Last year at Gamescom 2013, Sony announced that the PC hit Rogue Legacy would be coming to all 3 PlayStation platforms in 2014. I was thrilled when I heard the announcement as I was already a big fan of the game and with the release coming up next week on July 29th,  I have been lucky enough now to play the game on PlayStation 4, PlayStation 3, and Playstation Vita! For those of you that don’t know, Rogue Legacy is a very challenging platformer that has many roguelike qualities and includes procedurally generated layouts in the dungeon. Keep reading to see whether the fun and challenge of this game translates well to the PlayStation platforms!

Story

In Rogue Legacy, you play as a hero attempting to conquer a magical castle for an unknown reason. The story and motivations for this quest are slowly unveiled through Journal entries that you discover as you play the game. Though the story is light and many could argue that it is unnecessary in such a challenging platformer (normally a genre known for mastering mechanics more than enjoying the story), I actually quite enjoyed learning each new piece of information. The ending is very well done and it is truly impressive how they managed to use many of the gameplay mechanics (discussed in more detail below) to tie together the story into something that I thought was very effective and actually thought-provoking. I wish other developers in this genre would make similar choices with their writing.

Gameplay

As I mentioned in my introduction, Rogue Legacy is very challenging platformer. Much of this challenge comes from the fact that every time you enter the castle, the layout is completely different (procedurally generated each time) so you must explore everything again. This means that you will run into different traps, enemy layouts, and room sequences during each play session so you must constantly be adapting. 

The other major challenge comes from the fact that when you die (and if you are anything like me, you will die a lot) your hero is permanently dead. Upon death, you will get to choose from 3 of your hero’s heirs to take over the quest. Once that hero dies, you will again get to choose from 3 heirs. This plays out over and over again throughout your time with the game. Making each play-through even more unique is the fact that these heirs are given a random class (Assassin, Barbarian, etc.), random spells, and random traits (color-blindness, dwarfism, vertigo etc.). The traits directly affect gameplay with color blindness making everything appear in black and white, dwarfism making your character extra small, and vertigo literally flipping the game world putting your character on the ceiling for the entire run! There are many more traits and classes, but part of the charm and fun of Rogue Legacy is discovering these yourself so I won’t spoil any more.

As you progress through the castle, you will earn gold by defeating enemies and opening chests. You are able to keep this gold when your hero dies and it is used to buy upgrades for your next hero. These upgrades can be as simple as stat increases (which are permanent from one generation of hero to the next) to unlocking new classes or abilities. You can also spend gold to unlock the blacksmith (where you can purchase new armor and swords to increase your stats once you’ve found the appropriate blueprint in the castle), the enchantress (where you can buy runes that give you special abilities such as double jump or flying once you’ve discovered them within the castle), and the architect. The architect will allow you to lock the layout of the castle so that it does not change from the last play-through. While this service is ‘free’ you will earn less gold while exploring the castle whenever you are using the architect. Gold needs to be spent each time because when you choose to enter the castle again the gatekeeper Charon will take the remainder of your gold. 

The ultimate goal of the game is to defeat the final boss which is hidden behind a locked door. To unlock the door you will need to defeat four different bosses in four distinct regions of the castle. Luckily, once a boss is defeated he remains defeated even if you die so you do not need beat all four in one run. Once you have beaten those bosses, you can access the final boss. Luckily the game does not end there as there is an New Game+ where you are able to continue playing the game with your current unlocks and stats at a higher difficulty.

Graphics and Controls

Rogue Legacy looks great on each of the three platforms and visually seems exactly the same as its PC counterpart. Much like other indie titles that have made the jump from PC to PlayStation platforms (I’m looking at you Don’t Starve), I occasionally had trouble reading the smallest fonts on my TV from my couch. However, that is hardly a deal breaker and I’m guessing most people won’t even have an issue.

The game controls great on both the DualShocks as well as on the PlayStation Vita. The developers actually have said that they originally designed the controls with the Vita in mind and I agree with them that it works wonderfully on the system.  My only complaint with the controls (and really the game in general) is a simple one: There is an option to change the controls for the downward attack (used to attack enemies from above while in midair and to activate platforms) which by default is down on analog stick with the square button. That control is very awkward, especially in situations that require precision or speed so I have taken advantage of the option to just press down (no square needed) instead. However, for some reason, this option needs to be selected every time you turn on the game. I have died several times because I forgot that I needed to change that option. Obviously this is not a deal breaker, but a minor annoyance. Hopefully, there can be a patch to address that issue.

Verdict

Rogue Legacy is truly a special and wonderful game. As I have said, it is very difficult, but it is very rewarding when you finally are able to reach a new area or defeat a boss that had been a struggle. Rogue Legacy is Cross-Buy for all 3 platforms and also features Cross-Save which is a great addition allowing you to continue your quest no matter where you are. I know that I will be playing this game for the days and weeks to come as I just can’t get enough. If you have even the smallest interest in the game, I highly recommend you purchase it!

Recommendation Level: Highest! a.k.a. BUY THIS GAME!

*Rogue Legacy will be released in North America on July 29th and Europe on July 3oth. It will be available digitally on the PlayStation Store and is cross-buy for the PlayStation 4, PlayStation 3, and PlayStation Vita. Rogue Legacy is part of the PlayStation Store PLAY 2014 Program. A copy of the game was provided by the publisher for review.

Discuss:

Will you be picking up Rogue Legacy?