Developer: Cyanide, Leikir Studio
Publisher: Nacon
Platform: PC, PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S
Tested on: PC
Rogue Lords – Preview
Immediately stating the obvious, it’s easy to say that NACON does not have the most spotless track record when it comes to the titles they publish. Some are better than others, but there are quite a few that are absolute rubbish in terms of quality. The publisher often supports very nice concepts but tends to take them out of the oven before they are fully baked. Nonetheless, we see more and more content popping up concerning Rogue Lords, a title that is clearly getting more attention and polish than other titles. We were lucky enough to play the beta version of the game, which may have been somewhat limited in content but still managed to entertain us. As the build was very short and basically consisted of one tutorial after another, we’ll only be handling a few of the basic items we have seen.
First of all, the game looks quite spiffy but not completely coherent. During dialogues, you’ll see a comic book-like style, reminiscent of games such as Darkest Dungeon, while during combat you shift to a graphical style that is more akin to the combat in Battle Chasers: Nightwar to eventually go to a top-down view in the overworld of the chapter you’re playing. All these styles are properly handled, and they look quite good, but the transitions need to be smoothened out a bit more to make a proper coherent whole. The sound design does match all the sequences you go through, so that does help set the atmosphere.
As you’re playing with the forces of evil in this Roguelike, you’ll actually have to adjust to being the bad guy. Of course, this is not something new to games, but in this scenario, you are literally the vanguard for none other than the devil himself. The latter does come with a convenient ability the game presents you with, namely using the power of the devil. This, if your devil energy is sufficient, allows you to ‘cheat’. By using your energy, you may steer conversations in your favor, you may actually steal positive buffs from enemies, refill your health, recharge skills, and so on. This energy may be limited, but you do have an extra advantage over those playing by the rules. This mechanic might sound a bit dodgy, but it is actually very fun to use, and it doesn’t feel overpowered, as, for the most part, your troops are actually quite weak.
The current build allowed us to play a few short scenarios that consisted of a few battles, a few dialogues, and other encounters. We were able to mess around with the skill system a bit, as well as see how different scenarios played out. As you walk around on the overworld of the chapter you’re in, you’ll be able to choose which direction you head off to, to engage in battles or trigger events. When you pass the marker of your chosen direction, there is no way back, except with some good old devil juice. In some cases, you can also alter your path, if you see a negative event that will occur further down the road. Again, this makes the devil mechanic interesting, but the more options you get, the harder it becomes to choose when to use your scarcely obtained energy.
Conclusion
First impression-wise, we were quite entertained and surprised by the depth of Rogue Lords. The game has a promising foundation, and we hope to see it get fleshed out in the near future. For now, the game can still evolve in any direction, but we have a good feeling about where the game is currently heading. We hope to see more updates and new content soon, as the current build only lifted the veil of what might become a great Roguelike experience.
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[…] in June, we had our first encounter with Rogue Lords. We enjoyed commanding a group of villains and monsters in order to make the world a darker place. […]