Great game, but may not be good for players who are easily frustrated . . . .

User Rating: 9 | Rogue Legacy PC
It's been a while since I reviewed a game on gamespot, but I've been enjoying Rogue Legacy so I figured I'd let anyone interested in it know a little more about it.

First off, Rogue Legacy is difficult. If the thought of grinding through games like Demon's Soul and Dark Souls fills you with dread- this is probably not the game for you. As you accumulate money through the grinding, you can gradually build up your character's stats and gain access to new types of characters. The 2d retro graphics feel reminiscent of old school SNES titles like Ghosts and Goblins, but the modern progression tree never makes it feel like you are playing a stale game.

The difference with Rogue Legacy and many other platformer RPGs is that your character is constantly changing due to the fact that you are reincarnated, after dying, into an 'ancestor' of the last hero you played. Make no mistake, you will die. The game is tough. Your future hero typically share one common trait or more with heroes who die, but they are also significantly different in terms of traits. These traits may include color blindness, flatulence, dwarfism, vertigo (everything is upside down), or dyslexia (to name a few). You get to choose from 3 characters when you die so there is never a sense of unfairness for these disabilities or enhancements.

Rogue Legacy allows you to play a new game (courtesy of random generation of game worlds) You can also lock down a single world and try to explore it fully- for a slight penalty in the amount of gold you collect. While randomness of levels adds to the feeling of freshness, individual rooms can feel repetitive. The rooms obey a formula and the formula becomes apparent early on. That being said, though, exploration of new castles is still a joy. There are 4 major areas within the world, that vary in difficulty.

For a higher rating, I would like to see a better balance on bosses (they are ridiculously powerful), less of the minor glitches that happen with enemy attacks, and more variety within the environments. Overall, I'm extremely impressed. It's well worth the $15 asking price on steam (or wherever you purchase it) if you have the time and patience to invest in it.