Rogue Legacy

A Podcast Review of Rogue Legacy: On our third episode of the show we tackle the OG of all vertical metaprogression, 2013's Rogue Legacy! Should we put any respect on its name even though the gameplay didn't land with us?

This episode we go through Cellar Door's previous flash games and their inspiration that led to Rogue Legacy. They originally sought to make a 2D version of dark souls but that scope got out of hand quick and pivoted to the roguelite elements. We really grapple in this episode with how much we dislike the vertical metaprogression instantiated in this game and resent how much it came to define the genre writ-large. We also bump hard on the game itself: the hitboxes feel unreliable, the movement is clunky, and the grind is real.

We also reveal just how ignorant we are about metroidvanias (turns out really not either of our genres) and cringe at the 2013 Newgrounds style humor that is omnipresent in the game. This one really did not land for us as it does not feel like your improving at the game, rather it is just getting easier by playing it. The simple gameplay and heavy metaprogression lends this game to feeling like an idle game more than an active roguelite that you have to master to beat. Our first big contrarian take is where Rogue Legacy ended up on the tier list but we stand by it!