This article originally ran under a different banner/website in June of 2018 and is now being here re-uploaded for purposes of convenience and consolidation. Please enjoy.
Oh, I come from a land, from a faraway place
Where the daring developers roam
Where it’s full and whirl
And it can all be a blur
It’s chaotic, but hey, it’s home
Cosplayers to the east and streamers to the west
And the merch stands is right
Come on down stop on by
Find a game you can try
On another PAX East night
Ahh! Hello and good evening to you, worthy friend! Please, please come closer. Whoa! Whoa! A little too close! I have a story to tell. Welcome to PAX East. A convention where developers flock from all over the world to show off their games; including the developers at Uppercut Games. I have been fortunate enough to try their game, City of Brass. Perhaps you would like to hear the tale? It begins with a starry night. You, the wandering traveler, who after giving an amulet to a mysterious genie, must venture through a city rising up from the sand, in search of treasure and fame. If you are sensing an Aladdin and Arabian Nights vibe, then you would be correct.
If you have noticed the humongous pile of dead player characters littered among the random procedural levels, you have probably concluded City of Brass is a roguelite. I have always had a checkered history with roguelites. The constant need to start over gives me plenty of time to notice the flaws in the combat and procedurally designed levels. For my roguelite adventures, I prefer to venture into the Crypt of the Necrodancer; the dungeon crawling mixed with Dance Dance Revolution style combat feels satisfying each time I play a level. My point is, generally everyone has one roguelite they prefer, and my fondness for rhythm places Crypt of the Necrodancer as my choice roguelite. So, does City of Brass have a chance to become your roguelite of choice? While I think the idea and theme is strong, City of Brass feels directionless. Please allow me the opportunity to explain.
I feel as though the development team might have been split on the direction of City of Brass between a methodical design and high octane design. There are many side rooms you can discover along the way to the end of the levels. All of them are usually littered with bountiful treasure that is yours for the taking that you can spend on upgrades, health, trap disables, and even insurance. With these genies scattered randomly throughout the levels, one could find the most pricey genies at the beginning. One could think that backtracking is an integral part of a game where you are lurking around for treasure to line your pockets with, but you would be gravely mistaken. Each level has an hourglass counting down the seconds until two fireballs spawn and relentlessly hunt you down until you leave the level. So maybe the idea behind City of Brass is you are a quick witted thief trying to get as much treasure as you can before making your daring escape. Well if that was the goal, City of Brass, falls at it’s first spiked trap. Again please allow me the opportunity to explain.
I will admit, City of Brass, does capture the feel of Aladdin racing through Agrabah one step ahead of the lawman. With the help of your whip, you are able to swing on hanging rings placed randomly throughout the level. The rope swing is very enjoyable giving a Spider-Man feel to the game. I almost feel like more mobility like wall running or double jumping would help the daring thief feel the game is going for, but no such features are available. On top of that, City of Brass is a roguelite, so the rings are randomly placed making it impossible to get Spider-Man swinging across Manhattan. Sometimes they are placed too close together and swinging on the second ring can send you back in the opposite direction into the mob that was chasing you. One time, a ring performed the ultimate betrayal and sent me flying into a pit where I fell to my death. Along with bottomless pits, obnoxious traps litter the levels with their only intent to squander time as you wait for them to disarm. City of Brass doesn’t even offer you a basic sprint function. This makes running from enemies impossible at times and forces you to engage in the biggest time sink of them all: the combat.
With your whip in one hand and a sword in the other, you may use them to combat the skeletons, archers, and mages that stand in your way. Knowing that won’t be able to traverse the level with any speed, you might find yourself engaging in the sluggish combat. You are given many options for using your whip including: to trip enemies, disarm them and activate explosive barrels. All good ideas on paper, but City of Brass implements them all poorly. I have nearly lost count of the amount of times I have tried to use my whip only for it to crack the air next to an enemy or barrel. The sword play also leaves much to be desired. The sword combat boils down to slashes in a dull left and right fashion. What City of Brass despitely cries out for is block or parry feature. You can shove enemies, which you can use to push enemies into traps, but the animation is tiresome. Many of these animations could afford to be snappier including the whip and sword swings. You can add meaningful upgrades to the list of ways to make the combat feel less sluggish. When I get a basic sword upgrade in Crypt of the Necrodancer, I make giant sweeping attacks with a satisfying arc, and the game makes it clear to me my damage has increased. A similar upgrade in City of Brass, has me questioning if this new sword was even an upgrade at all.
Now it might seem like I am down on City of Brass, but I am not. Like a parent disciplining a child not living up to its potential, I am just disappointed. I see the brilliant ideas within this game, but it’s lack of focus on any of its ideas throw it into disarray. If you want to focus on expansive levels and secret hunting, take some inspiration from the Thief and Dishonored series. Aiming to capture that Aladdin running from guards feel? Look towards Mirror’s Edge and Prince of Persia for similar movement mechanics. Want some swashbuckling action? Maybe an Arkham Asylum style combat similar to ones Assassins Creed or Hand of Fate could be implemented. The option to narrow their focus and patch the game in the given direction is always available to them. I urge all up and coming developers to view this game as a warning. It is easy to get lost in the sea of overdesign, but much like searching for lost treasure, you must pick one direction and stick to it. Much like venturing ASK YOURSELF EVERYDAY: DOES THIS HELP MY VISION? DOES THIS MAKE THE GAME MORE ENJOYABLE? NO, DOES IT NEED TO EXIST? Now if you will excuse me, a King Conga stands between me and the adventure into the Crypt of the Necrodancer.