PS4 Impressions: Rogue Legacy

With work being hectic and just trying to catch up on my comic book reading, I haven't had much time for video games lately. But I do try to keep in tune with what's going on in the video game world. So thanks to IGN's Podcast Beyond, I heard about Rogue Legacy and decided to give it a try.

And I loved it.

Imagine Ghost 'n Goblins mixed with Super Metroid and Castlevania: Symphony of the Night and you have Rogue Legacy. It's a hack and slash platformer with RPG and exploration elements. Setting it apart from other platformers is it's unique leveling system. You start the game as the first in a line of adventurers with just one life to live. If you die, that's it for your character, but that doesn't mean it's game over. The unique twist is that instead of coming back as your original character, you get to choose from one of three of their heirs, each with their own attributes and quirks. 

Since each character only has one life, the leveling system is tied to how much gold you earn in game. The more gold you earn, the more upgrades you can purchase, ranging from health and mana increases to different classes, such as an archmage or warrior class. Throughout the game, you can also find armor upgrades and runes, that give your character stackable abilities such as a double jump or finding more gold. These become available with, you guessed it, gold. Oh, and gold does transfer to your new character, but you can't stack it. You have to pay the gatekeeper 100% of whatever gold you have leftover after buying your upgrades to continue through the castle.

I mentioned each character having their own attributes. Some are pretty useful, such as increased strength, quickness, or being able to find more gold. Others change the look and feel of the game, like colorblindness that turns the world gray, nearsightedness that turns the world blurry, or glaucoma that makes everything darker. Then there are the quirky one, such as Irritable Bowel Syndrome that makes you fart, or being an exaggerator, that makes the damage you take seem much worse than it is.

The castle's interior is randomly generated, making each play through a different experience. I liked this aspect but it made exploring a bit difficult since nothing is quite the same twice. Also, the random generation is sometimes a bit wonky, making two teleportation rooms right next to each other, or having a boss fight at the very beginning of the castle. But if you really enjoyed the layout of the castle, you have the option of keeping it the same at the cost of 40% of the gold you collect through your next play through.

This is a fantastic game that deserves to be played. The quirkiness is very endearing, and it's a great twist on tried and true gameplay. The difficulty is a bit steep, but once you get a hang of things, and rack up enough gold to properly equip yourself, you'll be blazing through it in no time.

This game also supports cloud buy functionality, so if you buy it for $16.99 on the Playstation Network, you will unlock it for your PS3, PS4, or PS Vita. Or you can get it off Steam for $15, or whatever sale price you're lucky enough to find it for.