Quick Look: Rogue Legacy

According to the developer the gay trait has some meaning but it's a secret (http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2013/05/09/hands-on-rogue-legacy/)

But yeah, my problem is that they list it with other diseases.

BRAD MUIR, YOU DIRTY THIEF! /jk

This family must be hella inbred if every offspring has some debilitating genetic trait.

Yep, this game has heart. Good on it.

The way the knight holds his sword up and out makes me giggle.

God the vertigo! Delicious evil.

"Forest Abkhazia: Yo ar mssng som vowls"

Yea I don't like the Dyslexic piss taking

Oh please, my brother makes dyslexic cracks all the time.

This is pretty excellent.

And ah, what is seen can't be unseen!!

And bought! Haha looks great.

To be fair, it's not all medical conditions. They've got stuff like "nostalgic" in there.

This game looks pretty good!

I don't think there's a single disease, it's either genetic abnormalities or mannerisms. The fact that you find it offensive for gay to be compared to things like dwarfism or hypergonadism is actually worse than what they have done.

The second the game turned upside down, I preordered this. Fucking stoked.

Dyslexic and Dysgraphic and I thought that was the funniest thing in a QL in a looong time

That family has some really bad genes.

Came in skeptical, looked at the art, liked it, then right around dyslexic guy came around. Then upsidedown guy, sold.

@satelliteoflove said:

oh, well then

Not usually into this type of game but this looks awesome. Some really awesome concepts and I can see the whole gradually getting more powerful each generation thing keeping me playing.

@toastface said:

This game is awesome, I just pre-purchased after watching the quick look, and I've been playing the demo since.

Just ran into this amazing piece of artwork in the castle

OH MY GOD. It's the guys who made Don't Shit Your Pants? They've come so far.

This QL convinced me to go & buy this! This game gets me!

Game went from "hmm, this seems kinda cool" to "OMG, I must buy this" when they showed that you could upgrade with metroidvania style skills/powerups. Need to try the demo now.

Just watched this and pre-ordered the game from the dev's site because it looks super cool.

@luck702 You're missing the point. The gay trait doesn't do anything to illustrate the fact that gay people are just normal people who happen to be attracted to their same sex. There is literally no single thing that can be used to generalize gay people other than the fact that they're gay.

Wow, this game looks awesome, just preordered. I really dig the descendants thing!

Watched this, pre-ordered the game, then played the demo for 4 hours and just kept saying to myself "Just one more..."

Damn that game's addictive and fun. Can't wait for thursday.

@nixitur: Oh well

It would be awesome to, for once in a very long while, visit this site ( or any site these days), read a video game thread, and not drown in social politics. This would be like opening up my first issue of Nintendo Power, and reading about how Zelda discriminates against transgenders. Oh the good'ol days

it's a shame the humour decides to target disorders because the gameplay looks decent enough

@posh: The humor really is the weak point of the game and I wish they had taken in another not shitty direction, but the gameplay itself is really fun.

11:56 FUCKING SOLD.

Closed the QL there, since it felt as if this game has a lot that can be spoiled.

Man the demo for this game... feels so much like a complete experience it's crazy. It's super fun and super engaging. I think... the demo feels like a Top Ten GOTY List sort of game for me. I'm just talking about the free demo here, not the full game that comes out next week.

Everything in this game works together extrodinarily well. It's what made 10000000 great (A combination of a desire to make every run count and a steady progression between runs) combined with an incredibly well tuned Castlevania game.

Really excited to see they added new spells and traits since the demo, can't wait to see what else this game has to offer. I did a preview not long ago on my indie blog, really excited for this one: [link removed]

Oh man, if you're getting a 10000000 vibe from this then that makes me want it even more!

This looks like something I would play.

@retrovirus: I would go a step farther actually and say that calling it a 10 Mil Like would be more accurate than calling it a Roguelike. I think it inherits the gameplay loop of 10000000 which is "do as good as you can and then upgrade as much shit as you can if you can and then go in and watch as you do even better!" That is a slight difference to the Roguelike where you start at zero every time and build up over the course of an adventure quick like. Actual proper growth in Rogue Legacy is slower, like in 10000000, because it happens across many, many runs, which is quite unlike a Roguelike. Progression between runs rather than during.

I want to say it again real fast in case it catches on. Let's call this sort of game a 10000000like or 10Millike. Actually those two ls are terrible... What's another word for million? *Googles* 10RockLike? Maybe cut down the second half of the name and call it a 1000Like? Maybe the like is the problem. 10Milish. 10Milesque? Maybe the key is to pull a Metroidvania and combine two names of games in this new genre hole that is opening. 1000Legacy? Rogue1000? Roguemillion? 10Rogue?

