PC, Xbox, Playstation •
Ex-Bioshock devs Uppercut Games have enjoyed a very warm reception to their Arabian-themed swashbuckler City of Brass. No tricks here, it’s magical. If you’re not already playing on PC, Xbone or Playstation, it’s worth rubbing the lamp on. Especially now they’ve unleashed two post-release updates, the latest of which is very tidy.
City of Brass is ostensibly the fantastical fusing of Spelunky’s procedural generation and Dark Messiah of Might & Magic’s melee-focused violence. Straight to the point, you jump into a level, collect loot, whip and slash the desert-dwelling rogue’s gallery of creeps and creatures before moving on. It’s a rogue-lite, so when you kick the bucket, it’s back to the start with you, street rat.
Enter the Fortune’s Rivals and Sultan’s Armory updates. Uppercut Games have added in character classes and the ability to select gender, alongside save-points and the ranking system with the former; with cool collectible weaponry in the latter.
Fortune’s Rivals is the biggest shift, because the new character classes – Soldier and Brigand – have some unique weaponry to begin with. Traversing a few levels will mix up your loadout, but things like the brigand’s throwing daggers and the soldier’s piercing spear go a long way to mix things up.
This new update is now out for PC, with consoles to follow shortly.
While some might malign there’s not more story or character to City of Brass, it drips atmosphere and compels you to do just one more run after getting blind-sided by a Djinn sorceress. Or getting skewered in a spike trap after dodging a ghoul’s arcing khopesh. Or getting freight-trained by a sprinting, screaming skelly. And so it goes. It is distilled in the same manner that compels people to tumble down the catacombs of Spelunky again and again. In place of 2D platforming, it’s learning to make the most of your momentum. Keep running. Keep whipping and braining things. Keep jumping.
And Uppercut? Keep it up.
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