When City of Brass was released about a year ago it came with high expectations. Delivering a roguelike game in full 3D, is no small feat for an indie development team like Uppercut Games. Members of Uppercut Games previously were involved with 2K games Australia and worked on Bioshock 1 and 2 which was named an inspiration for City Of Brass. Working on a triple A title with a big team and developing with about 6 people is a whole different thing and City of Brass showed that. The hype for the game was sadly never justified. A year later, City of Brass tries to redeem itself with a Nintendo Switch release.
The good news
Uppercut Games did listen to their fanbase and regularly updated City of Brass to make the experience more enjoyable with extra features but also with much needed fixes. The Nintendo Switch version comes with all these updates from the start, making this version the best possible version out there. The dreaded combat which was cited many times in reviews as simply broken, is almost not a problem anymore in this version. City of Brass is still very difficult to master but you don’t feel cheated by faulty combat design anymore.
The bad news
The game still feels a bit too much like a chore than a fun experience. Although the extra weapons, starting characters and other upgrades make for some more excitement than the original version did, it still isn’t enough to keep my enjoyment high enough to keep playing. At first you think the Arabian Nights setting looks great but after a few of those procedurally generated levels your excitement will be tamed to the point of boredom. A good story might get some excitement going again but City of Brass fails to deliver. The premise of a thief trying to lift a curse on a city full of treasure doesn’t evolve at all which is a shame giving the great source material.
Brutally challenging
Dying in this game does really mean the end of your run and losing every perk you gathered along the way. This way of playing meant I felt a real rush when trying to survive on just a few hearts in a city full of deadly skeletons. Although the game as a whole failed to grab my attention, the combat including the many available tweaks did. Gathering loot felt cumbersome but on the other hand the perks I could buy with the loot felt really rewarding. This reward system propelled me to keep trying so I could test out the best loadout for my character.
Graphicly performs just fine
The environments change after 3 levels but do feel monotonous at best. The framerate on the Nintendo Switch was up to standards which meant I had a smooth experience. In larger areas some enemies became only visible when within a certain distance. This made planning out your best approach per area a bit tougher (for an already tough game). The enemies could’ve used some more variation in appearance to break with the blandness. The boss fights on the other hand were a nice distraction from the grind that is getting through City of Brass.
Conclusion
City of Brass on the Nintendo Switch feels like the most complete release of this game. The original release might’ve come with expectations that were a bit too high to deliver. A year later, this release without the built-up hype, shows City of Brass in a better light. If you want a challenging roguelike game, City of Brass might be just the game for you. Just don’t go looking for more.
