{"id":41,"date":"2021-01-26T03:52:43","date_gmt":"2021-01-26T03:52:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.gatecitygaming.com\/?p=41"},"modified":"2021-01-26T03:52:43","modified_gmt":"2021-01-26T03:52:43","slug":"city-of-brass-savior-or-false-shephard","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.gatecitygaming.com\/index.php\/2021\/01\/26\/city-of-brass-savior-or-false-shephard\/","title":{"rendered":"City of Brass: Savior or False Shephard"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Oh, I come from a land, from a faraway place<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Where the daring developers roam<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Where it’s full and whirl<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And it can all be a blur<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It’s chaotic, but hey, it’s home<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cosplayers to the east and streamers to the west<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And the merch stands is right<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Come on down stop on by<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Find a game you can try<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On another PAX East night<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ahh!\u00a0 Hello and good evening to you, worthy friend!\u00a0 Please, please come closer.\u00a0 Whoa!\u00a0 Whoa!\u00a0 A little too close!\u00a0 I have a story to tell.\u00a0 Welcome to PAX East.\u00a0 A convention where developers flock from all over the world to show off their games;\u00a0 including the developers at Uppercut Games.\u00a0 I have been fortunate enough to try their game, City of Brass<\/em>.\u00a0 Perhaps you would like to hear the tale?\u00a0 It begins with a starry night.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 If you are sensing an Aladdin <\/em>and Arabian Nights<\/em> vibe, then you would be correct.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you have noticed the humongous pile of dead player characters littered\u00a0 among the random procedural levels, you have probably concluded City of Brass<\/em> is a roguelite.\u00a0 I have always had a checkered history with roguelites.\u00a0 The constant need to start over gives me plenty of time to notice the flaws in the combat and procedurally designed levels.\u00a0 For my roguelite adventures, I prefer to venture into the Crypt of the Necrodancer<\/em>; the dungeon crawling mixed with Dance Dance Revolution<\/em> style combat feels satisfying each time I play a level.\u00a0 My point is, generally everyone has one roguelite they prefer, and my fondness for rhythm places Crypt of the Necrodancer <\/em>as my choice roguelite. So, does City of Brass<\/em> have a chance to become your roguelite of choice?\u00a0 While I think the idea and theme is strong, City of Brass <\/em>feels directionless.\u00a0 Please allow me the opportunity to explain.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I feel as though the development team might have been split on the direction of City of Brass <\/em>between a methodical design and high octane design.\u00a0 There are many side rooms you can discover along the way to the end of the levels.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 With these genies scattered randomly throughout the levels, one could find the most pricey genies at the beginning.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 Each level has an hourglass counting down the seconds until two fireballs spawn and relentlessly hunt you\u00a0 down until you leave the level.\u00a0 So maybe the idea behind City of Brass<\/em> is you are a quick witted thief trying to get as much treasure as you can before making your daring escape.\u00a0 Well if that was the goal, City of Brass<\/em>, falls at it\u2019s first spiked trap.\u00a0 Again please allow me the opportunity to explain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I will admit, City of Brass, <\/em>does capture the feel of Aladdin racing through Agrabah one step ahead of the lawman.\u00a0 With the help of your whip, you are able to swing on hanging rings placed randomly throughout the level.\u00a0 The rope swing is very enjoyable giving a Spider-Man feel to the game.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 On top of that, City of Brass<\/em> is a roguelite, so the rings are randomly placed making it impossible to get Spider-Man swinging across Manhattan.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 One time, a ring performed the ultimate betrayal and sent me flying into a pit where I fell to my death.\u00a0 Along with bottomless pits, obnoxious traps litter the levels with their only intent to squander time as you wait for them to disarm.\u00a0 City of Brass<\/em> doesn\u2019t even offer you a basic sprint function.\u00a0 This makes running from enemies impossible at times and forces you to engage in the biggest time sink of them all: the combat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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.\u00a0 Knowing that won\u2019t be able to traverse the level with any speed, you might find yourself engaging in the sluggish combat.\u00a0 You are given many options for using your whip including: to trip enemies, disarm them and activate explosive barrels.\u00a0 All good ideas on paper, but City of Brass<\/em> implements them all poorly.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 The sword play also leaves much to be desired.\u00a0 The sword combat boils down to slashes in a dull left and right fashion.\u00a0 What City of Brass<\/em> despitely cries out for is block or parry feature.\u00a0 You can shove enemies, which you can use to push enemies into traps, but the animation is tiresome.\u00a0 Many of these animations could afford to be snappier including the whip and sword swings.\u00a0 You can add meaningful upgrades to the list of ways to make the combat feel less sluggish.\u00a0 When I get a basic sword upgrade in Crypt of the Necrodancer<\/em>, 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<\/em>, has me questioning if this new sword was even an upgrade at all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now it might seem like I am down on City of Brass<\/em>, but I am not.\u00a0 Like a parent disciplining a child not living up to its potential, I am just disappointed.\u00a0 I see the brilliant ideas within this game, but it\u2019s lack of focus on any of its ideas throw it into disarray.\u00a0 If you want to focus on expansive levels and secret hunting, take some inspiration from the Thief <\/em>and Dishonored<\/em> series.\u00a0 Aiming to capture that Aladdin<\/em> running from guards feel? Look towards Mirror\u2019s Edge <\/em>and Prince of Persia<\/em> for similar movement mechanics.\u00a0 Want some swashbuckling action?\u00a0 Maybe an Arkham Asylum <\/em>style combat similar to ones Assassins Creed <\/em>or Hand of Fate<\/em> could be implemented.\u00a0 The option to narrow their focus and patch the game in the given direction is always available to them.\u00a0 I urge all up and coming developers to view this game as a warning.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 Much like venturing\u00a0 ASK YOURSELF EVERYDAY: DOES THIS HELP MY VISION?\u00a0 DOES THIS MAKE THE GAME MORE ENJOYABLE?\u00a0 NO, DOES IT NEED TO EXIST?\u00a0 Now if you will excuse me, a King Conga stands between me and the adventure into the Crypt of the Necrodancer.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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,… Continue reading City of Brass: Savior or False Shephard<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":42,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-41","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-game-reviews","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gatecitygaming.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gatecitygaming.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gatecitygaming.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gatecitygaming.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gatecitygaming.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=41"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.gatecitygaming.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":43,"href":"https:\/\/www.gatecitygaming.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41\/revisions\/43"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gatecitygaming.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/42"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gatecitygaming.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=41"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gatecitygaming.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=41"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gatecitygaming.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=41"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}