Ye old style game that feels new
Okay, that's a bit fast. Don't worry, I'll take it step by step.
Rogue Legacy is a roguelike (big surprise there) platformer, side scrolling action game with character selection and upgrade options. That's a lot to take in isn't it? Maybe if I said metroidvania you'd understand better, but it's still so much more than that. It's what makes it fun. Being a roguelike, death is permanent and you have to start over each time. However, thanks to all the mechanics this whole restarting process is actually extremely fun! How is dying in a game fun? Read on to find out.
Story
So it begins...
You begin the game as a knight who seems to have invaded a castle. You reach the goal, a grand looking fountain, a king and then - slay the king. Once that little tutorial is done you begin the game for real, as a descendant of this knight (now known as Johannes), going to raid that same castle. Your ancestor was a traitor who killed the king and now you're off to find him.
At first it seems like a duty to your family, but there's more to it than that. Johannes, had justifiable reasons for his heinous act. While playing through you will find journals that will offer insight into what was happening at the castle and why your great great great ... great ancestor did what he did. Psst, I hear talk of a Fountain of Youth, among other things.
Be sure to read all the journals.
Gameplay
This one is a bit slower and gives a good overview of what Rogue Legacy has to offer
In terms of gameplay, Rogue Legacy is a standard platformer game. You have 2D levels, but they're randomly generated each time you restart. You have your character, but you can pick a different class each time you restart. You take this character into the castle, kill monsters before they kill you and gather gold and blueprints for gear. You start over when you die, but you keep what you collected to upgrade yourself for future runs. That's it in a nutshell.
Though the gameplay is basic, it's actually all the little additions that make the game really shine. There are traits each character will have that can drastically change an aspect of the game, like making you immune to knockback. There are mini games, puzzles and challenges thrown across the levels, such as a guessing game with 3 chests, that reward you with better equipment.
Mechanics
The mechanics are the main reason this game is so addicting. Usually, people have a hard time with roguelikes, because a permanent death is a no-no in today's gaming. You want to help the player as much as possible, but this genre is still merciless. Cellar Door Games instead added variations between each playthrough that will keep you entertained even when dying.
Some traits can really change up the game!
Have you noticed that when you pick a new character you get a sort of "stat sheet"? There's a class (we'll get into that later) and then there's this trait on the side that gives you some special characteristic. Like ADHD to make you move faster, colorblind to drain the color out of the entire screen, you can be a tiny dwarf, or a giant etc. There's a lot of these. Some are obvious, some are meaningless and some will have that health boost running away from you. Don't be afraid to try new things. It keeps the game fresh.
And some are just there for show.
Classes
How very RPGish to add classes. They have different levels of damage, different health and mana pools too. Most importantly though, they come with unique abilities. A lich can gain HP through kills, a miner increases gold gained, a barbarian king can shout (fus-ro-dah!) and so on. It's a good idea to give each one a try and see which fits you the best.
Yep, you can be a dragon too!
The good news is that whenever you start again, you can only pick from a certain selection of characters, meaning that you will have to try them all eventually. Yes, this is good news, because there are 10 different classes, each with an upgrade and this way you will actually get to at least try them all out (or get sick and tired of seeing the miner pop up all the time).
Upgrading
The better the gear, the more colorful you are!
You have a sort of stronghold or homestead, or your very own castle if you wish, that you can upgrade. Upgrading this with the gold you swipe is a way of upgrading your character. You get can get more health, more damage, more mana and most of all - upgrade the classes to give them a special ability. It reminds me a bit of the towns in Heroes of Might and Magic.
Apart from that, you can get blueprints for new equipment that you can have the blacksmith create for you. You can also use runes to infuse your equipment and give yourself new abilities, like flight. The best thing is that you keep all of these hard earned upgrades for your descendants to use.
The most valuable things you'll find in the castle.
