Mixing grand strategy with tycoon styled gameplay, City of Gangsters has you starting from nothing as you build your very own criminal enterprise through an illicit alcohol business set during the 1920's prohibition era. Does it go down smooth like a fine wine, or leave a bitter taste in ones mouth?

My first impressions of ‘City of Gangsters’ is mixed, I will confess. I start up the game with no foreknowledge of this title, other than the vague description of it being a Prohibition Era ‘Civilisation’ meets ‘Crusader Kings’. This intrigued me, and it also amused me to nickname the game ‘Crusader Dons’ in the privacy of my own mind.

The first thing that comes on starting a new game is the options. We get to create our soon-to-be mob boss. It amused me to name him Tommy Angelo, and I made a deliberate choice to make him Italian, because if I am playing a game focused around gangsters in the Prohibition, then gosh-darn it to heck, I better be playing as an Italian-American mob.

Admittedly, I didn't experiment with the ethnicity choices too much; but based on what little experience I have, your ethnicity isn’t a sweeping game-changer. Fellow citizens of the same ethnic backgrounds are more inclined to like you, but if there's more to it, then I have yet to uncover such mechanics. Am I taking that as an excuse to play more of this game? Maybe.  

We get to pick a starting skill, but not really knowing the full nuance of this game yet, I pick one at random with the full knowledge that my first attempt will have me looking like an idiot until I grasp the mechanics and how they come together. Then we are given a choice of three cities: Chicago, Detroit and Pittsburgh. I opted for Detroit.

Thus begun Tommy Angelo’s rise to infamy!

I start the game with one safehouse; my dear old auntie’s shop - a modest store which will generate malt syrup passively. I quickly learn that this works to my benefit when I peruse the options of illegitimate backroom operations and find that homemade beer requires malt syrup. Coupled with the fact that the shop down the road from my starting safehouse will happily buy any homemade booze I make, it feels like a no-brainer to convert my aunt’s backroom into a beer distillery. My rise from rags to riches begins!

However, I quickly learn that while my aunt’s shop will generate malt syrup, I still need stoneware crocks, or else production will quickly stall because, you know…we have nothing to put our booze in. So while I slowly explore the city of Detroit, I keep my eye open for any shops willing to sell me stoneware crocks. When I find three nearby shops stocking such wares, I decide to buy them at higher than market value so that the shopkeepers will like me. This is important; if they like you, you get favours from them.

When it comes to building up your gang with your new underlings, pick wisely. Each new gangster has their own traits, and depending on what you need them for, being “nice” might not help when you’re hiring for street muscle. On the other hand, if you want somebody to be the delivery boy, “nice” is perfectly valid, as store owners will form a fond rapport with Harold “Mailman” Carr. My first hire had the “ugly” trait, which helped with any intimidation that needed doing, so naturally I set him as the man who informed stores that being under my territory they now get the privilege of paying “protective taxes”.

Everything was going smoothly until the police randomly arrested Tommy Angelo and confiscated the contents of his pickup truck, which included seven hundred dollars and twenty crates of the really good quality booze I had just finished brewing. Curse you, ya bleedin’ rozzer! This is because I didn’t donate to your annual ball, isn’t it?

Over time I do tasks for the various citizens of Detroit, be it helping them pay off loans, delivering various bits and bobs, materials for them to upgrade their businesses, assist in my crew’s street work, or donating illicit alcohol to make a party actually feel like a party. Rewards can be as simple as a quick burst of extra cash in hand, new vehicles for your crew to get around and make deliveries in, or new safehouses to expand your illicit businesses to new ventures. Then lastly, but arguably most importantly, you can be rewarded with learning the art of creating those backroom ventures. You can’t build a garage without learning how to build one. You can’t create a sparkling cider brewery without knowing how to actually make sparkling cider.

Unfortunately, combat is a weak point in this game. If you’re sharing a space with a local hoodlum or a member of a rival crew, you can elect to attack them, which uses up all of the crew member’s movement and actions for that turn. Following this, a window pops up telling you what weapons both sides have, and the projected damage range, but that's about it. It's then time for the invisible dice roll and that’s your turn done. Fortunate then, that combat isn’t the focus of the game, but a means to an end. Though, usually that end is clearing out hoodlums who keep harassing nearby shops.

City of Gangsters is a game that gives you as much fun as you are willing to put into it. In my experience, it is one of those games that you tell yourself you’ll play for an hour and the next thing you know, it’s half one in the morning and you look like a crazy person for insisting it’s actually half nine.

City of Gangsters is available for purchase right now on PC. Review code was provided by the publisher.