Next Week's Review: Saint's Row 4

          I'm still hard at work playing my way through the gloriously hilarious SR4, so my new review will be delayed until sometime next week. Open-world games tend to take a little bit longer to play, what with me clocking an average of about 55 hours into each Assassin's Creed game. The review will be up on Friday, so look for it then my fellow gamers. Until then, happy gaming!

Game Review: Rise of the Triad

          Now that the game has been patched towards greater stability I can finally bring you all my review. Note that I said "greater" stability and not "complete". I'll come back to that little niggling problem later on, because this is an introduction damnit. For those of you unfamiliar with the name, RotT is a remake of a game named RotT: Dark War which came out in 1994 and was developed by Apogee Software. It was a fast paced FPS that was similar to Wolfenstein 3D on various drugs and completely relished in its own nonsensical gameplay and plot. Now that many years have passed this old gem has been dusted off and given the HD makeover while at the same time retaining the archaic gameplay mechanics which made it stand out in its time. Does this remake still hold onto what made the original so beloved? Well we're about to find out. Lets get ludicrous!

Well it seems we're off to a good start.

Story

          One thing I loved about RotT was how simplistically its story plays out. While this may sound like a negative aspect you should really ask yourself why you expect a game where you communicate almost exclusively via rocket launchers to have a good story. You are a member of the elite team known as H.U.N.T., a force so utterly specialized and secret that this game is literally their first assignment. The game opens with the team sneaking onto a hidden island off the coast of California, whereupon they are immediately caught and forced to mulch every last enemy character in the game with the help of whatever cargo plane airdropped all these damn rocket launchers. That's basically it for the story, though the deeper you go the more confusing it gets. So you start off with soldiers, then robots, then monks who are also wizards, and then alien spider people. Yeah, it makes all the sense. Its best if you not focus on the story. Its essentially Wolfenstein as told by Michael Bay with a hint of occultism thrown in for good measure. Oh yeah, and lots of gibtastic explosions.

                                                                I like my meat extra charred.                        

 Graphics

          When you compare this to the original it is simply stunning to observe how far the gaming industry has come in terms of graphical realism. RotT has never looked better, or run worse. A common problem that many indie developers run into is bad optimization for their games on the latest hardware. RotT was so rife with performance bugs when it launched that I had to delay my review until they managed to patch it. Even with the latest patch the game only utilizes around 50-60% of my GPU. I'm using a GTX 670 FTW just for reference to my readers, not exactly an entry-level card. Through the early parts of the game the framerate was somewhat steady even in larger battles but past Episode 3 is where my performance began tanking into the 15-25 fps margin. This caused the game's fast paced nature to work against me, it became harder to react to emerging threats with any fluidity or precision. Interceptor says they are still optimizing everything, so kudos to them. When taken into account that this game was apparently made without a budget it becomes a wonder how they managed to craft such a gorgeous game. Colors are bright and vivid, with the ludicrously high-res textures being proudly put on display first and foremost. Once you look past the pretty textures you'll notice some strange or downright ugly effects that tend to break the immersion. Enemy corpses, body parts, and organs clip through the terrain very frequently and odd looking blood jets out of stumps with what looks like enough force to propel someone through a wall. If you can look past those issues you will find that the weapons are gorgeously modeled and textured, each instrument of explosive death given an arguably obsessive level of detail. Overall RotT is a great looking game marred by some glaring performance issues that will likely get resolved within the next week or so.

           

                                       That blood is from all the enemies stupid enough to run at you. Which means ALL OF THEM.

