City of Brass is a title developed by Uppercut Games and released on May 4th last year on PlayStation 4, Xbox One e PC. But on the occasion of its renewed release also for Nintendo Switch (precisely next January 7) let's go and brush up on the game and see how it behaves on the hybrid of the Kyoto house. The title is presented as a classic first-person Roguelike Dungeon Crawler, proposing procedural levels to be faced with combined weapons (including swords, whips, spears and more) in which the exploration time will be limited and there will be several enemies to defeat before succeeding. to get to your goal. To complete the work we can find gods merchants of objects along the various levels whose task is to sell objects that will simplify our life during the game.
The oasis in the desert
Most Roguelike, they don't make the plot their strong point. City of Brass is no exception from this point of view, in fact the player is only told that the game is set in an ancient and lost cursed Arabian city, with a past made up of powerful tyrants behind it thirsty for power, magic, evil genes and various other factors that have contributed to bringing the city from prospering to sinking, forgotten in the desert along with all its inhabitants. The story (if we want to call it) of the title is presented to us mainly during the choice of the character with which we will face the various dungeon that the game will put us in front of. In fact, each character will have its own description including the fighting method and the reason for its presence within the "City of Ottone ".
Traps, traps everywhere!
The gameplay of City of Brass sees the player juggle thirteen levels (procedurally generated) which are teeming with enemies, from which we will obtain monetary resources to be able to buy items in the shop scattered throughout the various levels, in order to simplify our life in more ways than one. During the game our characters will be equipped with two weapons: one whip and a sidearm according to the character (spear, short blade, sword, saber, etc.). This gameplay choice can easily be linked to titles such as Bioshock, which some members of the Australian team have worked on. As we said, during the game the player will be able to find shops (strategically placed on the map, so much so that it is also possible that they are behind some traps and therefore they are unusable); in these stores it will be possible to buy upgrades, allied ghosts, heals and various others bonus for the match. There has been talk of traps? That's right, the various levels of the game are littered with the latter, from the classics trap spears that come out of the ground, to the most sophisticated wall mechanisms spraying sand, in short, in the game we will certainly not have an easy life (but it will not discount even the enemies, since the traps can also be used against them). In addition to the traps, however, the title also offers a range of enemies, albeit restricted, not indifferent: for the greater zombies, skeletons, genes e strange forms of magic and spells.
The genie in the lamp
Like the vast majority of Roguelikes, too City of Brass does not allow you to save the game in checkpoint, in fact, if you die during one of the thirteen levels of the title, you start all over again. However frustrating this may seem, coupled with the fact that the levels are procedurally generated, the experience that comes out of it is always different, with traps placed in different places and completely unexplored levels from time to time. The only mechanic that "clashes" with everything else, however, is the time limit of about five minutes, during which the player is left free to run around for i dungeon (loaded with traps and enemies) desperate for the exit. Uppercat Games, has also thought about changing the difficulty level of the title, not with the classic choice between easy, normal or difficult, but introducing the Benefits he Charges. In general i Benefits they help the player and simplify things by decreasing the number of enemies, increasing the maximum health, eliminating the timer, increasing the available resources and so on. On the contrary, the expenses they serve to hinder the player (who perhaps wants a more demanding challenge), in general making it more difficult to pass the levels, with for example a greater number of enemies, less time available, fewer resources available, more traps around, etc. . Another very interesting thing are the aforementioned enhancements present in the shop and in the various "Safe room" present along the levels: specifically, the first types of upgrades, such as armature o silent boots, they will be bought towards the early stages and will be valid until the end of the game ... or until you die. The second type of upgrade instead has a limited duration, with objects that can be found in special rooms. The game also offers a third type of enhancement, Or the wishes, which if used in the shops allow the player to obtain a bonus (o malus) random depending on the shop in which the latter is spent. During the game you have a maximum of three wishes by default.
In search of the lost treasure
In conclusion we can say that the title definitely has a lot of potential and that, despite some small problems getting used to the woodiness of the camera, especially in the version for Nintendo Switch, the game runs fast and puts in front of the player new experiences and challenges that are always different as you go along with the runs. Furthermore, specifically, the console of the Grande N has on its side the great ability to be hybrid, thus allowing the player to play a game wherever he is and at any time. The gameplay after all is built on this dynamic of "speed and immediacy", allowing even very short game sessions (if necessary).
