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Rogue Legacy
PC (Steam)
Try, Try Again and Again and Again and Again and..
4/5 stars
Rogue Legacy is a rogue-lite in that the game constantly changes layout and characters but doesn't punish you with permanent death. Instead, after each character dies, a son (or daughter) carries on their legacy. Cellar Door Games actually includes a nice in-game history of their team - from humble beginnings to nearly giving up all the way up to Rogue Legacy - an interesting chronicle that fits nicely with the theme of the game of rebirth. Even if you're not a fan of rogue-type games, the 2D element provides plenty to like, and even if the difficulty can spike, it's not impossible to overcome as long as you give it some time.
Presentation: The graphics are pretty good - lots of good monster designs, a great, shifting layout that encompasses four distinct areas and some challenging boss battles that require some strategy to beat. The music is catchy - there is even a jukebox you can find to switch the music in the game. There isn't any voice talent as the few humans all use text to communicate. Aside from a few grunts and groans, there isn't much in the way of speaking. For a game that obviously doesn't have a huge budget, I think it turned out quite good.
Story: You open the story as a hero killing a king - you then fast-forward as the spawn of said king looking for revenge. The only real story in the game is the various journals you can read - in which the son of the king is looking for a cure to his father's illness only to get lost in the same castle you are - encountering the same bosses - until he opens the same main door and leads to a shocking revelation. Pretty thin - but actually better than I was expecting.
Gameplay: Here's the bread-and-butter of why Rogue Legacy is so fun. When you die, your offspring can be born with a variety of traits - some cause very few changers (baldness, gay, Irritable Bowel Syndrome), some change the look of the game (color blindness makes everything black and white, The One makes it look like, well, the Matrix and Nostalgic gives the game a Sepia-tone look) but many affect your abilities: for example, Hypergonadism makes you really knock back enemies while Dwarfism makes you small (and able to enter some secret spots) but drastically reduces your weapon range. OCD gives you MP for breaking objects while Vertigo flips the stage upside down. I personally experienced each of these abilities at least once - both the good and bad ones.
Rogue Legacy has several classes - a base class (Knight) and an upgraded version that replaces it once you unlock it (Paladin). These include - Mage, Archmage; Spellthief / Spellsword; Barbarian / Barbarian King (or Queen); Knave / Assassin; Shinobi / Hokage; Miner / Spelunker; Lich / Lich King (or Queen); and Dragon. Each class has its own strengths and weaknesses - the Barbarian has a ton of health but little MP and overall weaker attack. The Hokage is fast but has low heath and cannot land critical hits. The Spelunker gathers a lot of gold but dies easily and doesn't do much damage. The class and the traits both determine how far you're going to get.
Aside from unlocking these classes, the skill tree in the game also gives you several stat increases - health, armor, attack, critical chance, critical damage, MP, Magic Cost, Magic Damage and even the ability to defy death itself - as long as you have enough gold, you can continue up to chain. Speaking of gold - you can also find blueprints of armor and various runes that will be useful to you. Each also costs gold - so it is imperative to break ever damn thing and kill every enemy you can in order to get all that filthy lucre.
The game is simple enough - there are four level, main castle, forest, maya and the underworld - that is also the order from weakest to strongest enemies. Each level is random in its layout each time you enter the castle - there are rooms with treasure, special "Fairy Chest" rooms where you can earn a Rune (usually through some crazy challenge), Boss Rooms (one per level), Mini-boss rooms (usually resulting in a Blueprint for Armor) and basic rooms that feature a mix of enemies, traps and breakable items. You will die, a lot, but that's pretty much a given.
Replayability: The game is meant to be played over and over and over again - off the charts baby! Be warned, if you beat the game - enemies just keep getting harder and harder on subsequent playthroughs.
Overall: As long as you don't mind dying (a lot) Rogue Legacy is an excellent 2D platformer / rogue lite game.
Presentation: 4/5
Story: 2/5
Gameplay: 4/5
Replayability: 5/5
Overall (not an average): 4/5
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