Rogue Legacy

Rogue Legacy is a challenging platform action game with good character customization via inheritance system and unlockable equipment/skills/etc. After long play-times it can begin to feel repetitive with some difficulty spikes (bosses). One area might feel too easy, the next brutal, and another just right. Despite randomized levels, each area is always in the same general location and room patterns repeat. It rewards grinding and kept me playing despite frequent death/frustration, I have had a blast putting in more time than is healthy. Good challenge. Some features feel under developed (character class could be more varied, special weapons limited) but easy to recommend. Exploration is rewarded with hidden chests.

I am reviewing this as I am about to try to defeat the final boss for the sixth time. Incredibly hectic and challenging game that alternates between elation and frustration. The old-school action-platformer style of the game is set up perfectly, and the lineage upgrade system delivers a slow but very real impact on your play over time. I played with a controller, and found that to be superior to the keyboard, but that is probably just personal preference. Pros: - Challenging - Lineage upgrade system is rewarding - Exploration is exciting and at times even terrifying (first time you stumble upon a sub-boss, for example) - Mastering the game, and slowly building to conquer the castle is an excellent feeling - Controls are tight and responsive - Good sense of humor - Different character types and traits make each playthrough feel different from the last Cons: - Enemies get repetitive by the final area, basically just upgraded versions of old enemies - Fighting options are limited mostly to 3 actions, sword, one spell and one special ability, and the special ability has to be unlocked. Having to rely on melee can feel limiting when playing certain strength-weak builds. Overall I love this game. Rewarding progression, hectic action, and exciting exploration. Good to sink in dozens of hours.

The game uses some mechanics intended to give it a lighter tone and some diversity but ends up making it terribly frustrating... this game is addictive but comes along with a double dose of frustration. your character is paper thin and the game is a food processor... you will die and die and die, and every aspect of the developing of the characters is filled with frustrating mechanics that makes you wanna scream. the bottom line is that this game is not for everyone.. there are some fun aspects that the masochists , grinders and hardcore old school plataformers will enjoy... but in the end, this is a game that wants you to suffer... you have been warned... I wish I had been warned too before buying it.

Although it held my interest for eight or so hours, It made me want to play a good old Metroidvania without the procedural generation gimmick instead. Procedural generation & the Metroidvania style of games that rely on good, well thought out map design just does not mix well. This game will get the job done for a low end game to play when you're waiting for a download in the background or listening to a podcast, however it just does not hit the mark for me. There's better out there, but kudos for the developers for rolling out a new update after all these years though. It may be small, but post launch support without the modern game industry nickel & diming is always a nice thing to see. In short: Not bad, not great, but passable. If you burned through all other of the Castlevania/Metroid style games out there this may be worth a look.

A fun and challenging old-style rogue-like, but unlike FTL it isn't endlessly re-playable, since each time you beat the game the difficulty simply increases, until you reach a point where it is essentially no longer winnable. Worth buying but wait for it to be on sale.