Rogue Legacy (PC) – The Review

We're starting to see patterns emerge as to how some independent games stand out from the crowd (of course it helps that this is a drought season for video games as we all stagger to buy in to the next gen sooner or later). Some indie games become popular just by presenting a fascinating experience or story (e.g. Gone Home or Sword and Sworcery). Some games are defined purely by one gameplay element meriting the experience (e.g. rewiring levels in Gunpoint or really anything in Portal). One well however that is still far from empty is randomness (think the loot systems in Borderlands or Diablo). Rogue Legacy is precisely aiming to provide that random experience.

You play as a nameless hero as you go on a quest to slay the bosses of a castle - an experience very, very familiar to most gamers. It's actually an effective hook and just when you start to get confident, you die and don't come back. Instead you pass on your progress, money, and experience to your randomly generated offspring who will then charge the (randomly-generated) castle to avenge your death. The game includes the requisite "RPG-elements" allowing you to level up as you kill off generations and generations of your family - yes, we died a lot, especially after we learned there is no real penalty causing us to play a bit fast and lose at times causing some ancestors' lifespans to be measured in a few minutes.

Rogue Legacy is unfairly addictive for a gamer like me. Besides the random playable characters and level design, the game also seems familiar to the Dark/Dead Souls series with a punishing world you slowly unlock in time. Instead of marching for the sanctuary of the next bonfire, you'll dedicate yourself towards killing one of the game's 5 bosses -- they don't respawn (unlike you) so it's worth a few lost relatives. Rogue Legacy is the kind of game you start up when you have a few minutes to kill and lose hours to quickly.

GRAPHICS: Rogue Legacy will not be thought of fondly for its graphics - that's not the point. It's style and palette seem almost lifted from Ghouls & Ghosts. It's not a distraction and seems appropriate for a game like this, but they are what they are, passable. (Editor's note - we bumped up the score by a few points simply because of the clever "The One" attribute sometimes inherited by your offspring allowing them to see the world in Matrix-like style - well, more like Tron but still fun.) Graphics: 65

GAMEPLAY: This is where the game shines. It is a familiar feel (makes us nostalgic to revisit the best of the Castlevania games) of platforming and combat with rewarding power ups to unlock in time but just when you start to strong enough to take on part of the castle you'll knocked down by a boss or new area to explore. But, before you rage quit you'll be intrigued to see who is next in your family to take on the castle forcing you keep going. Yes, this means you'll sink hours into this before you know it. Gameplay: 85

REPLAYABILITY: However the party does have to end sooner or later. Rogue Legacy does support a New Game Plus design allowing you to return to a harder castle with your powered up character but it's largely the same experience and once you've seen everything the game can offer, you'll be hard pressed to want to come back. Replayability: 60

OVERALL: 70

If you're the type of gamer with the itch to always see that next weapons crate in Borderlands, you'll get a kick out of grinding through Rogue Legacy. Otherwise, a good time-suck if you're looking for one in this drought of games.