From Shart inducing IBS to short sighted knights, Cellar Door Games’ new indie platformer Rogue Legacy was always going to be a comedic game. Unfortunately, comedy maybe one of the only things going for it…
There is no multiplayer nor split screen so already the platformer is limited. Players start the game years ago in the time where they play the rogue knight who assassinates the king (you assume because you’re not actually told what the hell you’re doing). Essentially, players just bash monster, jump, bash again and the oh hi Kingy bash. The End.
Or well that’s where it should end, because you then play a knight who storms the castle years later to bring the monsters to justice, or so you think because you’ll probably get to the third enemy and then die; die again and again and again. That’s the plot.
Each life you start as a descendant from the last knight you played as, there are three classes which are NOT promising, you may as well stick as the archmage not as if you get a choice because all the other classes suck so much that they are not worth mentioning.
However, that’s what players will feel at the start of the game.
At the beginning of each life you will spawn at a manor which you can upgrade and spend your hard earn coins on, so levelling up, different abilities and you can buy special characters. This is when the game gets interesting…
Let’s talk about these characters, they’re not playable they’re extras, the blacksmith can get you weapons and armour but you have to find blueprints for him which are very rare. So he’s useless for a start. Next up is the Enchantress a gypsy who can give you special abilities; although you need to find her runes. Tough tits there then. The last guy, he’s somewhat helpful but as you get more experience it turns out he’s just as crap as the other two; the Engineer. His overrated ability is to freeze the random dungeons of the castle; so you know where the chests and enemies are and you know what rooms to avoid. But he’ll charge 60% of what you find. If you keep moving in the random system you’ll earn more coin and the chests won’t have already been opened.
Players will also know where the bosses are, however it’s doubtful you’ll stick with the game long enough to build your level high enough to defeat them. They do vanish though once they’re defeated, IF they’re defeated. Fundamentally you can find them in half a minute, but it’ll take hours for you to try and rank up to defeat them.
There is currently a huge market for indie platfomers I.E. Fez and Towerfall Ascension but they are good games, this has been hailed by critics but for the wrong reasons. Yes the random dungeons adds a refreshing replay value but it dosn’t do what games should do. You don’t scream when you die, instead you grit your teeth select your next knight and carry on hoping to do a little better, or you turn it off and play a multiplayer game.
Already have it? Let us know what you think!