5 Things Rogue Legacy Does Well

Every gamer has experienced that one game that changes how you view a genre. You never liked stupid RPG's until Final Fantasy X, or online games were for idiots until you found Guild Wars 2 - whatever your likes and dislikes, you've experienced it. For me, it happened very recently with Rogue Legacy - a game I got in a bundle a while ago and finally sat down to give a go. I found myself playing for ages, and realised it was for five reasons.

1 - It's addicting

When you first die, you have to choose a descendant to take your place on your quest, and you have to do so before you can spend the gold you collected. So if you want to see what happens if you choose a son with OCD, you have to choose him out of the three options, then upgrade your castle or get a power-up before you can enter the evil castle. By tempting you with your list of potential offspring, each death just gives you new possibilities that you want to explore.

2 - Making you laugh

Despite being a game where you can die very easily by accidentally choosing the room that's full of spike traps instead of the room to the left, Rogue Legacy is quite funny. Your family, for potentially many tens of generations, may be stuck in a perpetual loop of death, but there’s a black humour in it. And you can’t help but laugh (though that may be out of frustration) as a flying painting kills the latest descendant...

3 - Showing genetic mutations

Each batch of fresh kids will have a different “problem” (referred to as Traits) - the aforementioned OCD, perhaps vertigo or colour blindness… None of these are inherited, so it’s not like you’re trying to breed an indestructible dwarf mage who tosses axes. This is a game, not The Roslin Institute. There’s always a chance a child will be born imperfect - now there are some offspring who have nothing detrimental, some are stronger, others are faster… It’s all quite realistic, if not super realistic. You do get to choose who gets born, after all.

4 - Proves nothing in life is free

You have to pay for everything in this game. From the upgrades on your homestead, the weapons and armour you wear - entering the castle literally takes all of your money to do so. Want the castle kept the same as last time - pay. Rune yourself against attack - cash please! You don’t get any handouts and that shows you how hard life is. Saving up for that lovely extension to the east wing? Well tough, your mother died in that castle and now you have to spend every piece of gold you have, to follow in her footsteps!

5 - Gives you hope

Sometimes you’ll be looking around the castle, when you find a chest in a room, or maybe a room with no enemies. So you venture forth with a jaunty step - and a zombie rises out of the floor! Or you’ll pray at a statue and get a Hyperion Ring - it gives you another chance after you lose all of your health. That last hit comes and the game announces Second Chance! But then you get struck by another fireball anyway… Perhaps the nostalgia trait won’t be too bad? Wrong, it makes the world sepia-tone and now you’re stuck with it!

Okay, so maybe it’s better at taking hope away than it is at giving it...