City of Brass

City of Brass comes at you like a trap-filled sprint through an Arabian Nights nightmare. Its first-person sword-and-whip combat has a strong central idea: slash at close range, crack the whip to disrupt enemies or set off dangers, then use the city’s many hazards before they use you.

The roguelite structure means failure is part of the deal, and the clock adds pressure even when you would rather slow down and study a room. It is an uneven but distinctive action game for anyone who enjoys learning a dangerous space one hard-earned run at a time.

Retro Replay Review

Gameplay

City of Brass grabs you with the kind of opening promise that is easy to understand: you are a thief with a scimitar, a whip, and a city packed with ways to die. The basic rhythm has real character. Sword strikes handle the immediate threat, while the whip gives you a second tool for baiting enemies and interfering with the environment. That push and pull is much more interesting than simply charging every foe in sight.

The best moments come when the hazards stop feeling like scenery and start becoming part of your plan. Pits, blades, spears, arrows, sprung paving slabs, and poison gas force you to watch where you stand, but they can also hurt the enemies crowding you. Leaping, crouching, sliding, and vaulting give the action a welcome sense of momentum. Once that interplay clicks, each room becomes a small, tense problem with several possible answers.

Pressure is also where the game can wear you down. The time limit discourages overly cautious play, while procedurally generated runs ensure that a mistake can quickly become a death. You will need some patience for repeating that cycle and for accepting nasty losses as part of the learning process. If you want a relaxed first-person adventure, this is likely too punishing. If you enjoy getting sharper at a compact combat system, the repeated attempts have a purpose.

The genies add another worthwhile wrinkle. Friendly ones can trade benefits for loot or grant a powerful wish, turning resources into a meaningful gamble rather than a simple number to hoard. It fits the game’s wider attitude: take a chance now, because the city is not going to wait for you to feel safe.

Graphics

The first-person view puts you directly among the city’s grand Arabian Nights surroundings, from ornate urban spaces to the traps built into its floors and passages. The strongest visual idea is the contrast between opulence and danger: an inviting metropolis whose paths hide pits, blades, poison, and other lethal surprises.

Story

City of Brass keeps its narrative setup clean and functional. You are a daring thief pushing toward the heart of a mysterious metropolis, a premise that immediately explains the treasure hunting, the danger, and the repeated attempts to press farther in.

The city itself is the main storytelling tool. Its imprisoned genies and relentless deathtraps give the journey a suitably mythic, hostile flavor without asking you to track a complicated cast or a dense chain of plot turns. The tone is closer to a dangerous tale of greed and nerve than a character-driven fantasy.

That simplicity works with the roguelite format. Each run is less about following a new story beat and more about making another desperate push through a place that wants to kill you. Do not come in expecting a sweeping narrative payoff, but the Arabian Nights framing gives the action more personality than a generic dungeon crawl.

Overall Experience

City of Brass is at its best when you quit treating enemies and traps as separate problems. The sword, whip, movement options, environmental dangers, loot, and genie bargains all point toward a scrappy style of play where a clever reaction can save a run. That is a compelling foundation, and it helps the procedural structure feel less mechanical.

Still, this is a game that asks you to meet it halfway. Death is frequent by design, the timer keeps your nerves up, and the pleasure comes from gradually understanding how to turn a hostile room in your favor. Some runs will end before they feel satisfying. Others will make you immediately want one more attempt because you can see exactly what you could have done better.

Give it a chance if you want a first-person roguelite with a tactile combat hook and a setting that does more than swap in fantasy wallpaper. Its score reflects an experience with clear frustrations, but also a rare enough mix of swordplay, whip tricks, and trap manipulation to stand out. For a closer look at the game’s official listing, visit the City of Brass publisher page.