Thanks for the link, was still able to buy it for 10 right now.

Roguelike Light seems appropriate. There are few games that are actual roguelikes anymore anyway. Don't Starve isn't truly one, FTL isn't truly one... all let you keep a certain amount of unlocked things.

This game looks pretty cool but does anyone else feel like they've soon all the traits already? Hopefully that isn't the case...

Man I really like this game. I've played the demo too much I want it to come out.

The traits are really only a very small part of the game, adding just an extra element of randomness to the experience.

@zevvion: Most of the progression in a roguelike happens during a run. This is true of FTL and of Don't Starve. In Rogue Legacy nothing you get during a run takes hold until you finish it. In that way it far far more like 10000000 than any roguelike even if there have been ones with minor progression aspects like unlocking starter ships and shortcuts.

I think the joke about being gay is that BEING GAY HAS NO PRACTICAL INFLUENCE ON ANYTHING.

Played the demo for about four hours. This game is a lot deeper than it looks, especially the way it automatically balances itself through upgrade pricing and the fact that you spend all your leftover coins when entering the dungeon. Quite clever.

This was my thinking also.

Most over used word of 2013...Roguelike.

I have not played 10000000 so can't comment on that, but that's not a (sub)genre is it? Don't Starve and FTL feature unlocks that arguably make another play-through (a lot) easier. This is also true of Rogue Legacy. In traditional roguelikes you have to start everything over. That's not true of most roguelike games today, is what I was saying. I also think we're kind off past that point.

This looks awesome.

@zevvion: I think the key is in a Roguelike there is a ton of progression within each run. Take FTL for instance. What you get is mostly money that is spent on the trip and items that give you want more power along the way. The difference between that and a 10000000like (which I have just realize also includes Ridiculous Fishing) is that money is spent between runs rather than during and upgrades are primarily between runs rather than during. In Rogue Legacy there is nothing (or next to nothing) you get while in the dungeon that makes you stronger for the duration of the run. Same with Ridiculous Fishing. Same with 10000000. Not the same with FTL and Don't Starve.

I think it comes down to when upgrades are primarily done, during runs or between them? If it's between it's a 10000000like. If it's during it's a Roguelike. I think that's a subgenre worth noting.

(Then again I think all sub genres are worth exploring and breaking down. I even have a hat in which I put Fez, Botanicula, Antichamber and, most likely, the Witness which I now call "Open Ended Puzzle Games" which have open ended worlds where if one puzzle stumps you you can still progress by exploring until you find another puzzle you can solve.)

This game looks like a lot of fun! Thanks for the quick look. It would have gone unnoticed to me otherwise.

Perma-death is part of a roguelike. How perma-death is used (what do you get to keep on a subsequent play-through) can differ with each game, but it is still being applied here. Additionally, a roguelike is not defined merely by featuring perma-death in a game.

For instance, Torchlight with hardcore mode checked, does not make it a roguelike. It features elements of a roguelike.

I do understand what you are saying, but there is no such thing as a 100000000like. The truth is that game most likely just features elements of a roguelike, among other genre's. In an oversimplified example, I'd argue that Mass Effect is described as a Shooter/RPG and not a masseffectlike. Which I recognize is not the same thing since roguelike itself is a subgenre consisting of a rather vague description. Similar to how an indie game is not easy to define.

I'd point you to the Berlin Interpretation of what a roguelike is. It's actually described on the wiki here. As described it's not a necessity to adhere to all factors. Rogue Legacy features several of them, so it can be concluded it's not a true roguelike, but it has a good deal of roguelike elements. Stamping it with 'light' seems appropriate to me for that reason.

@zevvion: The Berlin interpretation is madness in today's modern world of Roguelikes. Today's roguelike is a game where you start with nothing (Except maybe some options that may customizable like your ship in FTL or your research like in Don't Starve) and build yourself in a relatively short order with items you find and experience you gain. I believe very firmly that accelerated progression combined with the reality of permadeath (e.g. you will lose everything, don't value it) is core to what a Roguelike now is.

Rogue Legacy has no building in short orders, everything in Rogue Legacy builds over the course of countless playthroughs. One could accurately say you go through a run in Rogue Legacy solely to get enough gold to upgrade yourself once you die. You hoard your gold. You want to get just enough to get the next thing. Just like how in 10000000 you want to do well enough to do the missions and get enough gold, wood and stone along the way to buy as many upgrades as you can. Same principles.