When you think of Arabian Nights, no one would fault you if you think of genies, curses and sweet, sweet loot. Even if Disney’s Aladdin is your only source material there’s a really awesome genie (you’re still missed, Robin Williams), a Cave of Wonders full of ridiculous amounts of cursed treasure and a fantastic-but-irrelevant soundtrack. City of Brass is a first-person roguelike based on Arabian Nights that utilizes all of these famous concepts and puts them to some great use. The story tells of a cursed city in which genies were trapped to make wishes come true, but since genies are incredibly powerful and not to be trifled with this inevitably goes terribly wrong and the people who remained turn into shells of their former selves. Skeletons, enchantresses and all sorts of evil denizens of the City of Brass stand between you and the center of the city where the genies dwell. Oh, and there are traps, too… Lots and lots of traps!
Every so often a game comes along with a weapon so rarely used in gaming and so perfectly designed for its game that half the fun of the game is using it. This is exactly the case with City of Brass‘s whip. Sure, it may not be the first whip in a video game, and sure a whip may not be the most unique weapon ever made – it’s no gravity gun, keyblade or gjallarhorn, certainly – but my goodness is it incredible! Using the left trigger you’ll whip wherever you’re looking; you can whip an enemy in the chest to stun them and knock them back a bit, which is kinda cool, but hitting their head will knock off their hat or helmet if they’re wearing one, or a well-placed whip to the hand will knock their weapon right out of it (particularly handy for skeletons with long-reaching spears!). You can also hit them in the legs and knock them to the ground for an easy hit before they recover, or press the left button instead of the trigger and you’ll pull them in close to attack with your blade. The whip pull also draws an enemy’s shield away from their chest, allowing for a solid hit on an otherwise well-protected foe. Pushing or pulling enemies can send them into traps, and there are all sorts of other uses – destroying objects in a search for loot, grabbing loot from a distance, grabbing projectiles from a distance to throw at enemies, triggering traps so you can safely get through or even setting off chain reactions of destruction. This whip would put even the best infomercial items to shame, and you’ll nearly forget you even have a sword half the time, especially if you get lucky enough to come across the Strip of Ignition, a whip that sets enemies on fire and does damage over time. If you find yourself starting off with it, you could legitimately complete the whole game without your sword at all!
Then there’s the matter of killing enemies in fun ways. Anyone can pull a skeleton to them and slash them in the face, but it’s sooooo much more fun to shove them into a pit of spikes, or start a fire and then knock a group of enemies into it, or even corral a bunch of enemies together and hit them with an explosive projectile. You don’t get bonus points for it, but the pride that comes with it is more than enough reward. Once things get tougher, you’ll be entirely forgiven for cautiously knocking their feet out from underneath them and safely taking them out, or individually stunning numerous enemies and attacking one at a time. Once you’re dealing with projectile-hurling enchantresses, quick head-butting armless skeletons and monstrous beasts that can smack you from a distance all at once while slipping between lava pits and doorways that want to crush you into a fine powder you’ll think less about fun and more about preserving your precious life.
To aid you in your journey, you’ll find genies galore. City of Brass is made by “senior BioShock developers”, and this is clearest when interacting with said genies. They’re incredibly reminiscent of the various vending machines found in BioShock games, so much so that at first I half expected to hear “CIRCUS OF VAAAAALUEEE” when I walked past the first one. Different genies do different things – one may sell you random equipment, whereas another will give you a skeleton warrior of your own to aid you until he dies and yet another will deactivate all traps in the current level. You’re also given three wishes (thematic!) that upgrade genies: a genie that restores one heart will instead restore ALL of your health, and a genie that deactivates traps in the current level will instead deactivate EVERY TRAP IN THE CITY. Choosing which genies to use your wishes on is part of the challenge too – two genies are aggressive unless you use a wish on them, and every single time I played I was more than happy to use a wish on the one that hurls fireballs at you nonstop. This makes it so that every fireball-hurling genie in the city will stop trying to kill you and will instead fire mercilessly at any enemy within range. Wishes are also used to jump levels when you begin; every 3 levels has a boss and is a different part of the city, and once you’ve reached a new part of the city for the first time you can warp there for 1-3 wishes. However, using all three wishes to jump a handful of levels away from the end of the game means you’ll have no wishes at all to help with genies and less levels to scrounge for good loot and equipment, so like everything else about this roguelike it’s a balancing act!
City of Brass is a very thematic game. Everything that glitters may not be gold, but it’s certainly valuable or can be used to help destroy enemies. Genies make for a great way to upgrade on each run or buy precious health back, and I really did feel like I was racing through various parts of a cursed city. The music is minimal in the best of ways, leaving the audio clear for awesome sound effects and warnings that you’re running out of time in a particular level. The graphics are also stellar, and when you’re in later levels with harder enemies and plenty of upgrades you’ll be hopping around, whipping projectiles back at enemies and dodging enemies and traps alike. It’s an addicting, stellar experience that I still want to come back to after beating the game with all the blessings active.
Speaking of blessings, before each game you can select from 8 blessings and burdens, although if you’re wanting a really crazy game you can turn on all 8 of each at the same time. Burdens have to be unlocked, but blessings are all available immediately, and it’s really awesome how much these can alter the game to make it easier or harder. For example, I always play without a time limit so I can take my time and hunt for loot. I also always play with extra life (I get 8 hearts instead of the regular 4) since I die far too easily otherwise. I actually played with all 8 blessings turned on a few times and beat the game rather easily after a couple days of practice, but even today when I go back to using only 2 blessings and not a single burden I can’t even get to the last 3 levels! The game also has some cool streaming integration, so I’m excited for the game to release and watch some skilled gamers take this on with burdens active and allow viewers to interact.
City of Brass is a brilliant adventure, and it’s even got a cool bit of story to boot. I’ve already put in a good 12-20 hours and I don’t plan on stopping anytime soon; it was hard enough to stop playing long enough to write this! If you enjoy roguelikes or have fun defeating enemies in unique ways or even just love Arabian Nights (a very underrated theme), you owe it to yourself to check out City of Brass.
City of Brass is available on: PS4 (reviewed), Xbox One, Steam (Windows)
I received a free copy of this game from the developer in exchange for my honest opinion.