At long last, Rogue Legacy 2 is out of early access and ready for the embrace of the gaming public. For anyone who missed the first game, it was one of the earliest examples of roguelike-likes: games that took the randomization and permadeath of Rogue-style games and sprinkled in some permanent character progression to ease the difficulty curve. I wasn't the biggest fan of the original game (aside from its S-tier soundtrack), in that it was pretty repetitive and grindy, but I gave the sequel a try and I'm glad I did!
Rogue Legacy 2 is the Mega Man 2 of Rogue Legacy games. It's fundamentally the same as the original, but with major improvements across the board that really help realize the idea's potential. The original game had some extremely tight, zippy controls, and these are brought over pretty much whole cloth. But the sequel does a much better job of diversifying the movesets of the different hero classes, and that goes a long way toward keeping the experience fresh. Some of the classes play so differently that you'll probably need a few runs with them to get a hang of their abilities. There are bound to be a few that don't click with you, but there are 15 to choose from and you can stick to your favorites for the most part without any major penalty.
The other obvious change in RL2 is the graphics, which IMO are a huge improvement over the first game. Some people will miss the pixel art of the original, but I honestly didn't think it was particularly good as that style goes. The new game has beautifully painted 2D backgrounds and 3D character models that animate superbly without clashing with the art style. Transitions and interstitial animations are super slick, too. And keeping with tradition, the soundtrack by Tettix and A Shell in the Pit is superb - although weirdly low in the mix by default. I actually had to go in and turn the other game sounds down to 50% in order to get a mix that did the music justice. In fact, it was only after listening to the soundtrack on its own that I realized what I was missing!
None of this changes the fundamental structure of the game, which is that you jump into a 2D castle, fight some bad guys, grab some loot and die in an embarrassing manner. Usually pretty quickly, in my case. But the game has numerous optional challenges and secrets hidden throughout the castle, and these do a good job of breaking up the monotony of endless rooms filled with enemies. The puzzles, in particular, are well done: you'll find clues in various text logs that will hint at actions you can take in specific places, then it's up to you to identify these spots and unlock the secrets within.
I'd be lying if I said the game wasn't still kind of grindy. There are about a billion different upgrades, items and runes to buy, and you have to pay to unlock most of the character classes too. I've played about 14 hours and beaten three of the six bosses that unlock the golden door that you see every time you enter the castle. I probably have 3 or 4 character classes left to unlock and dozens upon dozens of smaller upgrades and items left to buy too. You probably don't need all that stuff to finish the game, though, and between the boss fights, fairy chest challenges and the new scar challenges, there's plenty of different stuff to do.
Anyone else playing this right now? If so, tell me about your favorite class and why it's the chef!
Rogue Legacy 2 is the Mega Man 2 of Rogue Legacy games. It's fundamentally the same as the original, but with major improvements across the board that really help realize the idea's potential. The original game had some extremely tight, zippy controls, and these are brought over pretty much whole cloth. But the sequel does a much better job of diversifying the movesets of the different hero classes, and that goes a long way toward keeping the experience fresh. Some of the classes play so differently that you'll probably need a few runs with them to get a hang of their abilities. There are bound to be a few that don't click with you, but there are 15 to choose from and you can stick to your favorites for the most part without any major penalty.
The other obvious change in RL2 is the graphics, which IMO are a huge improvement over the first game. Some people will miss the pixel art of the original, but I honestly didn't think it was particularly good as that style goes. The new game has beautifully painted 2D backgrounds and 3D character models that animate superbly without clashing with the art style. Transitions and interstitial animations are super slick, too. And keeping with tradition, the soundtrack by Tettix and A Shell in the Pit is superb - although weirdly low in the mix by default. I actually had to go in and turn the other game sounds down to 50% in order to get a mix that did the music justice. In fact, it was only after listening to the soundtrack on its own that I realized what I was missing!
None of this changes the fundamental structure of the game, which is that you jump into a 2D castle, fight some bad guys, grab some loot and die in an embarrassing manner. Usually pretty quickly, in my case. But the game has numerous optional challenges and secrets hidden throughout the castle, and these do a good job of breaking up the monotony of endless rooms filled with enemies. The puzzles, in particular, are well done: you'll find clues in various text logs that will hint at actions you can take in specific places, then it's up to you to identify these spots and unlock the secrets within.
I'd be lying if I said the game wasn't still kind of grindy. There are about a billion different upgrades, items and runes to buy, and you have to pay to unlock most of the character classes too. I've played about 14 hours and beaten three of the six bosses that unlock the golden door that you see every time you enter the castle. I probably have 3 or 4 character classes left to unlock and dozens upon dozens of smaller upgrades and items left to buy too. You probably don't need all that stuff to finish the game, though, and between the boss fights, fairy chest challenges and the new scar challenges, there's plenty of different stuff to do.
Anyone else playing this right now? If so, tell me about your favorite class and why it's the chef!