Rogue Legacy 2: Read This Before You Buy!

What is Rogue Legacy 2?

Rogue Legacy 2, produced and published by Cellar Door Games, is a 2D fantasy rogue-lite platformer. For the uninitiated, a rogue-lite is a subgenre of the roguelike genre, which is characterized by a degree of randomization as well as game and character progress resetting upon death. Rogue-lites differ by not resetting all progress on death, with some portions carrying over from character-to-character, such as skills and, in some cases, equipment. Other examples of popular roguelikes include titles like Darkest Dungeon, The Binding of Isaac, and Hades.

In Rogue Legacy 2, you play as the Heir, an adventurer who follows in the footsteps of their ancestors (past Heirs who, tragically, died) as you explore a massive castle and the surrounding areas in a land plagued by dark and mysterious happenings. Along the way, the Heir upgrades the family estate with skills that benefit all of their descendants, collects gear that passes on to their descendants, and interacts with characters who always seem to recognize you, despite this being your first time coming here.

All of your skills, gear, and in fact your entire pre-run hub world carry over between runs. You may be wondering: "well, what doesn't carry over between runs? This doesn't sound very roguelike to me, sir." This brings us to the game's randomized aspects and it's main gimmick!

We're all different.

Just like in real life, each of your characters has traits and quirks that make them unique and make every run special. Just as the world's layout changes between runs (this can be prevented with the help of one of the game's NPCs - for a price), so do your playable characters! Here's how it works:

Upon death, you are given a pool of characters with different classes (each class has a unique weapon, class ability, and stat spread) and traits. These traits range from real-world medical conditions such as colorblindness and gigantism to goofier gameplay augments such as vampirism (you heal for damage dealt, but have much less max health) or veganism (consuming health pickups deals damage instead of healing you). Thanks to Cellar Door's tongue-in-cheek reference to modern health care (an upgradeable skill in the family estate skill tree), some of these traits grant you a gold multiplier for that run, proportionate to the challenges they pose - for example, a trait like colorblindness which swaps colors for shades of grey gives a much smaller gold multiplier than a trait like vertigo, which causes major visual and gameplay changes (the screen is flipped upside down for that run - I'm terrible at vertigo runs), while some traits give no bonus at all (these ones are usually purely fluff, or are actually beneficial to the player). Notably, each character has a randomly-generated amount of traits (to a reasonable limit, of course), which can create huge gold multipliers - or none at all.

Let's talk gameplay.

While a rogue-lite at heart, Rogue Legacy 2's gameplay features plenty of platforming, as well as a dash of metroidvania - to explore certain areas of the game world, you must first unlock new abilities or upgrade old ones through permanent enhancements found in other areas of the world. For example, abilities like like the spin-kick, which lets you bounce off of enemies and some objects, and the airdash (guess what that one does), are unlocked through special "Heirloom Trials" which are located in specific places in the game world.

Platforming also forms the basis of Rogue Legacy 2's gameplay, which involves a hearty helping of jumping, dodging, and dashing around the screen to avoid and attack enemies of all shapes and sizes. It could even be argued that Rogue Legacy 2 verges on bullet hell at times, with swarms of projectiles covering the screen which must be narrowly dodged to avoid starting over from square one.

The gameplay itself stays relatively consistent - there are only a handful of weapons, abilities, and spells available to you; the game's variety shines through in changing how these tools are used, as different traits can make different gameplay styles highly favorable or extremely ineffective depending on what you've got. Despite this, there's still plenty of room for preference and customization in your playstyle, as equipping different runes and equipment sets can provide new and unique abilities at your choosing - the game in no way strongarms the player into playing a certain way.

All that said, once you've got a hang of the movement system and different classes, you'll find yourself easily navigating the world and cutting (or shooting) down hordes of enemies as easily as breathing!

The Pros of Rogue Legacy 2

Rogue Legacy 2 has plenty going for it, despite still being in early access - that's right, this gem of a game isn't even finished yet! Let's cover some of the positives.

Accessibility - Rogue Legacy 2 is a highly accessible game; its tutorials cover every aspect of gameplay so you're rarely left scratching your head, and the game system is very forgiving - death is an essential part of the game, and every time you fall, you come back stronger and more experienced.

Charm - Rogue Legacy 2 is absolutely oozing with charm, character, and visual storytelling at every turn. It's clear to see how much Cellar Door Games cares about this title, and it truly feels like ever last pixel was made with love, from the developers to the players. The characters themselves are very well-written, with their own unique personalities and character arcs that progress a little more with each run; you'll quickly fall in love with every wacky NPC that awaits you, and oftentimes the highlight of a run will be ending it so you can go back to the hub world and see what new interactions are waiting for you.

Gameplay - Fast-paced, colorful, responsive, and elegant in its simplicity. No two ways about it, Rogue Legacy 2's gameplay is fantastic! Once you master all the classes and abilities the game has to offer, you'll feel like a bona-fide pro.

Concept - Rogue Legacy 2 is an exceedingly unique game. With its marriage of platformer, roguelike, and metroidvania elements, combined with its genealogical flavor, no other game delivers quite the same experience as Rogue Legacy 2.

Now that we've gone over some of the best parts of Rogue Legacy 2, let's cover some of the (admittedly few) aspects that take away from the experience.

The Cons

Rogue Legacy 2's downsides are few and far between, so there's no real need for a list in this section.

As mentioned above, Rogue Legacy 2 is still in early access. This leads to a few difficulties, such as certain areas of the game being inaccessible, or random bugs cropping up every now and again. Despite this, Cellar Door Games is working hard on an official release, and any bugs are usually patched quickly and effectively as they're reported. The game does lack polish in some areas - mainly in regard to the written aspect of the game. Typos are not uncommon in lore entries and dialog boxes, but these, too, will likely be corrected by the game releases in earnest.

The Bottom Line

Cellar Door Games' Rogue Legacy 2 is a delightful indie masterpiece, complete with all the trappings of a smash-hit indie game: quirky, charming characters, colorful visuals, delicious gameplay, and a unique core system. While flawed, the game is still in early access with new content being released frequently and old errors being corrected often.

All in all, Rogue Legacy 2 is a must-have for anyone who enjoys platformers, roguelikes, or metroidvania-styled games.

Rogue Legacy 2 is currently available on Steam, and it is unknown whether or not Cellar Door Games has plans for a console release.