Gameplay

          I wasn't kidding earlier when I said this game is fast-paced. This is old-school fast paced we're talking about, where lightning fast reaction time and pinpoint precision will see you through to the end. A loaded rocket launcher never hurt either I suppose. Call of Duty seems like a time distortion next to RotT, where you are expected to hurtle yourself over terrain and obstacles at ludicrous speeds whilst dodging concentrated enemy fire. The feeling is cathartic when you unload a well placed rocket into a group of tight-knit enemies, their gory remains slamming down wetly around you. Its at moments like these where RotT shines its brightest, allowing you to traverse the levels like a human bullet filled with explosions. Then the game suddenly decides to become a platformer, promptly hurling jumping puzzles at you like the aforementioned rockets. These sections are plentiful in supply and supremely irritating, as they shatter the pacing and force you to plod along through them through trial and error runs. Mangled by rotating blades? Back to the last checkpoint. Impaled in a spike pit? Back to that last checkpoint. You see, unlike the original game, the remake has no quick-save system in place. Each level has several checkpoints, which records your current status as you pass them. I don't have to tell you all what a bad idea this is, so I'll just give you an example. I'm running through a winding hallway, gravely injured from my last huge encounter with no porridge in sight to gobble down. I come across a sudden left turn, take it, then flee for my life as a giant boulder comes rolling down the incline. I outpace it, pass the checkpoint, and emerge into a room filled with enemy soldiers. I have 6% health remaining. Oh dear. Moments like these are what makes RotT so infuriating to play, and whats worse is that they occur with common frequency. The player is given little to no warning of where hidden traps may be, often having to blunder into them first and reload that last checkpoint. I'm not that masochistic Interceptor, geez. Without rattling on about the awful save system and frequent insta-death moments, I'll just say that the combat and secrets are the only things that save this game from a more scathing review. Some things transfer over better from the original, while some features should have been redone entirely or taken out. Collecting all those floating coins really brought out my more OCD tendencies, damn. Each level is packed with the shiny things though they only add to your overall level score, so feel free to ignore them if you wish. Along the way you'll pick of various flavors of rocket launchers such as a rocket minigun and the Flamewall, which dish out death via mini-splosions and scalding heat respectively. Every weapon has been finely tuned and feels perfectly overpowered within the context of the already ludicrous story. You can use your dual pistols or MP40 if you wish, though I find it hilarious that you can reload even though both weapons have infinite ammo and clips. Personally I fell in love with the rocket minigun, popping my opponents like the blood-filled meat sacks that they were. Joining the bizarre arsenal are some even more bizarre powerups scattered throughout the levels, serving as what I can only assume as more proof that this game is ludicrous. You have God Mode, which turns you into a deity with the power to deliver lethal blasts of electric energy; Dog Mode, which turns the player into a small mutt who can access tiny passages and rip out throats, and Shrooms mode to name a few. Most of these are extremely useful while some serve to potentially hinder your progress for a short duration. I should also mention that the A.I. is terrible, though I'm sure that's intentional. Gameplay-wise this is a faithful transition into the modern era, for better or worse.

ZAP!

Sound

          To round off this package, RotT features a pretty nifty metal soundtrack and not much else. I hope you like the sound of explosions and poorly acted screaming, because that is going to get crammed into your ears throughout the game. Aside from the music there really isn't much else I can say here, overall the sound design is lacking and a definite step down from my last review of TIAoVH. I'm sorry, I really loved the music in that but it isn't a fair comparison. RotT has a more minimalistic approach to its sound effects, no doubt related to the game's lack of a budget. I suggest putting on some tunes in the background, it'll really improve the flow of the game.

 Must. Collect. Everything.

Conclusion

          For $15 you are getting a ludicrously action packed shooter that sometimes tries way too hard to be a platformer. If that sounds like your cup of tea then this game is for you, but for those expecting a more straightforward experience you may be disappointed. When I pre-ordered the game it came with a 4-pack containing Apogee's earliest games, including RotT and it's expansion, so you may be able to still attain that pack if you are looking to play the original before delving into the remake. Honestly I'm glad I played this game, it showed me what a little studio is capable of if it has enough passion and love for a project. Interceptor should be congratulated on bringing this remake to life, and then be reminded to keep patching their game. 7.5/10 (Only PC version available)

Review Delay: Rise of the Triad

          Due to technical issues within the game I will not write a new review today and shall reschedule it for next Friday when the game is properly patched and running smoother. Sorry for the delay everyone, I would just rather review this game when it is properly optimized.

