Rogue Legacy

Rogue Legacy
Developer(s)	Cellar Door Games
Platform(s)	Microsoft Windows, OS X, Linux, PlayStation 3, PlayStation Vita, PlayStation 4
Release date(s)	June 27, 2013 Microsoft Windows WW June 27, 2013 OS X, Linux WW October 16, 2013 PS3, PS4, Vita WW 2014
Genre(s)	Platformer, roguelike

Rogue Legacy is an indie platformer with roguelike elements by Cellar Door Games released on June 27, 2013 for Microsoft Windows and via OnLive cloud gaming platform. Macintosh and Linux versions of the game were released on October 16, 2013. PlayStation 4, PlayStation 3, and Vita versions have been announced for release in 2014.^[1]

Gameplay

The goal of Rogue Legacy is to explore a randomly generated dungeon, defeat four bosses in each of the four unique environments of the dungeon, and then defeat the final boss. Characters have the default ability to jump and slash with their sword, along with secondary abilities, such as magic attacks, which use mana.^[2]

Whenever a character dies as a result of losing all of their HP, control will transfer over to one of three randomly generated heirs, each with their own unique characteristics and abilities. Such genetic peculiarities include color-blindness (in which the game is presented in black and white), ADHD (in which the player moves faster) and dwarfism (in which the character is short and can fit into small gaps).

Gold found while exploring the castle is passed onto that character's heir and can be used to improve the abilities of any successive heirs. Gold can be found by smashing pieces of furniture, opening chests, or defeating enemies. There are also various fairy chests hidden throughout the castle, most of which require the player to complete an objective, such as taking no damage, in order to open.

Spending gold on the manor, which appears after a new heir is chosen, can increase stats, such as health and mana, and unlock and upgrade new classes that may be carried by one of the heirs. These include mages, which can use more advanced spells, warriors, who have higher strength, and assassins, who can use various stealth techniques and perform critical hits.

Gold can also unlock the blacksmith, the enchantress and the architect, who each provide their own services. The blacksmith can use blueprints found in the castle to create new armor and equipment for the player, improving their stats. Similarly, the enchantress can use runes found in fairy chests to give the player enhancements, unlocking additional abilities such as double jumping and dashing. Finally, the architect can lock down the design of a previously encountered castle (so that a new one isn't randomly generated) in exchange for a percentage of any gold found.

Any leftover gold must be paid to a grim reaper in order to enter the castle, though upgrades can reduce the amount required to pay.

Development

The game was developed by Cellar Door Games, a Toronto-based developer consisting of brothers Kenny and Teddy Lee. This was the brothers' biggest project to date and took 18 months to develop. The game was inspired by such titles as Demon's Souls and Dark Souls. Teddy compares the design to games like Spelunky and The Binding of Isaac and notes that their goal was to make their game more forgiving with permanent progression and quicker to get into respectively. The brothers note that several features did not make it into the final version, as they had to streamline the game, such as an experience system in addition to gold purchases or a large persistent castle. Kenny notes that the revenue from the game has also allowed them to focus on larger future projects.^[3]

Reception

The game holds an aggregate score of 84 on Metacritic and 83.75% on GameRankings.^[4][5]

Mitchell Saltzman of GameFront describes the game as "insanely hard for the unprepared".^[6] Philip Kollar of Polygon and Mike Splechta of GameZone describe that their characters often survived only for minutes^[7][8] and Scott Nichols of Digital Spy adds that this is frustrating at the beginning of the game.^[9] However, reviewers also note that the game in fact encourages short runs and rewards the player via the broader progression system.^{[7][9][10][11]} Ryan Stevens of GameTrailers described the game as "[riding] the line of frustration and fun".^[12] Saltzman concludes that "difficulty may be a turnoff to those who get frustrated easily".^[6]

References

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External Links

• Rogue Legacy
• Cellar Door Games