Rogue Legacy

Great concept but far too grindy!

I didn’t enjoy it as much as I thought I would.

In an era where "roguelikes" are a dime a dozen it's interesting to go back in time and play a classic from a point in time where these type of games were far less common in the gaming space. As the page describes in Rogue Legacy you play as family members of a lineage, all attempting to conquer an ever changing castle. Each character has a randomized class and traits that can't be changed and it's up to you to choose who to use and what to do. As you explore you'll fight enemies and collect treasure to power up your next run. The main goal is to beat the boss of each of the 4 main areas in order to open the door to the final boss. Pretty simple premise overall. One of the aspects of Rogue Legacy I quite like is the semi-randomness of everything. You'll have random attributes for each character but you have 3 (6 with an upgrade) choices so you'll rarely have something you can't work with. The dungeon you explore has random rooms and enemy placements but the layout is somewhat static. You start in the castle, the forest is east, the attic is north, and the dark pit is south. Every area has 1 static boss but some minibosses can randomly be found as you explore. It helps breed some familiarity to the place which is helpful, given how you'll probably die a LOT on a first playthrough as you get accustomed to everything. Something I also appreciate is the fairly short length of the game. My first playthrough clocked in at 10.5 hours upon hitting the credits. If you're someone who likes a short game then something like this works nicely. Of course there is also a NG+. To the games credit I really like its way of making NG+ feel new and fresh. You keep all your upgrades but the game also makes enemies stronger. Not just by inflating stats (which it does) but also by placing higher tiered enemies in earlier locations and making higher tiered enemies more common. Bosses unfortunately only get inflated stats which is unfortunate, doubly so as there ARE remixed boss fights but they're an optional challenge that you have to unlock. Not helped by the bosses just being enhanced versions of regular enemies. Not exactly brimming with creativity but it's only a minor issue. Thankfully the final boss is unique so it's not all recycled ideas. If there is something I'd call a major issue it would be the "camera positioning". A strange thing to call out in a game with no camera control but it's what I can think of. The way the camera i placed, it is placed too low to the ground. So very frequently I'd find myself in a position where I'd have to make leaps of faith only to end up taking contact damage from an enemy or a set of spikes I couldn't possibly see. To be fair you have a LOT of air control and sometimes multiple jumps, an air dash and/or brief flight. But that only mitigates the issue, not fixes it. Another issue I have is some of the enemy placement. If you jump into a room above or below there is a chance an enemy will be spawned into your hurtbox, causing you to take unavoidable damage. It didn't happen TOO often but occurred enough for me to notice and be frustrated by it. Even if you're entering a room from the left/right side you can occasionally be blindsided by enemies who will bumrush you, made worse by them being difficult to hit as some can phase through terrain to hit you. Overall Rouge Legacy is an old school "Roguelite" classic. Its age does show and I have a some qualms with some of the enemies and their choice of placement but on the whole I enjoyed most of my time with the game. It might not be for everyone in an age where so many games in this genre have been made but I still say it's worth checking out if you really love this type of game or are curious to see what one was like from long ago.