Brut@l

Brut@l is a procedurally generated, realtime, isometric dungeon crawler with an artistic style that makes liberal use of the ASCII character set in its graphical models. It is styled after old school turn-based ASCII roguelikes like Rogue and Nethack, though its realtime nature makes the play very different from the aforementioned roguelikes. Pros: * The controls are simple, straightforward, and relatively precise. * The combat is surprisingly satisfying, given its simplistic nature. * The game didn't crash once. * The worst bug I noticed was a trophy not unlocking; specifically, when I realized I was going to win, I made sure to drink one type of each potion in order to unlock the trophy linked to doing just that. The trophy didn't unlock. * The combinations of creatures you find in different rooms can make for challenging combat. * Most of the dungeon is black and white. Surprisingly, this is quite advantageous, as the things that are colored (lava, water, poison, etc.) *really* stand out. * Unlike most trailers, watching the Brut@l gameplay trailers will give you a *really* good idea of how the game works, and what to expect from the game. The trailers don't oversell Brut@l at all. * The ending I saw is simple, but a little surprising and fun. I don't know if there's more than one ending. * The procedural generation was quite good. There's certainly some re-use of rooms and such (maze rooms, rooms with platforms surrounded by water or lava, etc.), but it never felt old. Cons: * The AI is simple-minded. Creatures will proceed toward you using the shortest possible path. If there is no path to you (say, because there's a chasm between you and the creature), then the creature will stand as close to you as possible while you shoot it with arrows or zap it with wands. Not as bad as Necropolis, to be sure, but still pretty bad. Hopefully, they'll address the AI in an update. * This game likely wasn't tested well by patient gamers. If you're patient and careful (say, if you've played enough Souls games), you might beat the game on your first try (I did). * I had a difficult time getting used to aiming arrows. The other missile-type weapons/devices were easier to aim for some reason. I think it's because once you ready the arrow, the direction of your aim is fixed, regardless of whether or not you move around before loosing the arrow. * The skill paths make no sense. There are some skills that have prerequisites that make absolutely no sense. * Towards the end game, your character class won't matter because all character classes have the same skill paths. The character class only determines what skills you start with. * No NG+, or difficulty settings. My playthrough was approximately 10-11 hours of game time. I've read other reviews that suggest a playthrough can be finished in 3-4 hours. After my playthrough, I can say that I feel quite satisfied. I can see myself trying a second playthrough in a week or so. I haven't tried the local co-op, but intend to soon.

This game is a great rougelike but unfortunately I find the chosen art style hard to look at for extended periods. I get the idea of why it looks the way it does but I still find it hard to want to look at it. Also the platforming ****. I do not want to time jumps in a rogelike. Wanted to like this more.