Rogue Heroes: Ruins of Tasos

Rogue Heroes is the essence of pixelated comfort food and should put a smile on your face as you work your way through a low-impact adventure pulled from the past

Rogue Heroes: Ruins of Tasos is a delightful Zelda-inspired roguelite that's chock full of secrets, surprises, and some top-notch dungeon crawling action. There's an excellent central hub area to evolve and expand here, lots of fun little side quests to indulge in and a well-designed overworld that takes full advantage of your hero's ever-growing armoury of weapons, skills and gadgets. There are perhaps a few too many skill trees and upgrade mechanics for our liking and the story is entirely forgettable, but overall this one comes highly recommended for co-op and solo adventurers alike.

Offering a fine balance of easy-to-play and dungeon challenge attitude, Rogue Heroes: Ruins of Tasos is an enticing game for all comers. It’s not doing anything new or particularly original with its story, in fact using elements of classic games, but that’s not a bad thing. Sometimes it’s nice to get lost in some new-age nostalgia, even more so with friends.

Rogue Heroes doesn’t do anything that will wow you or push the limits of gaming, but what it does, it does very well.

None of that could dull my enthusiasm though. Rogue Heroes: Ruins of Tasos is a beautiful application of a roguelike system with a 2D dungeon crawler format married perfectly to a town-building system and overworld that invites exploration and grinding gems to uncover more things to do outside of combat. This is a no-brainer for classic Zelda fans or anyone looking for co-op fun, and it's absolutely been the best gaming experience so far for me in 2021.

Rogue Heroes: Ruins of Tasos is a charming, and cozy rogue-lite that will provide you the nostalgia trip you’re looking for, and more. It features gorgeous artwork, with a laidback experience, and allows you to play with up to 4 friends. While it doesn’t quite have the mechanical depth other games in the genre have, it certainly has the charm.

Despite often feeling like a Zelda clone with roguelite elements and town management components, Rogue Heroes succeeds at providing an enjoyable throwback experience that should appeal to those who have a soft spot for A Link to the Past.

Is there the perfect "Zeldalike"? Rogue Heroes would be the perfect example, as immediate in the first few minutes as it is complex and deep if you decide to try to complete it 100%, with a top-down perspective view made of pixel art and a story that leads us to travel in a world as varied as it is hostile. Although it does not achieve the excellence of its mentor, it stands out for interesting gameplay choices such as village management and an approach oriented to the open world experience. To play secret after secret alone, or in ramshackle runs with friends despite the repetitiveness of some sections and some graphic uncertainty.

Rogue Heroes isn't trying to be extraordinary, but for that very reason it ends up being a fantastic game. By not falling into the trap of doing too much, Heliocentric has delivered one of the best Zelda-inspired action RPGs on the market. And at such a modest price, you'd be doing yourself a disservice to not at least try Rogue Heroes.

Rogue Heroes: Ruins of Tasos is an adorable yet challenging dungeon crawler designed to play with friends and suitable for any character class. Its world is exciting, its style is lovely and it has a lot going for it that draws you into the adventure.