Few months ago; I had already had the opportunity to discover City of Gangsters during a press session (you can find the article here). During March, Talish tested it in turn, on a version limited to the first hours of play, and made a first preview. Today, I had the opportunity to play the full version, as the game is released on August 9th.
Putting at the head of a criminal organization in the city of Chicago in full prohibition (the game begins in 1920), City of Gangsters is described as a mafia simulator by the developer, SomaSim (known for Project Highrise) and its publisher, Kasedo Games.
Managed on a turn-by-turn basis, the playing field is the map of the city with its streets, its river, its businesses and its districts, already controlled by numerous rival gangs. Just landed, our character initially only dominates a block thanks to a member of his family (aunt or uncle depending on the scenario). He was also the one who provided him with a small nest egg and his first bottles of beer, which were hidden in the cellar. Thanks to his advice, the alcohol quickly finds takers, enough to bring in the first dollars and make a few friendships. From there, you have to make do, which means exploring the city to buy the ingredients for this good little beer brewed in the backyard of a perfectly legal store that serves as a cover. Buying and selling prices depend on influence, some sellers may even deny owning any goods if trust is not given.
This is where the principle of favors comes in. By doing business with people in the neighborhood, each NPC's personal trust in the character's organization increases, leading to gaining those famous favors. These can then be spent asking to be introduced to other people, buying a place to set up an illegal distiller in the back of the shop, or setting up shop on a street corner. The more the organization has these street corners, the more the area of control increases, enough to reach ever more businesses, with ever more raw materials, places to sell their alcohol, and people who know other people. .
It quickly becomes impossible to manage everything with a single character because, as I already mentioned above, the game is managed on a turn-by-turn basis. This therefore implies movement and action points, which are both limited. In addition, each turn advances time by a week, with all the consequences that ensue on the possible actions of the police or rival gangs. These past months aren't just visible in game terms, as the seasons also have a visual effect on the map, with snow settling in in winter. As the empire grows, in terms of size and amount of stuff to manage, employees become necessary. They can be assigned to a building or a vehicle. In the first case, they will allow the building to gain in efficiency, which can bring big bonuses depending on its skills. Otherwise, they can perform all the actions of the first character and thus, in turn, roam the city, to make deliveries, buy raw materials, or even make friends on behalf of the organization.
To bring back regular money, it is finally advisable to impose its "protection" on a few businesses, pure and simple racketeering, which is not without consequences. This can lead to a loss of confidence on the part of shopkeepers (therefore favors), or even increase the interest that the police could take in the neighborhood because shopkeepers are not going to let it go without trying. Everything is then a question of balance: reaping the maximum possible profits, without attracting too much attention, neither from the police, nor from the other gangs of the city.
So that's it for the basics of gameplay, discovered during my first game, partly thanks to the tutorial which, although a bit long, covers the basics well. The City of Gangsters interface also helps with this, with very positive aspects, such as all the layers that give information on where resources can be bought/sold. In addition, numerous tables summarize ongoing activities. Despite everything, I had a lot of trouble finding my way around this urban jungle and having fun in a game that seemed slow, talkative and messy. The selection of characters from the gang, although it can be done in several different ways, is not very intuitive. Their portraits very quickly blend in with the other icons. The knowledge network is a very complex spider's web. Finally, the progression curve is irregular. After an explosive start, which made me accumulate a lot of dollars thanks to the successive sale of several stocks of beer, I found myself approached by many people, who all wanted my money, who to open a new business, which to increase my reputation. Tempted, I found myself short of cash, too scattered between these multitudes of parallel projects, until I was unable to pay my employees and running costs. In addition, I absolutely needed wood to open a new back shop, wood that can only be bought at the other end of the city, in a district controlled by another gang. Suddenly, I do not see how to progress, if not by stupidly chaining the brewing of beer, activity a bit off-putting.
In the end, without being a bad game, City of Gangsters still needs a little polish to be enjoyable to play, at least for casual players who don't necessarily want to dissect the game to understand it. But if you are fond of simulation and you really want to look into the question to understand all the tricks that hide in the criminal depths of the mafia simulation, then there is no doubt that you will find your pleasure there. And what is reassuring is that there is a studio behind the project that has already proven itself with the excellent Project Highrise. There is therefore no doubt that City of Gangsters has a bright future ahead of it, to which you are now invited if you wish to get started today:
