

During my time with Rogue Lords, turning on Devil Mode with impunity became essential to conquering late-run enemies. Rogue Lords ReviewĬheating through a fight is not only a last resort, it’s practically encouraged throughout the game.

Want to just deplete that annoying Priest’s HP to zero with a flick of the wrist? Done. Wish you had that defensive buff the boss has that’s preventing damage? Steal it from the boss and put it on your party member. Flipping over to this mode allows you, the Devil, to manipulate the battle to how you see fit. Party members can protect themselves with spells, or you can start playing tricks with the game in the signature Devil Mode. Actions during your turns are dictated by a pool of points you spend, with party members casting a wide range of abilities that inflict status effects that can turn the tide of battle in your favor. Like a classic RPG, it’s your party of 3 versus waves of enemies. Devil Mode, when you can manipulate the map, is useful mainly for passing critical checks when you think a reward might be useful, but beyond that it’s generally just hoping the randomness blesses you.Ĭombat is where Rogue Lords gets interesting.

Choices vary and can affect things from party members gaining new abilities, destroying something that impacts upcoming encounters, and more. Prior to entering a social event, you can see a stat that is checked and pick a character that can check against that stat. If you’re not starting combat, you’re visiting a social check of some kind. While in the exploration phase, Rogue Lords is similar to a glorified board game - you walk on the map to activity nodes that initiate combat phases and social checks. Playing like a traditional dungeon crawler and turn-based RPG, Rogue Lords consists of three different: Exploration, combat, and preparation. With its gothic and horror theme, you play as the Devil himself, who, after being banished back to Hell after blundering at the hands of famed vampire hunter Van Helsing, swears revenge on the human world by coming back with a little help from some famous fictional characters like Dracula and Bloody Mary. While traditional in its base, Rogue Lords changes a couple things up to differentiate itself from a slew of other roguelikes, for better or for worse. However, what if you could load the dice to ensure a favorable outcome? Some would call that unfair, but Rogue Lords makes that its main draw. The randomness of each run draws players in to find new loot or abilities, hoping they make it to the endgame. Roguelikes have been taking over the world of gaming for quite some time now.
