A compelling art style can do a lot for a game. Cuddle Monster Games’ Lone Ruin is a modest game from a small development team that doesn’t do anything to shake up the twin-stick roguelike formula, but the moody atmosphere conjured up by murky neon colours is enough to pull …
I’ll state right upfront that I’ve never played a Heroes of Might and Magic. Maybe that’s blasphemous, but such is life—you can’t play anything, and HOMM is one of those things that passed me by. A bring this up because, if you’re hoping for a review that’ll dive deep into …
There’s a fundamental mismatch at the heart of Super Bullet Break. On one hand, it’s a roguelike, a genre defined by impermanence; on the other, it’s a (microtransaction-less) gacha game, a genre defined by permanence. In a roguelike, the transient nature of everything you pick up, and the situations that …
The tension of a roguelike and quiet charm of a cozy life sim might seem at odds, but Cult of the Lamb finds magic in that juxtaposition. There’s nothing quite like a quiet, cozy life sim. The old Animal Crossing vibe; hanging out with a quaint little woodland community of …
Is there any more crowded field in videogames at the moment than “roguelike deck-builder”? Just seeing that descriptor is enough to make me lose interest—I do rather enjoy the genre, but they’re so far past the point of oversaturation that the mention alone makes me feel tired. But there’s one …
I tend to be wary of “roguelike shoot-’em-ups”. Maybe I’m just old-fashioned, but I like the appeal of a classic arcade shmup: five handcrafted levels (and maybe a second loop), with consistent enemy layouts and meticulous patterns that you can practice, master, and build a strategy around. I like roguelikes …
I wake up in the morning. I hit a switch that clears and collects acres of farmland. I feed my forty dogs. I go beneath the earth, which has been hollowed out like swiss cheese. Classic Minecraft. This is the result of me and my friends deciding to play Minecraft …
Returnal should not be a roguelike, and I say this as someone who rather enjoys that genre. It’s a remarkable game in so many ways: full of the sort of frantic yet precise action that Housemarque is unrivalled at creating, but on a whole new level of scale and ambition, …
“What the fuck? There’s literally no possible way to win this fight. I know I said that before, but this time it really, truly is impossible.” I think I’ve said words along those lines (or more… colourful variants) in just about every turn I’ve taken in Quinterra. Not as a …
Sidereal Studios’ tabletop-inspired, turn-based strategy roguelike Quinterra launches on Steam Early Access on April 7, after more than two years in development. Quinterra sends players on a journey of conquest across five domains, making the most of a “unique drafting mechanic” to influence the shape of the world and the …
