Have you ever wondered what happened after the hero of a story died while there were still villains left to vanquish? In Rogue Legacy, this question is answered with your children carrying on your “legacy”. Each time your character dies, your son (or daughter) takes your place. Each heir is unique. One may be dyslexic, another colorblind, or maybe one has ADHD. Each one has an impact on game play. Dyslexia makes it hard to read, colorblind changes the colors, and ADHD makes you move faster. Another defining trait is the game’s ability system. Some abilities include: throwing daggers, scythes, a giant sword which blocks enemies, throwing an axe, etc.
As well as differing traits, each child is of a different class. The basic classes are knave, mage and knight. Further in the game you can purchase more classes to be played. Along with purchasing more classes, you can purchase other upgrades as well. The first tier of upgrades is simply more health or mana. Next you can purchase a blacksmith who sells you weapons and armor. Purchasing this also unlocks new classes like the Shinobi and Barbarian King. Along with classes you also can upgrade your damage, and critical strike chance. Alternatively, you can purchase the architect who can lock the castle you are seizing so that it stays the same as last time. Purchasing this upgrade unkocks more mana, and improved mage classes. Other upgrades and classes come later, but I would not want to spoil all of it for you.
Rogue Legacy is mostly a 2D side-scrolling dungeon crawler. You enter a dungeon that changes every time you die (unless you purchase the architect who takes 60% of the gold you make that run) making it hard to plan for. Also any gold you earn needs to be spent before returning to the castle because you have to give it up anyways to re-enter the castle. Luckily, later on there is an upgrade allowing you to keep some of that money. The dungeon is split into multiple sections, each located in different areas. The starting dungeon has basic enemies naturally low levels. Travelling down takes you into the darkness, where much more powerful enemies are located. Travelling up and to the right yield more areas to explore. In some rooms there are special chests that only unlock after completing difficult challenges. One has a floor covered in spikes and dares you not to take damage. Another requires you to kill all enemies. Easy enough right? WRONG! These enemies are protected behind walls, keeping you from attacking with melee as usual. You need to us an ability such as a throwing ax to take out these enemies. Since mana is limited, you only have so many opportunities to execute the order.
All in all, I would have to say that Rogue Legacy is easily one of my favorite games. With lots of upgrades and many options to keep each dungeon crawl new and interesting, this game will never get old or stale. Rogue Legacy is also a great reminder that not every great game needs to be a first person shooter.