Thoughts on Rogue Legacy

While on vacation the past week, I had some time to play some games. I only had my laptop with me, so I was limited to less graphically intense games. I had played Rogue Legacy some time ago, but never managed to win it.

I figured this was a good one to revisit, so I started a new character “lineage”, and off I went.

Rogue Legacy is a side scrolling rogue like. Its two main mechanics are persistent character upgrades and unique character traits. You collect gold as you attempt to battle the way through the castle, and after your character dies, you can use it to purchase stat upgrades, slottable runes, and equipment that are available to future characters. Expect to die a great many times before winning. 🙂

When you die, you’re given the choice of three different characters. They may be different classes, or all the same, depending on randomization. Each of the characters will have a different spell, as well as some traits. These traits range in impact, and in many cases, they can change how you play. You can have a super short character that can access areas of the castle that the normal sized (or gigantic sized) characters can’t. Or everything will be in sepia tones. This opens the door to a wide range of play styles, and by equipping different weapons or runes, you can customize your playstyle to each character type.

The castle itself consists of randomized rooms with different zones that are always positionally the same. Some rooms contain challenges to open special chests, or advanced monsters that give better loot upon defeat. Sometimes you’ll run into something that you can’t access with your current character, so you have the option of locking the castle (in exchange for 60% of the gold you gather) so your next character can take a swing.

I had a lot of fun with this game, and it’s highly recommended if you like side scrollers. Here’s a link to the Steam page.