I won't be the first to say that I don't care much for roguelikes. However, I am a sucker for really flashy games, and/or cute protagonists. When this game managed to fly by my radar prior to its release, I knew I had to check it out.
The game's actually structured vaguely like Mega Man X, if you can believe it. You choose which boss you want to fight, you travel down (randomized) floors themed after them, and when you defeat them, you get their powers. Also akin to Mega Man X, there are some stinkers of design choices here. It genuinely feels to me like either the enemies you fight have little to no windup in their attack animations, or Rona's dodge roll doesn't have enough invincibility frames (or both!). Rona also tends to get stuck on walls and enemies, which can be irritating when you're just trying to get out of the way of the killer roomba that's trying to grab you. The game also has a couple of on-rails gimmick stages. I actually quite enjoyed the tunnel stage, but the space-shooter stage was a complete clusterfuck, and the design team really should've gone back to the drawing board on that one.
The use of the term "rogue-lite" is certainly appropriate here; You'll always have access to your most basic moves, it's moreso a top-down action game with several randomized elements. One of the most notable elements is the "core" system. You'll obtain cores via various means, and they each give you a completely randomized effect, positive or negative. Negative cores, or "bugged" cores aren't always a curse though. Having three cores of any type puts Rona into "Core-Connect" mode, enhancing her abilities across the board. Cores are constantly depleting resources, and are often getting overwritten with different cores, meaning you'll be changing your playstyle on the fly quite often, and this is definitely the strongest aspect of the gameplay in my eyes.
I feel as though presentation is this game's strongest suit. I love how the game is framed with you, the player, viewing and controlling Rona remotely via satellite uplink (internet in the year 2087 must be fuckin' wild). The UI reflects that very well, especially with some bugged cores that directly affect the "camera feed", like blocking the UI with fake pop-ups. All the graphics are super shiny, as if everything's got a chrome finish. All of the art is excellent. Animations are nice and fluid, but sometimes too animated. The 2D character portraits are particularly obsessed with tweening. It's worse for some characters than others, and I did find it distracting on more than one occasion. (One of the 3D model's animations was particularly unnatural as well.)
Overall, despite a few major stumbles, I do really enjoy this game and fully recommend it. If you're still not sure, there is a demo for the game on PC. Rona is an innocent cinnamon roll who must be protected at all costs.
The game's actually structured vaguely like Mega Man X, if you can believe it. You choose which boss you want to fight, you travel down (randomized) floors themed after them, and when you defeat them, you get their powers. Also akin to Mega Man X, there are some stinkers of design choices here. It genuinely feels to me like either the enemies you fight have little to no windup in their attack animations, or Rona's dodge roll doesn't have enough invincibility frames (or both!). Rona also tends to get stuck on walls and enemies, which can be irritating when you're just trying to get out of the way of the killer roomba that's trying to grab you. The game also has a couple of on-rails gimmick stages. I actually quite enjoyed the tunnel stage, but the space-shooter stage was a complete clusterfuck, and the design team really should've gone back to the drawing board on that one.
The use of the term "rogue-lite" is certainly appropriate here; You'll always have access to your most basic moves, it's moreso a top-down action game with several randomized elements. One of the most notable elements is the "core" system. You'll obtain cores via various means, and they each give you a completely randomized effect, positive or negative. Negative cores, or "bugged" cores aren't always a curse though. Having three cores of any type puts Rona into "Core-Connect" mode, enhancing her abilities across the board. Cores are constantly depleting resources, and are often getting overwritten with different cores, meaning you'll be changing your playstyle on the fly quite often, and this is definitely the strongest aspect of the gameplay in my eyes.
I feel as though presentation is this game's strongest suit. I love how the game is framed with you, the player, viewing and controlling Rona remotely via satellite uplink (internet in the year 2087 must be fuckin' wild). The UI reflects that very well, especially with some bugged cores that directly affect the "camera feed", like blocking the UI with fake pop-ups. All the graphics are super shiny, as if everything's got a chrome finish. All of the art is excellent. Animations are nice and fluid, but sometimes too animated. The 2D character portraits are particularly obsessed with tweening. It's worse for some characters than others, and I did find it distracting on more than one occasion. (One of the 3D model's animations was particularly unnatural as well.)
Overall, despite a few major stumbles, I do really enjoy this game and fully recommend it. If you're still not sure, there is a demo for the game on PC. Rona is an innocent cinnamon roll who must be protected at all costs.