Game Review: The Incredible Adventures of Van Helsing

          Hello again all and welcome to the Gaming Lair; today I shall be reviewing a little indie gem known as TIAoVH. While being one hell of an acronym, TIAoVH is also one damn good Diablo clone that brings loads of content to the table whilst only being a fraction of the cost of Diablo 3. I'm going to come right out and say this game was addictive once I got into it, just staring at the screen and clicking away on enemies and loot that exploded from their corpses like pinatas designed for wealthy kid's birthday party. The main driving focus in dungeon crawlers is finding better loot and equipment, something this game takes to heart as it showers you every few moments with expensive goodies and shiny objects. Based on the deep lore surrounding the mythological Van Helsing, this game has a lot to prove to interested gamers. Now with all that being said, how about we crack open this resplendent chest?

You do have to wade through a fair amount of enemies to get to that chest however.

 Story

          TIAoVH's story actually takes place from the point of view of Van Helsing's son Abraham, an energetic and determined successor to his world-renowned father. Abraham is a fledgling monster hunter, trying to live up to his father's insurmountable legacy, a monumental task considering Van Helsing brought peace between the humans and vampires of Borgova. Along this journey Abraham is accompanied by Lady Katarina, a buxom spirit and servant of the Van Helsing family who takes an endless amount of pleasure in nagging him. The two begin their journey in the haunted hillsides of Borgova but soon find themselves in places such as mountainous caverns filled with werewolves, boggy swamps brimming with semi-intelligent toad people, and an impressive mechanical city teeming with science-spawned abominations of flesh and metal. The ultimate goal here is to bring peace once again to Borgova whilst foiling the sinister plans of whatever mad scientists still reside in the area, twisting beast and nature to their whims with nonsensical pseudo-science that would make even George Lucas giggle. While being admittedly a little too-lighthearted through the first part, the game's second act presents a clear idea of what is at stake if Abraham fails in his task to bring down the mad scientists. The game loves throwing out references to other movies and games that preceded it, even filling the mandatory quota of at least one Portal shout out in the latter part of the story. Make no mistake, this is not an ultra-serious adaptation of the various books based on Van Helsing's adventures, but rather a deliberately silly romp through various locals wiping out hordes of monsters and aberrations while waiting for that next legendary item to drop. While the story started off a little weaker than I expected, I quickly became entranced by the witty dialogue exchanged between Van Helsing and his spectral lady friend. Katarina is an absolutely fantastic support character and frequent comic-relief for those who didn't think the game was already humorous enough. RPG enthusiasts will also be pleased to know that she is fully customizable, but more on that in the Gameplay section. Overall this is a very good start for this series, providing an interesting backdrop and locations while giving you a clear reason as to why you are pursuing the next objective. Think of it as a more self-aware Diablo 3 in terms of the story, always expanding as you progress while avoiding the common irk of flying off into ridiculousness that most RPGs seem to suffer in their final acts.

Abraham and Katarina as seen here, looking mighty serious about something.

Graphics

          It really says something about the industry when an indie developer manages to develop a game that looks arguably better than several other AAA games that cost at least $60 to buy. TAoVH is an absolutely gorgeous ARPG that never ceases to wow with its enormous environments, impressive spell effects, and detailed character models. A lot of love has been poured into the game world by the developers and it really shows in the layout of each sprawling area you traverse, admiring the scenery as you savagely gib fearsome swarms of beasts of various size and type. Some of the higher tier spells you unlock create some truly awing battles, as protective flames engulf Van Helsing or bursts of freezing particles snap-freeze enemies solid. It is also unsettlingly satisfying to slice and maim your way through swathes of beasts, leaving behind hunks of meat and pools of blood in your wake. At first I was skeptical with Abraham's look, though it quickly grew on me as I went about my journey, outfitting him with an ever growing wardrobe of strange hats and coats.. I never thought I would actually enjoy a humorous rendition of the Van Helsing legends, but the realistically rendered worlds really helped immerse me wherever I ventured. The game shares many visual assets with the Diablo series, most notably the HUD which struck me as being directly from Diablo 3 save for a few changes. It even seems to give a few nods to the relatively new free-to-play Path of Exile, another excellent ARPG Diablo-clone. Another interesting touch here is Abraham's arsenal of death-dealing weapons, namely how over-sized they seem. From dual-wielding pistols and swords to hefting around huge rifles and blades, TIAoVH never ceases to amaze me with the ludicrous amount of weighty weapons it throws at you with seemingly every turn. How can any monster hope to best a man wielding a blade that is at least 2-3 times his own body length? Apparently someone gave the creatures an uplifting speech because they sure throw themselves at you with wanton abandon, with the ranged types generally staying rather unusually close to you as well even when approached directly. I really must hand it to TIAoVH, this game is a real visual treat to behold if you have the rig that can handle everything maxed out.

