I realise I’m many a month late to the Rogue Legacy party, but since I first saw it on the Steam Store it intrigued me, so recently I decided to part with £10.99 of my hard-earned cash and see what all the fuss was about.
Now, I’ve never been a platformer (I was a PC gamer in my youth, and my choice was hours and hours of football management games and the latest Civ with a few Flight Simulators and RTS’ thrown in for good measure), and by the time I moved to consoles (the mighty N64) the age of the simple platformer had long-since departed to be replaced by Goldeneye (Perfect Dark was better, sorry), FIFA (98 Road to the World Cup with the hack button, the dive button, and indoor 5-a-side matches is still one of the best games I’ve ever played) and F1 World Grand Prix (what a game that was by the way!). Also, I had never knowingly played a Rogue-type game before, other than Faster Than Light which I enjoyed sufficiently to know it was a genre I would enjoy.
All of these facts meant I was keen to give Rogue Legacy a try. However, they also meant that were platforming skills were rusty at best and…non-existent in all probability. There’s not much jumping between ledges when going after a cultural victory in Civ IV. Still, I was, and am, keen to stretch my gaming “ability”, and try something new. And a game that expects you to die horribly to begin with anyway seemed like a good start, as I was bound to whether it wanted me to or not.
So, to Rouge Legacy.
The basic premise is that you explore a randomly-generated dungeon, looting gold and killing various enemies with sword or spells along the way, with 4 bosses to kill to unlock the final boss. When your character dies (as will happen. A lot), the gold you collected can be used to upgrade various stats, unlock higher classes, buy armour unlocked by blueprints you collected in the dungeon from the Blacksmith, or unlock abilities by finding runes in the dungeon and giving them to the enchantress. However, any gold you don’t spend before your next run will be taken by the Grim Reaper at the door to the castle/dungeon – meaning you can’t just save up gold over multiple runs.
The beginnings of the unlock tree
You will then be given a choice of three new heroes to choose for your next run – split into different classes (including warriors, mages, and assassins). Each randomly generated hero also has a series of, often hilarious, traits – such a dwarfism (you’re tiny), colour-blindness (the game is played in black-and-white) and Coprolalia (your character spends the next run swearing madly – pointless, but awesome).
Colour Blindness and Darkness…what could possibly go wrong?
I’m sure there are many nuances that I’ve yet to discover/appreciate, but I look forward to doing so. Much like the Peggle challenge going on during my commutes, the goal to get to and beat the final boss on Rogue Legacy will be an ongoing topic here.
Basic Gameplay in Rogue Legacy
In the meantime, here’s a video showing two early runs I had during the game. One almost respectable, one hilariously inept (I have since learned how to use the small green platforms!).
-Dave
Pass The Pad Games 