We tested the early access of Rogue Legacy 2 for a handful of hours, and we told you its current status, future plans, and what we thought.
Rogue Legacy 2 arrived on Steam and the Epic Games Store on PC in early access status on August 18, after a brief delay (it was scheduled to launch last July). We have been able to play this metroidvania, and we will tell you what we thought in its current state, and what future plans Cellar Door Games, developer of both this title and the previous one, have with it.
Rogue Legacy 2, early access prints
We enter the Citadel of Agartha
As we have clarified in the top paragraph and in the heading of this one, Rogue Legacy 2 is in an early access state, or early access. In other words, players have the possibility of acquiring it “ahead of time” at a lower price than the developers have in mind (€ 15.11 at the time of writing this text). Meanwhile, the title is in a state of development, and new features will be added to it as time goes by, until it is finalized.
After this brief explanation for the most lay people in the field, we are going to talk about the video game itself. Rogue Legacy 2 is a very sequel to the original; takes the basics of Rogue Legacy, and refines them, hitting a few spots here and there.
To begin with, the most obvious change is in the graphic and artistic section. There is no transition between the two titles as there was between the 2D titles of the 16-bit and 32-bit eras, although the improvement is evident. While the original pulls more towards the retro aesthetic, Rogue Legacy 2 is more like a flash video game. The characters, both the player’s avatars and the enemies, are more stylized. The lighting effects, and the depth of the objects with respect to the scenes themselves are more worked. Overall, it is more ambitious than its predecessor. Also, Rogue Legacy 2 has support for 4K resolution, while the former does not.
Graphical comparison between Rogue Legacy and Rogue Legacy 2
Of course, it seems that it needs optimization; The computer in which we have played it has an Intel i9 processor, an RTX 2070 Super OC graphics, and 32 GB of RAM (which far exceeds the recommended requirements of the game according to its store page), and in resolution 4K with maximum detail, the game suffered occasional jerks. We understand that we have more than enough machine for the game to run with ease at its best, so we put it down to its early access status.
The music that animates the action of the game is very reminiscent of the previous title, although conveniently adapted to the times. It is a kind of remastering of the original soundtrack, although it is true that original songs are also added.
One of the new classes, the Archer, allows us to attack from a distance by fine-tuning the shot
At the playable level, it continues to maintain the foundations of its predecessor. We are facing a procedural metroidvania in which the scenario is generated randomly. Objects, enemies, and rooms that contain them change between games. And the death of our character is permanent. As in the first Rogue Legacy, the grace of the game lies precisely in death; If our avatar dies, we will return to play as their son or daughter, each of them with different classes and abilities – which also include defects that affect the gameplay – and we can use the money collected by our deceased ancestor to improve our base of operations and make our characters progressively better.
The platform returns to make an appearance. Not only does our command expertise matter when handing out greats to enemies; We also have to have good spatial vision and decent reflections to overcome the many sections of platforms that Rogue Legacy 2 boasts. This makes it, at times, more Metroid than Castlevania.
Every time we die, we must choose heir, our next playable character.
One of the most interesting novelties of Rogue Legacy 2 are the so-called “Heirlooms”, the family heirlooms. Exploring the world of the game we will find huge statues that keep the wisdom of our ancestors. By interacting with them, we will enter a nightmare world in which we have to face varied tests, including combat against enemies in humorous circumstances – many traps and obstacles -, hardcore platforming, and even puzzles. The reward is the corresponding family heirloom, which grants us an ability – such as the race or dash – permanently for all our characters. For this reason, it is worth the effort.
Besides our skill, we also have to use the coconut
Taking into account this development scheme, it has the same virtues and defects as Rogue Legacy; the difficulty curve becomes hard, especially at the beginning, when we enter the game with our character in minor cloth, metaphorically speaking. However, once we have amassed a considerable fortune and have spent it on the relevant improvements, we can go about annihilating the enemies like nothing else.
It is important to add that in the early access release state, Rogue Legacy 2 only has one fully playable area. As time goes by, more will be added until the game is complete and then let’s talk about a release as the canons mandate. In the same way, the castle of our heirs, where we buy new abilities for the characters we play with, has limited options that will also grow in number with the successive patches that this title receives. Also, for now, Rogue Legacy 2 is only available in English.
The developers themselves include notes that the game is still “in the works”, and will be updated
However, this previous version leaves us with a very good taste in the mouth. Rogue Legacy 2 takes everything that made the original good (it has more than 80 points in all its versions in Metacritic), and gives the formula a couple of turns, but without modifying it too much. If you want to support the developers while they continue with their work, we recommend you purchase it, although emphasizing that it is an incomplete product – like all games in early access, well – but with the promise that content will be added and given shape over time.
Note: we have been able to make this text thanks to a download code on the Steam platform provided by the developers.