Behold a pissed off Lady Katarina!

Gameplay

          If you've played more than a few dungeon crawlers then you are going to be pretty familiar with how TIAoVH works, feeling like a mishmash of Diablo, Torchlight, and Path of Exile. This is a top down perspective type of game, with the camera able to be zoomed in and out depending on how close or far away the player prefers it. Honestly though the bigger fights kind of force you to zoom out a bit as roving packs of monsters seem to randomly jump into the fray of a heated battle. I fondly recall a huge battle near the end-game where I had somehow attracted the attention of dozens of bloodthirsty beasties, the ocean of blood and body parts coating the ground proof of my triumphant success. Most of the combat and movement is done by using the mouse, whilst special abilities, spells, and potions are mapped to the keyboard. The set-up is very similar to the control scheme of Diablo 3 and never feels cumbersome or clunky. Everything is ultra-responsive and works perfectly well, though the huge skirmishes do make it a pain to see where your character is located amidst the sea of writhing monsters. Just point, click, and watch with grim interest as Van Helsing and his companion reduce ravening beasts into barely recognizable piles of sliced meat and gore. Upgrading your character's a abilities is a necessity if you are going to survive, especially late into the game when humongous abominations shamble towards you. Luckily you are awarded lots of skill points for completing quests and leveling up, giving you the ability to customize Abraham to your heart's content. The game has no classes, rather relying heavily on active and passive abilities to really define your character's role on the battlefield. I completed my first playthrough while only investing points in the melee tree, becoming a nigh-unstoppable death machine whenever I brought my sword into play. All major abilities come with power-ups that you can activate by attaining rage in battles, boosting your abilities in a variety of ways. Rage is a vital resource that is both plentiful and scarce, only able to attained through striking foes or wearing certain items and able to be depleted by taking damage. Over the course of the story you will learn to become extremely efficient at managing your Rage, or you'll never even notice it and keep playing exactly how you started. I completely forgot about the stuff for half my playthrough and just assumed the power-ups were passive, not realizing my grievous error till later when more demanding foes began flooding me. Lady Katarina can also be fully customized with gear and her base behavior modified to however the player wants to use her best, able to take the role of ranged or melee on the fly with but a click of a button. If she loses all of her health she will become fully incorporeal until she regenerates, providing a passive defense boon to her master, making her an effective ally even outside of combat. Like Abraham, Katarina can invest points into solely passive skills that provide many kinds of boosts to Van Helsing's stats, keeping him combat effective at all times depending on what passives are employed. And as if all these stats weren't enough the game contains a Fame system that levels dependent on how many monsters and champions you slay. Each increase in level allows you to pick from a list of perks which expand as the story progresses, suiting any style of play while adding another layer of depth and providing incentive to hunt down every last enemy. Now we get to the loot. Oh the glorious loot. TIAoVH lacks some of the item variety seen in the Diablo and Torchlight series, as the game contains no pre-made classes. This still does not deter slain enemies and smashed objects from spilling tons of gold and enchanted trinkets forth, providing a steady supply of even more gold to the player as he sends Katarina back to town with a full inventory. I will say that some of the Epic-level loot is extremely unbalanced, staying effective even through the final act. I found a two-handed sword so powerful and loaded with passive boosts that it was the only melee weapon I needed in my playthrough, and this was acquired near the start of the game. Don't let this dishearten you from hunting down as many items as you can though, the game has plenty of different types of armor and weapons it can randomly generate on the fly, much like Diablo. Connecting most of the areas together are HUB locations such as towns or lairs which can be utilized to upgrade auras, forge items, enchant items, sell unwanted loot, and attain side-quests. Chatting with towns-folk always provided a welcome reprieve from the near-constant engagements I kept stumbling upon, however I wished there were more side-quests on display here. There is also a very well-implemented tower defense mechanic that is utilized later in the story, though I will not spoil it as it is tied to events in the storyline. If you are a hardcore Diablo or Torchlight fan then you should feel right at home in TIAoVH, as it feels like a welcome combination of the best elements of those games.

