Story of a Gladiator

Review

Well, there are not too many stories of how people became Gladiators. Most of them were slaves from conquered lands and others were just Romans who were more than happy to renounce their freedom in the research of fame. Just madness, really! In this case, it’s not too far from the first example, but instead of being captured, this fellow managed to escape the Romans and become an alcoholic. But one day at the Roman pub, he saw the light when a strong man at the next table, covered in scars, recounted his fights in the Colosseum.  Yes, you guessed it! He wanted to become a Gladiator. And that, my friends, brings us to this Story of a Gladiator!

Story of a Gladiator is a 2D Beat’em up game developed and self-published by Brain Seal Ltd on Steam on the 27 of November 2019. The game is also available on Xbox One, Ps4 and Nintendo Switch.

After a short introduction, you’ll have to choose between three characters, who hail from Greece, Carthage and Egypt, each with a different bonus over the others. Then will be the time to choose your level of difficulty: Scared, Gladiator or Lion. When you’re all set, you’ll enter your first fight - a small tutorial.

From here, you’ll be in the main strip of Rome, right in front of the Colosseum. There’ll be several shops where you can purchase items; the weapons and armour shop will provide new swords, shield and body armour, and the combat training shop is where you can upgrade your skills.  There are also a few others, however most of them will be locked until your character levels up.

The next and obvious destination is to enter the arena of death. There are three campaigns available to you: the Greek, Afrikan and Roman campaigns. Each of them has 12 fights, including a boss fight. Each confrontation will have two to three waves of enemies to defeat in order to win. If you manage to beat all the enemies and still have 2/3 of your health, you’ll earn three golden stars which you can use to buy amulets and receive additional bonuses each time you enter the arena. You’ll also earn coins and experience points. With the coins, you can buy new equipment, and each time you level-up, you’ll receive a skill point which you can use at the combat training.

In the Greek campaign, the arena floor will be smooth, but as soon as you reach the Afrikan and Romans campaigns, the floor will have obstacles to deal with in addition to the scary incoming fighters. Obstacles could be pits, spikes, a patch of field on fire and few other things.

I like the enemy’s variations; they are quite fun. Plenty of fighters with swords and/or spikes, and others with strange things in their hands.  You’ll also be fighting wild animals. During his first fights, your character will be using his melee weapon to slash his foe, his shield to block and will also be able to run.  As he earns more experience points and acquires more skills, he’ll unlock new attacks,  a dodge roll and upgrade current skills.

With great, fun artwork, the game runs really well, and t is surprisingly addictive. There is also a Tournament mode, where you’ll have to survive 15 waves, and you can play co-op too.