modifiers that you can apply range from increased player health to an increased number of enemies per area, allowing you to make the game easier or harder for yourself. Blessings were definitely the better way to experience the game as they make the most of the game's elements, such as letting you engage in combat more freely rather than needing to speedrun-sprint past every enemy.
So it has enemy variety, it has a nice level of challenge that can be altered to the player's satisfaction, strong foundation of mechanics, but what makes this game feel unpolished? It's its "feel". I know that sounds vague, but the melee combat feels slow, unreactive and lacking impact. The same could be said for the movement, it all feels "floaty" like there was an oversight in the physics engine. Additionally, the procedural generation does differ between two extremes: an easy and direct path to the end, or clunkily mixed rooms overcrowded with traps that result in irritation. I was fortunate enough to find myself in the middle between the two more often than not, but if those aforementioned critics were found predominantly in the latter, I could understand their frustration (though the game is still mostly skill-based). It should be mentioned that I completed the campaign after the game had been updated, patched and balance tweaked for two years after its release, meaning that the difficulty issue must've eased since the initial review embargo.
Bossfights
The bossfights were surprisingly well-thought-out. Given just how "off" the gameplay felt, I expected the bossfights to be jarring duels but instead they provided some intuitive puzzles for the player to solve. They all had one-to-two attacks that were easy to see through, but the countering of these attacks, whether it was to make them charge into a wall, or whipping their projectiles to lower their impenetrable shield was nice to figure out - not too obvious but not too difficult to do in the heat of battle. Could their designs, movesets and soundtracks be any more different or unique? 100% yes as they all blend into this one mesh of blandness, but their pure functionality and mechanics were proved to be enough for this short game.
Atmosphere
The atmosphere was also decent. The soundtrack was easily the highlight of this as it popped out to you enough to be enchanted into this trance that consisted of these energetic flutes, woven by this relaxing drum melody or this amped-up rattling given life by the plucking of a guitar. It hit the mark of what an 'Arabian Nights' style game would sound like and while it isn't a standout OST that etches itself into your memory, it did prove to be a necessary component in making the gameplay all the more enjoyable as it seamlessly finds itself where its needed most amidst the action.
The visuals were on the right track, but like everything else in this game, something was missing that traps it into mediocrity. Where the sand-coloured city lacked colour palettes, the greatly forced colours of the enemies and objects in the environment made sure to pop out to provide vibrancy, or at least they tried. The blues, reds and greens are very clearly there and do make for some engaging design choices amongst the enemies, but they didn't pop enough to have your full optical attention during the fast-paced gameplay. Instead, they stand out just enough to blend into the otherwise drab colour palette of the areas. If the colours stood out more individually, there could've been some great visual cues that would've revitalised this mystical city, but they don't. Additionally, the visuals look too 'Fortnite'-esque with that softcore animative design, however, that might just be me stretching my disinterest in the visuals too far.
Story - 5/10
Gameplay - 6.5/10
Bossfights - 6/10
Atmosphere - 5.5/10
MEDIOCRE
For every right thing this game does, it feels like it misses a piece to fully complete the puzzle and satisfy the player.