Rats, it had to be rats!

Sound

          Perhaps even more of an achievement than the beautiful graphics engine is the soundtrack, the music is absolutely beautiful. I was dumbstruck by how hauntingly serene the ambient tunes were, filled with sweeping orchestral scores and instrumental chimes which puts the player into a breathtaking world filled with horror and mystery. I could just imagine myself sitting on a hillside in Borgova, watching the grass sway in the wind. It really is that captivating and the composer really deserves some kind of award for producing music that can rival nearly any triple A title in the industry. It must also be mentioned that the voice acting is right on spot for most of the characters, with Van Helsing and Katarina standing out clearly above the others in the delivery of their lines. The rest of the sound department is rather average, with your typical weapon and monster sound effects. Perfectly serviceable with nothing drawing the attention away from the combat. Besides the music. Man, that was some damn good music.

The music deserves it's own award, so here you go.

Conclusion

          Developed by Neocore Games, TIAoVH is a fantastic addition to any ARPG lover's collection and a worthy dungeon crawler at that! Going in, its easy to see that the developers had much love for the legendary Van Helsing, paying homage whilst crafting their own zany tale about the adventures of a monster hunter and his sassy ghost servant. For $15 you are getting an excellent deal, a decent length campaign with enough incentive to warrant a couple more playthroughs and also offering up extra challenges for max level players. A sequel is already in development and I can't wait to see what new places Abraham Van Helsing and Lady Katarina embark to. A truly underrated gem and excellent start for the series. 8/10 (PC version reviewed)

Upcoming Review: The Incredible Adventures of Van Helsing

          Tomorrow I shall be reviewing a game which pleasantly surprised me this week with its astounding quality. The Incredible Adventures of Van Helsing is an indie dungeon crawler in the likes of the Diablo series and various other ARPGs. Based on the lore of Van Helsing, this dungeon crawler is filled with loads of content and hilarious dialogue exchanged between Abraham Van Helsing and his ghostly mistress Lady Katarina as they make their way through the haunted hillsides of Borgova to solve a terrifying mystery of what horror plagues these lands. Join me tomorrow in fleshing out this exhilarating adventure!

Game Review: Rogue Legacy

          Well fellow gamers once again I welcome you back with one of my weekly reviews; this week we shall take an in-depth look at a new indie Rogue-like known as Rogue Legacy. RL is a side-scrolling 2D platformer where you raid dungeons, haunted forests, looming towers, and stygian depths for gold, blueprints, and glory. This game is very reminiscent of games from a bygone era where skill and determination were needed over an itchy trigger finger. Simple to play, yet infuriatingly complex to master, Rogue Legacy is a deceptively addicting game that can quickly suck hours upon hours away from your life as you keep on telling yourself that this will be your last gold run before sleep mercifully whisks you away. I think it's impossible to not sink at least upwards of ten hours into this beast, it really is that much fun. With that being said, let us jump into what I consider one of the best indie games to release this year.

Hope you like this blacksmith, you'll be seeing him a lot.

