I don’t really remember seeing many mentions of Brut@l when it came out four years ago, which is a shame because it’s really quite a nice arcadey dungeon crawler.
Wearing its inspiration on its virtual sleeve, it translates the more traditional ASCII dungeon map exploring into an arcadey 3d world. Where it ends up isn’t exactly unexplored already but, and this is the bit that matters, it does do a fine job of it.
It doesn’t really need much in the way of explanation, I don’t think. You choose a class at the beginning, run through dungeons hitting and collecting things, find the entrance to a deeper level and go.
Along the way there’s a mild bit of crafting to be done for weapons (nothing strenuous, just have the correct letters and a book, press a button and tada! Brew a mystery potion!), a lot of hitting, some jumping, the occasional maze and whatever. It’s a videogame! There’s nothing mould breaking, just a really good videogamey videogame.
It genuinely doesn’t look good static being largely busy and black and white with slight splashes (and slashes) of colour but in motion it’s both perfectly readable and, frankly, fine. I’ve not had a single problem either finding where to go or anything I need. I’m only mentioning this precisely because the screenshots make it look rougher than it is.
With the exception of a jump that doesn’t quite jump far enough to be entirely comfortable and the odd small but messy interface quirk (forgivable given most big budget games often end up in a worse place with their interface), I’ve really got no complaints of note. It does what it does and it does it well.
Well enough to make me sad that it’s probably been skipped over a thousand times in favour of more on-trend takes on dungeon crawling. That’s a fate it certainly doesn’t deserve. Playing a few quick-ish runs of it this afternoon and yes, it still hits the spot. By the time I’m hitting the third floor and it really gets going and comes into its own, a lovely speedy swords and sorcery dungeon delve, I’m invariably enjoying myself a great deal .
Oh, and it has a level editor too, which is always welcome.
So yeah, Brut@l! Overlooked and good. It’s a game I’ve been ducking in and out of for a few years and still find myself enjoying it a lot when I’ve become long bored of plenty of others. That’s worth something, I’m sure.
[originally published in June 2020]