Rogue Legacy – Where Did You Come From?
Rogue Legacy is a surprisingly great independent game that came out of nowhere. We at Coop Dojo have been talking a lot recently about two significant trends in video games we see today. First, the rise of the independent developer which is ironic considering we’re in the infancy of the next gen console cycle which would suggest a moment for big budget, AAA games to demonstrate why we should all be ready to drop $500 for a new box in the home. Remarkably the best experiences we’re having now are from small indie games which we talk about a lot.
The other trend that’s high on our list as something to note is the use of procedural generation to create more dynamic gaming experiences. Borderlands famously does this with the loot system (although some games like Diablo have been there for years). Left 4 Dead’s “Director” is surprisingly effective at creating tense but survivable experience each time we run through a campaign. We even remember running for miles in one direction in Project IGI (200) to see if it’s dynamically designed terrain would ever end (it doesn’t). The ability of a game to migrate from a linear experience to a dynamic one significantly improves the replayability; especially a hell of a lot more than a limp-wristed deathmatch mode — I’m looking at you Mass Effect, Conker’s Bad Fur Day, Bioshock 2, Uncharted, etc.
It’s rare to find an indie game that also uses procedural generation (think Minecraft). Well Rogue Legacy is another game that is in the overlap of that Venn diagram that made small waves towards the end of last year and it has consumed a surprising amount of hours from us in the past weeks. The game is a ridiculously simple mixture of Ghosts n’ Goblins and Symphony of Night as you play a warrior storming a haunted castle with basic attack + jump controls. Then a weird thing happens — you die and don’t come back.
Instead it’s up to the next generation in your bloodline to pick up where you left off and storm the castle all over again. Your next of kin also comes equipped with his/her own set of perks or quirks – we particularly enjoyed the ones deemed “The One” who see the castle in Matrix-like sci-fi colors. This time however the castle layout is completely redesigned so it will be a new experience each time you come back to avenge your ancestor(s). Your main task is to hunt down and kill the castle’s 5 bosses protecting the final area and fortunately those bosses stay dead from generation to generation. You’ll carry over money and skill points as you to move down through your bloodline and as you level up you’ll find that areas that previously destroyed you in one hit suddenly are manageable. It’s hard, almost as punishing as Dark Souls (with the same sense of accomplishment when you win) but the simplistic gameplay will hook you making that learning curve worth the ride.
We’re 40 generations in and, with one boss to go, we can’t wait to see where this goes. The developer, Cellar Door Games (Donnie Darko?), has been doing this for a while now (we all fondly remember Don’t Shit Your Pants) but this one absolutely a hit worth the price of admission.