   Story

          In my last review I said that some games benefit from having a simple story, and this is exactly one of those games again. The beauty of Rogue Legacy lies in the presentation of its story, starting the game off in a sepia tone filter as if you are living an ancestral memory. The game gives you full control of the starting "cutscene" and lets you traverse the environment and slay enemies as you move from room to room. Finally you arrive in a throne room, with the King's back turned away from you. Why doesn't he turn and look at the intruder he surely heard coming? Your character is literally covered from head to toe in gleaming steel, there is no way he could possibly sneak around in that. Then it dawned on me that this character is trusted by the King, and he is about to assassinate his lord. Seeing no other options, I am forced to sprint towards the King and attack. As soon as my blade connects with the unaware lord the title screen pops up. Sudden and effective I must admit, so already we've barely started the game and we've glimpsed a brutal backstabbing. From there we are given a single character and enter a mysterious castle. Along the way you find various journals written by the King's assailant, painting him in different shades as his mind deteriorates from journal to journal. What seemed to be scum of the worst kind becomes a somewhat sympathetic figure the further you go, unraveling his descent into madness and eventual assassination of the King. As for the player, you take the role of many different warriors who enter and die inside the shifting castle, each death awarding you with three heirs to choose from. This pretty much sums up the story of Rogue Legacy, a tale of revenge and bravado, stretching through the ages as each heir becomes more powerful than the last. This effective method of storytelling suits this game to a tee, as you can continue raiding dungeons and cutting down monsters without fear of any extended cutscenes popping up and taking the reins away from you. The pace is consistent throughout and the story is challenging to fully unravel, providing hours of entertainment just figuring out what the hell is going on in this sinister castle.

There is something out of place in this picture...

Graphics 

          The 2D visuals of this game are vibrant and crisp, like an SNES game running in 1080p. It doesn't hold a candle to AAA games when it comes to realism, but Rogue Legacy is anything but realistic. You don't need 16x anisotropic filtering and TXAA to make an aesthetically pleasing game, you just need a little heart and a lot of creativity. I must say though that I really love the level of detail given to the sprites and objects throughout the different floors, with almost everything able to be broken into or smashed apart in some way. Animations are surprisingly fluid and it is always satisfying to watch an enemy fly back after bringing down your hefty blade, or to watch as circling flames immolate everything that dares approach you. The floors and areas themselves consist of mostly a static background with the one notable exception being the forested areas, though this is likely a smart gameplay decision to keep the character focused on the task at hand rather than fancy effects twirling around out of reach. Rogue Legacy truly has an old-school vibe to it that I found utterly nostalgic in all the right ways, with a varied color palette that kept the enemies and environments from growing stale.

You are probably going to die here.

Gameplay

          Before I really flesh out the gameplay elements I cannot stress highly enough how important it is to play this game with a controller of some sort. The PC controls just do not suit this type of game, which does not rely on a mouse at all. I played first using the keyboard and found myself dying a ridiculous amount, so I switched to an Xbox 360 gamepad and found the experience was improved by leaps and bounds over my trusty keyboard. Once I had memorized the controls and gone on a few arguably successful runs I really started to feel at home in the game world. Jumping and slashing became second nature as I cut down hordes of monsters and hostile knights. Then after one run I upgraded my castle and unlocked a couple of new classes with interesting stats. Each class you unlock is built for a very specific play-style, such as the Paladin who can take loads of punishment or the Assassin who can score critical hits with frightening frequency. Each heir is given a random class from a selection of all the ones you have unlocked, whilst receiving one, two, or zero random traits. Traits can either make or break your character depending on how helpful or debilitating they are. A few examples include Peripheral Arterial Disease, which lets you walk on retractable floor spikes without activating them, Irritable Bowel Syndrome, which gives your character a chance of farting if they dash or jump, or even the supremely irritating Ectomorph, which makes you fly back whenever struck by an enemy or trap. There are many types of traits, though you can only hope or pray that your three heirs are not too badly crippled by the procedural generation system. Rogue Legacy contains a hub area that you always go to before re-entering the castle with your new heir and contains a blacksmith, enchanter, and architect once you have purchased them. The blacksmith can forge new weapons and armor from blueprints you find on your journey whilst the enchantress can insert various runes into your equipment that can make the game a little easier or harder depending on how masochistic you are. The architect can lock down the interior of the castle, preventing it from randomly generating floors from scratch. This is useful if your previous playthrough was incredibly lucrative and rewarding, though I preferred to just let the castle reset itself each time I died within it gloomy depths. Each time you die in the castle all of your previous gold is transferred over to one of your three heirs, allowing you to drop as much cash as you want on upgrading them from the rather extensive upgrade paths in your private manor. Many of these upgrades run the gamut of the usual, such as higher health and more mana, however some of them can be a bit more unusual. How would you like to purchase a tiny percentage chance that on death you will be revived? While not frequent, it is essentially a dice roll for a new life that is really worth investing several thousand gold in. Before you enter the castle you must forfeit all of your leftover earnings to the gatekeeper Charon, though there is an upgrade that lets you keep a certain amount of your earnings when you re-enter the castle. This forces the player to either continually improve their heirs or keep the game as difficult as they want it, which stresses the importance of player-choice in the game's design. Each class has an upgraded form which grants you a special ability, such as the Paladin's damage blocking shield or the Archmage's spell cycling ability. This, coupled with the random magical spell given to your appointed heir, turns your character into a formidable adversary whom will still no doubt be torn apart in the lower reaches of the castle's dungeons. Did I mention the difficulty? Yeah, this game loves to lure you into a state of self-confidence before shattering it with a room filled with absurdly high-level enemies. Traps will impale you, flying skulls will chew on you, and blob's of slime will consume you. Yet each time you will come back for more, confident that you can overcome any challenges in this run before being inevitably stomped down again. I've lost count of the number of times I've died in this game, but what I do know is that I'm looking at a level 114 hero brimming with powerful armor and weapons. Equipment that I earned through sweat and blood, rather than purchasable DLC from an in-game store. You earn everything yourself in this game, coming back a little stronger and a little better equipped each time. There is a massive sense of accomplishment in finally felling a grueling boss encounter after grinding through uncountable numbers of foes. It is essentially Dark Souls without the migraines or self-loathing afterwards. Difficult but not overly so, Rogue Legacy manages to balance challenge with reward quite admirably as it dangles new upgrades and loot in front of you, urging you to leap back into the depths of that well-traversed castle again for the 700th time. Learn from your deaths, study your foes, and plan your boss battles accordingly. A well-equipped warrior is a long-lasting warrior. Until you fall into a spike pit that is.

