We’re back with another roguelike for the Nintendo Switch eShop! City of Brass by Uppercut Games brings a few interesting twists to the genre as well as a middle-eastern setting.

Developer: Uppercut Games

Publisher: Uppercut Games

15 Hours Played // Review Copy Provided // $19.99

The first noteworthy quality of City of Brass is that this roguelike is in 3D. Whenever I think of a roguelike, I picture a 2D side-scroller like Spelunky or Rogue Legacy. In City of Brass, you’ll explore the city in 360 degrees. This means that danger can come from any direction. I thought this would be problematic since there isn’t a radar system, but Uppercut Games got around the issue through incredible sound design. Anything that is important to locate will make a passive noise. Volume and direction hints at where enemies will be. Enemies will grunt and groan. Treasure hums. Traps make different noises depending on their type.

Speaking of enemies, the number of enemy designs is staggering. Each one is unique from the last and requires a different mechanic from the player to defeat. Your character has two weapons in City of Brass: a bladed weapon – which will change depending on character selection – and a whip. You can use the whip to pull enemies closer, maneuver them into traps, disarm them, trip them, or stun them. You can also push enemies away or slash at them with your bladed weapon. There are enemies that require being disarmed, tripped, or blown up with bombs found around the level. Others need to have their shields pushed into their faces to stun them, or you can just pull them into pit. The penultimate example has a great animation where they hold their face like they’re trying to stop a bloody nose.

What looks like a statue holding a shield is actually an enemy that will teleport behind you when you’re not looking at it. It is terrifying.

The whip feels great. I wasn’t as big a fan of the bladed weapons. Attacking with either is slow. It’s meant to feel deliberate, which it does. Whenever enemies get in close you’re somewhat helpless due to the bladed option feeling weak. However, whipping the weapon out of the hands of an enemy, tripping, and stunning enemies all feels great. The whip can also pick up treasure from a distance, activate traps from relative safety, and swing you on rings around the level. The amount of uses Uppercut Games found for the whip is impressive.

Floor traps such as these spikes here can be set off from a distance with the whip then safely walked through

City of Brass never lets up when it comes to variety. There are large numbers of items and power-ups to provide the player with boons in unique ways. One relic creates a shockwave around your character when you drop from a height greater than your jump height. Another increases your jump height. The added verticality is enough to trigger the shockwave. Combinations like these are part of the fun of roguelikes, but this doesn’t happen often enough in City of Brass. There are a large number of power-ups, but they rarely synergize with another.

The items also highlight a big weakness of City of Brass: it’s incredibly vague at random moments. Some relic and item descriptions explain exactly how the item works while others don’t even provide a clue. The “Shield of Advancing” mentions that it protects the player from damage if the shield is held firm. The problem is there isn’t a button to block in City of Brass. When I first found the item I thought it unlocked a way to block. Instead, the item protects you from damage if you aren’t moving at all. The description is incredibly unclear, and testing to find out it’s function essentially requires you to take damage.

I understand wanting to maintain an amount of mystery when it comes to items, but the Shield of Advancing is too mysterious

The bosses are vague in a similar manner. I had no idea how to damage the first boss I fought because she was protected by a shield. I died to her probably seven times before figuring out I could whip her projectiles to reflect them. That’s seven times that I had to play through the first three levels, only to die while not knowing what to do. She has a description in the compendium, but it doesn’t mention strategies. The last boss is equally perplexing in a much more hectic fight and arena. Fail there and you have to start the game over just to learn how to damage this enemy. Maybe if this was a one-off experience I wouldn’t mind, but by the end of the game I was over feeling confused.

The environments of City of Brass are beautiful when not littered with zombies

When I started getting a little more frustrated with the design of City of Brass is when I looked into the difficulty customization options. This is probably the biggest strength of City of Brass: there is no shortage of ways to customize its difficulty and accessibility. Are traps tripping you up a little too much? They can be show up less. Is the timer stressing you out too much? Turn it off. Do you need a few more hearts to understand the boss mechanics? Those can be increased too. Uppercut Games lets you identify the specific thing that makes the game hard for you and tweak only that one thing. City of Brass is still difficult with modifiers, but it’s less punishing. For every option to make the game easier, there is also an option to make the game harder. (no transition into this final statement; feels jarring)

All the blessings are unlocked from the start while burdens need to be unlocked by accomplishing goals in game

The biggest problem with City of Brass is that it isn’t compelling in any manner. I would never describe City of Brass as “exhilarating,” which kind of leaves it as boring. It’s not that the game doesn’t control well. It does. It’s more that I don’t think the slow, deliberate combat fits this game. If City of Brass was a story based game, these mechanics could work. I’ve played a bunch of games with the same style of combat, but all of those were story driven. They had another reason for you to keep loading the game. City of Brass doesn’t have anything that pulls me to see what’s around the next corner.

City of Brass does a large number of things well that I think should be rewarded: a large variety of enemies and strategies, difficulty customization, and various whip functions. All of them make the game a richer experience. The problem is that City of Brass focused too much on its small touches. It’s a game that would be great if games were only judged from a checklist. All of its cool features just never congeal into something that feels fun. I want all the things that I love about City of Brass in every other game, but I want any game other than City of Brass. There will be people that will love this game. I understand why someone would. It’s just not for me.

For a much more traditional take on the original Rogue read the review of Yodanji. For something a little more abstract check out the review for Vertical Drop Heroes HD. Share your thoughts with us by joining our Discord. Nindie Nexus is an ad-free passion project – consider buying us a coffee.