When old school ASCII dungeon crawling meets new school it's Brut@l

Once upon a time, the number of polygons, pixel art, and how much RAM you were pushing on your video card didn't matter.  An older age when many games were either text based or used ASCII characters.  Stormcloud Games decided to put a modern twist on the old-school ASCII dungeon crawler games with Brut@l.  Let’s explore the depths.

"I'm rather kind of old school, thinking that when an artist does his work, it's no longer his... I just see what people make of it." - David Bowie

Brut@l’s take on the ASCII dungeon crawler manifests itself into what arguably could be called a rogue-like style game.  You explore dungeons as one of the four fantasy archetypes: Ranger, Amazon, Mage, or Warrior.  The Ranger and Amazon are the middle ground characters; quick and nimble these fighters strike a balance between long distance attacks and up close fighting.  The Mage uses magic to blast foes from afar, while the Warrior is built for up close in-your-space heavy hitting fights.  Pick the one closest to your style of fighting and wade into battle.  You don't have to go at it alone either, as Brut@l supports local two-player co-op gaming for that on the couch fun with family or friend.

"There's definitely an old school element to my music, but I also think it's modern." - Lenny Kravitz

The first thing that captured my attention about this game is its visual style.  They present a stripped down, black and white world highlighted with bands of color.  It strongly reminds me of a simplistic take on the fantasy world of Tron.  The visual nod really works to give the ASCII character built world a feeling of new embracing the old. Continuing that theme is the sound effects and music.  The sound effects are kept to the minimum (grunts, groans, footsteps, the striking of weapons, etc.), while the soundtrack ebbs and flows with orchestral music.  It’s like Stormcloud Games wanted to subtlety evoke a feeling, and give a nod to, the latest Tron movie both visually and audibly.

"Somebody tell the damn players to start playing like old school." - Karl Malone

It's not just the audio and video that takes cues from the old days, so does the gameplay.  You have one life at the start.  Die and it's game over.  You have to play smart early on using tried and true tricks: stick and move, smash open everything looking for food, and be wary of potions.  This last point is very important.  You will be able to find potions and craft your own from ingredients you find, but you won't know what the potion does until you drink it or throw it at an enemy.

You will be able to craft more than just potions too.  You will find tomes that allow you to craft weapons from the letters you find scattered across the dungeons.  Letters let you craft normal weapons.  Colored letters allow you to add enchantments like flames or frost for extra damage against foes.

Overall

Brut@l's old school charm is a nice touch, but its gameplay is what carries it.  Each game you start, you know you must survive through 26 randomly generated dungeon levels before going up against the Guardian of the Dungeon.  Skill will get you only so far.  That random generated dungeon element throws a fair amount of luck into the mix.  You could end up with a dungeon with a low amount of food, so you really have to pay attention to what's going on.  One of my early playthroughs, with a Warrior, seemed doomed because there wasn't a lot of food.  I was finding barely enough to keep the hunger and health going, but 3 levels in it all came to an end when an imp attacked and shortly there after an exploder took me out.  Meanwhile, in another game, I have a Mage carrying fat stacks of pizza, fish and even some chunks of ham.

Mmmm... dungeon pizza...

It’s not an easy game, but it is fun.  For me, it's a fair bit of nostalgia, especially when I open the map and look at a top down all ASCII view of the dungeon spread out before me.  Previously only available on the PlayStation 4, it was just recently released on Steam.  I like it a lot, even though my Warrior could use a lot more luck.  I give Brut@l a 4 out of 5.

For more information check out the official Brut@l website.

Below are two of my playthrough videos of Brut@l.  The first is my playthrough with the Warrior and Amazon.  The second is my playthrough with the Mage and messing about with the Dungeon Creator.