For a lot of, Rogue Legacy’s extra tangible sense of development elevated it above different titles within the rogue-like indie growth. Pioneering the rogue-lite some 10 years in the past, the primary sport was a really stern problem, however one that you just’d ultimately overcome due to significant, everlasting upgrades. The loop of working by means of the sport, utilizing the gold you earned to develop into extra highly effective, then doing all of it once more is undeniably good, and the added layer of every character having distinctive traits made every try memorable. Rogue Legacy 2 recaptures all of that, however builds on that easy design with an unfathomable quantity of variables, delivering a greater than worthy sequel.
As talked about, you do not play as only one character, however a whole lineage of heroes aiming to storm a mysterious, ever-shifting fort and the opposite realms it results in. After a tutorial, you will start your first run by means of the fort — which has a randomly generated structure, although the rooms themselves are designed — and inevitably die. With the run over, you select an inheritor to hold on the mission, and every of those characters are additionally randomly generated. A part of the attraction on this sport is discovering all of the doable traits and skills, which might be helpful, detrimental, or simply plain foolish. And that is how the entire sport goes.
Earlier than you set out on a run together with your newly chosen champion, nonetheless, you utilize the gold you have gathered to construct your personal manor from the bottom up. That is basically a ability tree, and it begins small with easy well being boosts, however grows to be huge. The speed at which it expands depends upon how a lot gold you must spend, however the quantity of choices introduced to you on this tree is outrageous. What’s extra, it grants entry to new character courses, which tremendously expands the number of heirs you’ll be able to select from when a run ends.
To date, so Rogue Legacy. Nonetheless, the sequel’s character courses are far more numerous. Each class has a singular weapon, strikes, stats, and skills that make all of them very enjoyable (and really totally different) to make use of. The knight is a secure all-rounder, however you can even play as an archer, which forces you to hold again and struggle from a distance. The valkyrie can assault up and down in addition to to the facet, whereas the gunslinger makes use of a rapid-fire revolver however cannot transfer whereas attacking. There are 15 courses, and so they all have their professionals and cons, however what’s outstanding is that all of them really feel attention-grabbing and, extra importantly, viable.
On prime of your character, the sport rapidly layers on a bunch of different parts that may significantly affect your possibilities. The blacksmith can outfit you with higher gear as soon as you discover the suitable blueprints, and there are all types of concerns right here to make alone. Then there’s the enchantress, who sells gameplay-altering runes you’ll be able to equip. Ultimately you will unlock the soul home, which opens up a complete host of challenges in addition to but extra game-changing upgrades. You may even degree up every class, and doing so completely buffs your general stats.
If you first begin out, it is lots to soak up. You are unlikely to know every little thing till you have put in a number of hours and wrapped your head round what impacts what. Whereas this data overload might be intimidating, the excellent news is that every little thing feeds into every little thing else brilliantly. Regardless of the way you play Rogue Legacy 2, you are making progress, or unlocking methods that can assist you do this. This can be a complicated, layered sport pretending to be a captivating, cartoonish motion platformer.
However it’s also that. As talked about, each class feels actually enjoyable to make use of, and a part of that comes all the way down to simplistic controls. Although they’ve totally different strikes and skills, all of your actions are the identical whatever the character, and all of it feels responsive. Every room is filled with obstacles and challenges to check your abilities. Enemy layouts might be devilish, and mixed with hazards, are surprisingly robust to take care of. Ultimately you will see the identical rooms popping up so you’ll be able to be taught the layouts, however when you attain one other biome, it is a complete new story.
In contrast to the unique, biomes are very totally different from each other. The second is a sequence of lengthy, horizontal ranges as an alternative of the Metroidvania structure of the fort. The third is a snowy panorama with its personal distinctive hazards. Oh, and every space introduces new mechanics, like an air sprint and a double soar — fundamentals that you will surprise the way you managed with out. Capping off every world is a boss, and once more, these are way more superior than within the first sport (though might be fairly spongy). They’re visually very distinct and tremendous robust, with a number of assault selection to maintain you guessing.
Whereas they’re mechanically enjoyable fights, we’ll say that we weren’t very enamoured by the narrative. There is a story permeating Rogue Legacy 2 that is largely instructed by means of diary entries. Whereas we’re positive it might be an attention-grabbing story should you lay all of it out, in-game, if you’re flitting round accumulating gold and dodging hearth traps, it simply would not really feel crucial. The sport, fortunately, is greater than compelling sufficient with out a plot to drag you thru it. We respect that it is there, nevertheless it would not actually do a lot for us.
As we stated, the sport is doing greater than it must with the intention to hold you coming again. The sheer quantity of selection by way of character construct, plus the modifiers you’ll be able to apply, plus the tight controls, makes for an expertise that is extremely addictive. Until you are stupidly good, runs hardly ever last more than 20 or half-hour, and these bitesize chunks of motion solely add to the overwhelming “another go” attraction.
There’s lots we have barely talked about right here. This model of the sport consists of all of the updates it is obtained over time, which signifies that, if you’re accomplished with the vanilla marketing campaign, there are further modes to take pleasure in. The Home Guidelines perform is a wonderful accessibility characteristic that permits you to tune the issue in minute methods. The visuals are nice; it has an excellent detailed cartoon-like high quality that is far more interesting than the chunky pixels of its predecessor. There’s lots to love about this sport.