Prepare to sink a lot of gold into improving your manor.

  Sound

          Fantastically catchy musical tracks abound in this game, each seemingly more well-crafted than the last. As you move into different areas of the castle the music changes theme to suit the environment, an immersive touch that really helps capture the feel of some of the more oppressively bleak sections in the castle. Weapon slashes and spells sound exactly how you'd imagine they would, with spiked balls clanging off surfaces and your character groaning in pain after they take damage. For all the praise I've given this game so far I feel that the sound department is lacking the most polish, with virtually no voice-acting or sound effects given to the enemies. They just die silently as you hack your way through them, yet every time you die you hear an exasperated gasp from your character's lips before they drop dead. The music, while fun to listen to, only highlights the overall silence that permeates the game's different environments. I just usually put on music or a show in the background while I play, though I wouldn't say the music is forgettable. This game sounds distinctly old school through and through, which can be a positive or negative aspect depending on what the player is expecting to hear. 

You'll come to hate these guys early on, but love them for all the gold they drop later.

   Conclusion

          Cellar Door Games have managed to craft an amazingly fun experience in Rogue Legacy, a game that truly rewards a player's skill and patience. Like me, you will spend a good chunk of time dying and improving your heirs repeatedly. But you simply won't care, you'll just lose track of all the times you've fallen as the thrill of entering a newly generated castle layout each time you die only adds to the immense amount of replay value. I've already invested about 24 hours into this game, and I plan on going right back into it after this review. It challenges you to improve yourself, altering its difficulty as you begin to feel overpowered and unstoppable. I would love to see the developers keep adding to this game, as more content would only further justify the meager asking price of $15. In a market becoming increasingly saturated with indie titles, Rogue Legacy manages to hold itself above the competition with its charming style and challenging gameplay. Just make sure you have a gamepad if you are going to play this on PC, unless you truly want this to be a 2D Dark Souls. 9/10 (PC version reviewed)

Upcoming Review: Rogue Legacy

          This week I shall share my thoughts and opinions on the new indie game Rogue Legacy. Rogue Legacy is a side-scrolling 2D platformer based on the concept of slowly improving your heir as each previous character succumbs to the perils that await them. Look for the new review this Thursday!