Review code provided with many thanks to Cellar Door Games
A Rogue to Remember
I like to think the original Rogue Legacy was part of the era where rogue lite games were starting to boom in the gaming industry. It was easily one of the most original games that cemented my love for the genre. I enjoyed the game so much I played it on the PS Vita, PC and of course the Nintendo Switch. In a way it doesn’t surprise me that a sequel would eventually come along. Cellar Door Games have released Rogue Legacy 2 to Early Access and while the title is far from complete, it delivers a pretty impressive first impression even at such an early stage. Let’s explore.
Welcome to Rogue Legacy 2
You begin this 2D action adventure by running around a castle whacking enemies with your big old sword, collecting gold, loot and attempting to take on challenging bosses. But as you may expect for a rogue lite, the game is tough as nails to begin with. It won’t be long before something slays you and your current character is dead forever. However, Rogue Legacy 2 is a rogue lite game with a rather interesting twist. On death you get to pick between three heirs to carry on your legacy. But no one heir perfect for the job. Each heirs class, stats and traits all vary meaning you have to calculate up the pros and cons of each heir before making a final decision and taking on the castle for another run. For example you may have a knight with a lot of health but they also suffer from vertigo meaning the entire run plays upside down. Maybe one heir is a powerful mage but they’re colour blind so the entire game plays out in black and white. It’s these weird and quirky traits that give Rogue Legacy its charming personality.
Any gold collected from your previous run can be used to upgrade various traits in a skill tree but you can also spend the gold on new weapons and items. This process gradually makes future runs just that little more bearable. The gameplay is a fun mix of melee combat, spells and platforming. The controls are solid and its fun to take on the randomly generated castle again and again even if some runs go a little bit better than others.
Of course all of this will be familiar to players of the original game. What does the sequel bring to the table that makes it stand out? Well turns out quite a lot.
Great Animations
To start with, the game has a a new graphical style and lovely character animations. The original had this sort of retro feel to it. The sequel is built in a 3D engine except from the players perspective and everything is on a 2D plane. If you follow the developers on twitter, @cellardoorgames, they showcase how these cartoony animations work. It’s quite interesting. The screenshots don’t really do it justice as on a surface level it looks like an upgraded version of the original. But when you actually play, it looks brilliant.
More Variation and Choice
Next up, the developers have added a ton of new character classes and weapons to use. In the original title your main character only really marched around with a giant sword. In this sequel you can use a bow, a magic stick, a heavy axe and of course the sword. Can’t beat a good old sword at the end of the day. These new weapons are fun to master and make the experience feel quite refreshing from the original. There are also new magic spells, skills and of course character traits to discover. Now you have many more wacky traits to discover like super IBS where your character occasionally performs mega farts. There was also a new trait where a colour trail follows your character about which was a lot of fun. Combining all the above together there is more choice and variation than ever before.
A Great Start
Since the game is only in Early Access I was able to enjoy a solid section of the castle as well as a boss encounter which was crazy hard. Though there is still a lot to be updated I was very impressed with what I played so far. Fans of the original no doubt will love this game. If, however, you were put off by the difficulty curve of the original, the barrier to entry for the sequel appears a little softer, if you fancy giving the series another chance. Rogue Legacy is showing lots of promise and I can’t wait to see how the package turns out. As soon as a run ended I was quick to jump back into another. Rogue Legacy 2 is a hard game to put down. Be sure to pop back in the future for a full review.
A Special Memory
I hold a special gaming memory for Rogue Legacy. When I was playing the game on the PS Vita or the PS3 my wife would often be close by doing something more useful like reading a book. When I died between runs though, she would choose who the next heir would be. Often selecting a character with a trait like IBS (your character occasionally farts) or Torettes (your characters makes a cartoon swear when hit) often making my next run that much more difficult. But it was the shared experience that just made the game all that more special for me. I’m pleased to say she continued to choose my heirs as I played around with this sequel. She was also impressed with the new character traits and continued the trend of making my runs as difficult as possible.
Hopefully other gamers will be able to create wonderful gaming memories when they begin their own legacy with Rogue Legacy 2.
Rogue Legacy 2 is coming to all platforms in the future including Switch. But if you can’t wait that long it’s available now in Early Access on Steam or the Epic Store.