Rogue Lords

An initially delightful roguelike, held back from greatness by rough edges and stingy unlocks.

Rogue Lords is a solid overall RPG roguelike with an interesting theme and a really cool mechanic in its Devil Mode. These things help to separate Rogue Lords from the pack, but unfortunately some uneven difficulty spikes and combat’s pacing slowing down in later runs takes a bit of the shine off the game’s longevity. It’s still worth playing until that happens.

Roguelike deckbuilding games have been quite the rage for the past few years, but not everything in the space strategy space has adhered to that hot trend...

Under its air of colorful horror tale, Rogue Lords actually hides a formidable roguelike of efficiency and original with it.

Rogue Lords is that it’s a fun strategy game and the characters being horror legends just tops it off. Especially if you’re a horror fan like myself.

Rogue Lords is very pretty. They nailed the art design and character models, which I imagine will attract many people to this roguelike RPG. However, I am afraid that the attraction is surface level. With any roguelike game, you expect each run to feel different from the next and reset that excitement and engagement. Still, with Rogue Lords, once you've completed three books or so, it doesn't feel like it has any more to offer. Getting through three books is an achievement, as the gameplay and battle system is tedious, hard and repetitive. With a bit more streamlining of some mechanics and improvements in pacing, you'll have a more polished title that I'd be more comfortable recommending.

Rogue Lords is another solid roguelike game for fans of the genre but one that also has some issues with RNG and repetitiveness. I really dug the art style and voice acting but the gameplay doesn’t hold up as well over the long haul of these chapters. Altering things in your favor though with the risk/reward essence mechanic did feel pretty unique though and I don’t regret my time playing the game at all. If you’re a fan of the genre and don’t mind it feeling a little unfair at times then you’ll likely enjoy this.

Rogue Lords, then, isn’t a roguelike for the masses. And even those keen on the genre might not gel with it. The long-term rewards just aren’t all that rewarding, especially with each run feeling like a slog. And while its unique mechanics separate it from its peers, they also overcomplicate matters. Still, its horror theme is definitely alluring, so roguelike fans who like a bit of darkness might want to give it a go.

Rogue Lords is an innovative mix of roguelike and RPG elements with clever new concepts to tax your tactical mind. There’s a constant one-more-encounter compulsivity as you look to make your band of villains ever more powerful, and a huge scope for creativity provided by the reality-bending devil mode. For an entertainingly strategic experience where you have free license to indulge your dark side and wreak havoc with a variety of ghosts and ghouls, Rogue Lords will sate your wicked desires.

Rogue Lords is a fun and entertaining rogue-like. A game to spend hours and hours playing and trying to find combinations and groundbreaking strategies.