Roguelikes
Turn a corner and you'll find ten of them, practically begging you to play them. You can try to leave but there are more behind you. One of them even got caught under your shoe.
What i'm trying to say is that there is no shortage of roguelikes in the current gaming landscape. And while that may make lots of people happy, i'm mostly indiferent.
Roguelikes have never been my thing. Ever since their pseudo rebirth back when Binding of Isaac came out i've dipped my toes into many but none have truly captivated me.
That mostly has to do with the genres central mechanic. Dying and starting over again. And as someone who hates replaying sections over and over, this has made for a tumultous relationship with these games.
My experience with roguelikes is tipically so. I install it, play a couple of runs, and move on with my life.
I've never finished a roguelike. In fact, i haven't ever gotten close to finishing one. But i've always been okay with that fact. They're just not for me and that's alright.
Enter Star Renegades.
A game i only kept in mind because of its beautiful pixel art, and because it was on my beloved pc gamepass. And so the months passed and, wouldn't you believe it, it was getting removed. So i promptly installed it, ready to play a couple of runs, and move on as always.
And i did, sort of.
By the time i quit the game i played three runs. But this time i didn't just move on. I was a bit upset.
Not because the game was bad. Rather, because it was really good.
Star Renegades has one of my favourite tactical combat systems ever. The "turn" system and how you could manipulate it was extremely engaging. And when you add that on top of a good selection of distinct characters, you get something truly great.
A lot of the fun in the game comes from synergizing and combining abilities, finding the party that suits you. It makes you think about every move in a way that's very rewarding.
And if that wasn't enough, the game also has a friendship system, and leveling, and loot, and perks, and all of it rules.
But there is a problem.
It's a roguelike.
Any other time i would've just dismissed it and moved on. But this time was different.
This time it wasn't me, it was the game.
I realized that while i loved every system in the game and how it all fit together, it didn't work as a rougelike.
Combat is long, because of its tactical nature, but too long for a run based game. And there is almost no RNG to it at all. You will be fighting the same enemies, in the same configuration, every run.
And these runs take hours.
Unlike your Hades and your Slay the Spires, a run of Star Renegades can take over 5 hours.
Even in my playthrough no run was shorter than 90 minutes.
What this achieves is a level of tedium that makes the game go stale, fast.
And it made me upset.
I'd finally found my rougelike. The one i would ride all the way to the end credits.
But as quickly as it made me believe, it fell to the same fate as all the others.
As it is Star Renegades is a good game. Far too repetitive and tedious, but still good. But in the back of my mind there will always be that small wish. That they will, someday, add a mode with checkpoints.
I don't think i'll ever find my roguelike, i've tried more than enough of them to be certain of that. But at least i found one that, for a moment, was almost the one.
Turn a corner and you'll find ten of them, practically begging you to play them. You can try to leave but there are more behind you. One of them even got caught under your shoe.
What i'm trying to say is that there is no shortage of roguelikes in the current gaming landscape. And while that may make lots of people happy, i'm mostly indiferent.
Roguelikes have never been my thing. Ever since their pseudo rebirth back when Binding of Isaac came out i've dipped my toes into many but none have truly captivated me.
That mostly has to do with the genres central mechanic. Dying and starting over again. And as someone who hates replaying sections over and over, this has made for a tumultous relationship with these games.
My experience with roguelikes is tipically so. I install it, play a couple of runs, and move on with my life.
I've never finished a roguelike. In fact, i haven't ever gotten close to finishing one. But i've always been okay with that fact. They're just not for me and that's alright.
Enter Star Renegades.
A game i only kept in mind because of its beautiful pixel art, and because it was on my beloved pc gamepass. And so the months passed and, wouldn't you believe it, it was getting removed. So i promptly installed it, ready to play a couple of runs, and move on as always.
And i did, sort of.
By the time i quit the game i played three runs. But this time i didn't just move on. I was a bit upset.
Not because the game was bad. Rather, because it was really good.
Star Renegades has one of my favourite tactical combat systems ever. The "turn" system and how you could manipulate it was extremely engaging. And when you add that on top of a good selection of distinct characters, you get something truly great.
A lot of the fun in the game comes from synergizing and combining abilities, finding the party that suits you. It makes you think about every move in a way that's very rewarding.
And if that wasn't enough, the game also has a friendship system, and leveling, and loot, and perks, and all of it rules.
But there is a problem.
It's a roguelike.
Any other time i would've just dismissed it and moved on. But this time was different.
This time it wasn't me, it was the game.
I realized that while i loved every system in the game and how it all fit together, it didn't work as a rougelike.
Combat is long, because of its tactical nature, but too long for a run based game. And there is almost no RNG to it at all. You will be fighting the same enemies, in the same configuration, every run.
And these runs take hours.
Unlike your Hades and your Slay the Spires, a run of Star Renegades can take over 5 hours.
Even in my playthrough no run was shorter than 90 minutes.
What this achieves is a level of tedium that makes the game go stale, fast.
And it made me upset.
I'd finally found my rougelike. The one i would ride all the way to the end credits.
But as quickly as it made me believe, it fell to the same fate as all the others.
As it is Star Renegades is a good game. Far too repetitive and tedious, but still good. But in the back of my mind there will always be that small wish. That they will, someday, add a mode with checkpoints.
I don't think i'll ever find my roguelike, i've tried more than enough of them to be certain of that. But at least i found one that, for a moment, was almost the one.