Brut@l

In a sea of roguelikes, you might as well go to the source. Brut@l is a brilliantly addictive reimagining of the original Rogue with smart graphics and accessible combat.

It’s a hugely entertaining, visually striking experience, and has instantly become my favourite multiplayer title on the PlayStation 4.

Brut@l is one of this summer's most pleasant surprises. By taking inspiration from classics like Rogue and adding new gameplay mechanics, striking visuals and some very fluent gameplay, Brut@l becomes a great game in its own right.

An experience housing enough content to validate repeated play-throughs, Brut@l — despite its stripped approach to crafting and indeed to leveling-up — manages enough in its generative structure to add a distinct level of spice to make even the most minimal-looking of scenarios feel both exciting and enticing.

There are only so many bad guys you can explode to bright red bits before they — pardon the pun — start to bleed into each other. If that's your thing, then for sure you'll want to check this game out, but if it's not, you'll want to proceed with a bit of caution.

Arguably, Brut@l lacks the depth of some of its genre contemporaries while the uniquely touted ASCII-inspired veneer, though a flamboyant shift from the norm, results in some visually repetitive environments. All the same, Brut@l still acquits itself nicely as a decent hack and slash yarn whose prospects are elevated by co-operative play and a neat level editor that adds a good number of extra hours to its playtime.

The dynamically generated world and character leveling systems help to emphasize its infinite replayability.

A neat dungeon crawler offering some fluid combat, with tough challenges wrapped up in an art style straight out of Tron.

The visual appearance and its co-op mode are the best things of Brut@l.

How long that buzz takes to wear off is down to how much respect for ASCII games you really have. [November 2016, p67]

A fantastic idea that looks to the past for both its visuals and mechanics. The underlying roguelike itself is solid, but the eye-catching ASCII style is a big part of its appeal. [Oct 2016, p.86]

It may not constantly beckon you back, but when you do dive in you’ll realise it is one of the better dungeon crawlers out right now. It’s bursting at the seems with love for this genre, and some of that might just rub off on you after a while.

Brut@l is a fun dungeon crawler regardless of whether the historical significance of collecting letters and throwing the @ sign at goblins is lost on you. A distinctive visual style complements simple and enjoyable combat, a satisfying collection of craftable weapons, and a rewarding learning curve. Dungeon runs can get a bit samey, but a co-op mode and robust dungeon creator reward further visits.

Brut@l is certainly a punishing experience for those not used to Rogue-like tropes. Yet it’s a visually attractive game that pays tribute to Rogue in its ASCII style that’s genuinely appealing, as well as having a clean interface and enough flair in the combat to not be devalued as a button masher. A few issues rise when it comes to cooperative play, which make this a harder sell, but Brut@l is otherwise a fitting tribute to Rogue and the genre that came from it that dominates the indie scene.

Brut@l is another exponent of a genre that is experiencing a new golden age thanks to the support of millions of players around the world.

The crafting system is superficial but pretty much all of Brutal is that way. Its most interesting qualities are gimmicks – the ASCII visuals, the procedural generation, a shield that you can throw like Captain America because why not?

Stylistically Brut@l is a close to the classic Rogue as Rogue-like can be. But with all its nods to its heritage, this dungeon crawler lacks character.

The overall structure of Brut@l is well designed, and procedural generation of the dungeons is good enough to present sufficiently varied floors. Unfortunately a the combat system is soporific and too simplified to entertain.

Brut@l is a decent action game, only for fans of the genre.

A fairly enjoyable tribute to the ancestors of modern computer role-playing, but not deep and varied enough to keep me playing longer than I needed to without the impression that I’m wasting my time. [11/2016, p.53]

It does a few things right, it does a few things wrong. If you like what it has to offer or if you're looking for an accessible game of its genre, Brut@l can be a good choice.

It functions on a basic level as a competent dungeon crawler, but its repetitive gameplay combined with its cheap deaths will make most gamers look for other options.

I can’t recommend this to all but the most diehard of genre fans. Even then, the art style may be lost on people who aren’t old enough to remember MS-DOS or a ZX Spectrum. That seems to be the most unique feature of the game.

Brut@l has visual style to spare, but like a dull book with a beautiful cover, the actual game itself is nothing more than a standard dungeon crawler with divisive rougelike elements.