Become a daring thief in City of Brass, a punishing first-person, Arabian Nights-themed rogue-lite. Armed with scimitar and a whip that can grab, trip, disarm, stun or shatter as well as swing, players will lash and slash, bait and trap their way through hordes of undead, making it to each level’s exit before the Sands of Time run out, collecting treasures and looting chests for weapon and armour upgrades or powerful relics on the way. But the city itself also has teeth. Players will have to leap across pits, slide under blades, avoid spears or arrows, evade or employ sprung paving slabs, and skirt round poison gas traps – all the while manipulating these dangers to their advantage against enemies.

Incarcerated within the city are genies, most of them friendly, who will barter benefits in return for loot or grant wishes for a powerful advantage – or for a ransom, free them to secure their help in the final battle.

The rhythmic interplay between sword and whip is carefully tuned along with sprinting, crouching, sliding, leaping and vaulting to give a fluid, balanced and natural feel to the movement and melee. Eternal replayability is granted by a design that encourages combinative gameplay within an ever-changing but logical procedurally generated world. Players will die in the City of Brass – often, and quite horribly – but they will always want to come back for just one more try…