Developer: Cyanide, Leikir Studio
Publisher: Nacon
Platform: PC, PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S
Tested on: Switch
Rogue Lords (Switch) – Review
Back in October 2021, we took a closer look at Cyanide and Leikir Studio’s new roguelike title, Rogue Lords. In Rogue Lords, you’ll play as the driving force behind the forces of evil. This is all so you, the devil, can walk the earth once again. When we originally tried out the game, we were quite impressed with the title’s setting and overall mechanics. As a whole, this was a great and original roguelike title, especially considering most titles in this particular genre look alike or don’t bring anything new to the table anymore. Now, the game has been ported to consoles, and we were lucky enough to revisit this title for our next short review. As we have already covered the game recently, we suggest reading our original review by clicking here, as we will only discuss the relevancy and quality of this new port below. We loved the idea of now playing Rogue Lords on the go, but sadly this port does not feel optimized at all.
The game looks quite good on the Switch’s tiny screen, but it sadly isn’t optimized to run on Nintendo’s hybrid console. More often than not, the game suffered from heavy frame drops and stutters when just running around in the tiny overworld. This, combined with invisible walls in open areas, make navigating the map quite annoying. During combat you’ll also encounter many frame drops and stutters, making the entire experience quite unpleasant. These frame drops, combined with very long loading times, make it seem as if this was a very quick port to be able to earn some extra cash. We found this to be disappointing, as Rogue Lords is in fact a very entertaining roguelike title. We still very much enjoyed the gameplay mechanics, and it was a lot of fun to once again be the villain in this title. Notwithstanding the fact that the game has a lot of different mechanics to get familiar with, it didn’t take that long before we once again mastered the basics. After a few attempts, we unlocked a few new characters, and then we were able to create a party that catered to our playing style.
Even though Rogue Lords on Switch is still a roguelike title that is very much worth checking out, we have to be honest that a few design flaws are very noticeable. For starters, the tutorial is absolutely horrendous, as the game constantly forces you to take absolutely stupid actions under the guise of explaining things. Sadly, instead of explaining things, it actually feels as if the game is purposely sabotaging you every step of the way during your first run. Of course, the first level was designed for you to lose, but even so, it’s not a pleasant way of explaining things. Secondly, the controls are also quite horrendous. This game is a lot more fun to play with a mouse and keyboard, and it’s a shame that the Switch version does not utilize its touchscreen controls for this one. With the touchscreen, the experience would have been a lot better.
Conclusion
Even though Rogue Lords remains a fun game, the port is not that amusing, to be honest. The game does not feel optimized, the controls are not pleasant to work with, and it just feels as if almost no effort was put into porting the game. We would have loved to see proper touchscreen controls for the Switch version, as these would have made the experience a lot more entertaining and user-friendly. On top of that, the constant frame drops, stutters, and long loading times detract from an otherwise good roguelike game. If you have no other option than to play the game on Switch, we suggest waiting for a sale. If you’re able to play the game on PC, go for the PC version and you’ll find a great game to play through.
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