Level Design
I'm a huge fan of how these levels were made. Though they are basic platformer levels they're absolutely packed with goodies (and baddies). They put in challenges where you have to use your head a bit, like figuring out how to walk backwards(?). There are mini-games where you need to hit certain targets, semi-bosses along with the big bosses, music, treasure, trivia... There's just so much to be found!
Keep checking the map!
Not only that, but the levels are generated at random with each restart. With the exception of the four major sections (you will recognize them by the different art style). The forest is always to the right, the dungeon is always below and...well it might not be a dungeon for you, but that place will always be there. Whatever you call it. Each individual "room" is still randomly placed.
Difficulty
No sugarcoating here - this game is tough. It's one of the few that remind of the old Mega Man titles on Nintendo consoles or the DOS version of Prince of Persia. Okay, maybe not as hard as Prince of Persia. Still, it's up there. Bosses will kill you the first few times, until you learn their attack patterns. Let's get real though, this is a game where you're expected to die right? It's the only way to experience all of the content anyway.
Not the most pleasent situation to be in.
Enemies
Enemies range from mindless cannon-fodder to annoying little sister. Seriously, with some of them you just can't catch a break! It takes a while to get the hang of that living portrait's flying patterns. I'm not even going to mention the rooms where you get several ghosts flinging ice in all directions. Oh, I just did. Anyway, you get the idea.
Nice move, but watch the ground!
They are diverse and I like the fact that there is a sort of trick to each one. Mastering the attack and movement patterns of enemies is the key to success. It's not all about running around flailing your sword. You can try, but the basic charging knight enemy will get you unless you jump out of the way. Learn the enemies and you'll have a higher chance of survival.
It only gets worse.
Graphics & Sound
If they ever nailed the retro art style for a game, then this is it. Often enough, game designers tend to go too far into the pixel realm in an attempt to replicate the old-school look (looking at you Papers, Please). Let's not forget, there was that golden age of pixels where we could discuss detail and graphic quality between games.
Cellar Door Games was right on the money. Being retro doesn't mean it shouldn't be beautiful to look at and some of those later level environments are very lovely indeed. Game designers, take note! It's not about looking pixilated, but about the colorful, simple yet detailed, art style of that era.
Sound-wise there's nothing special. I never really noticed the sounds in the game much, so I guess that means they fit really well. The music is nice, but you're still more likely to put on your own playlist and mute it. It's not spectacular, but it's not bad either.
Look at all that color. Preeeettyyy...
Price vs. Fun
Rogue Legacy is an indie game and carries the low price of indie games. It may also come up in bundles or on sale too, where you can get it for near-nothing. That said, I actually encourage you to buy it at full price. I'm not kidding, these guys deserve it! When you compare this game's fun factor and time invested to an average AAA title it's a landslide victory. I invested at least thrice the amount of hours I do in the big name games and all of them were entertaining, whereas the big games can get tedious having you crawl through just to see how it ends.
There was no such epic custscene story telling here and still I couldn't put it down for the gameplay and mechanics alone. Take a lesson big game companies - these guys are doing it right!
Verdict - 8/10
Rogue Legacy is probably the only game that has ever made me smile in frustration. Is that even possible? Seems so. Cellar Door Games managed to create a beautiful and rare gem that appeals to both the hardcore and casual gamer inside me, you and probably anyone else who sat at a PC in recent years. One thing I can guarantee is that you will get sucked into this game and will likely spend many hours on it until you've tasted everything it has to offer.
The drawback? As innovative and fun as all the upgrade and choice systems are, as varied as the challenges and enemies can get, there is a tipping point you will reach long before the end where you'll just get used to what the game is. The new-factor will drain and you'll be left with the frustration of how unfair some of those random levels can get.
Still it will fill up a massive amount of time and is probably the equivalent to a carnival ride in terms of entertainment. That's a very strong 8/10 from me! It's not a true work of art, but Rogue Legacy will appeal to anyone for at least a good several hours, days, even weeks. When I give a rating this high, it means the game is definitely worth a try. You won't be sorry. If you are, feel free to bag on me in the comments (or if you enjoy it, praise is accepted too).
