Rogue Blight

Full disclosure: I playtested this game, so at the time of writing this review, my hours playing it are actually a lot higher than suggested here. Okay? Good, onto the main review! - Where to begin? I think the first thing that needs highlighting is the atmosphere and aesthetic that the game has. It has a very distinct artstyle that conjures up imagery of classic Souls games for me. Demon's Souls, Dark Souls, you name it. The music and the general sound design feel like they perfectly match this dark and hostile world. You really do feel like you're venturing out into a world filled with grim monsters, cutting your way through to the heart of the corruption in hopes to restore at least some semblance of peace. For the actual gameplay, it has a solid tutorial that lasts a lot longer than you would think. Every enemy and boss is designed to teach you something new so that you're better prepared for future encounters, this is coupled with the fact that you will more than likely begin experimenting with builds as you attempt more and more runs. You collect weapons, armor, and Blessings. And though it's not a 1:1 parallel, the general setup reminds me of Slay the Spire, and I do wonder if CodeRad might have been inspired by that game too. The game wears the inspirations on the sleeve, if you're a fan of Salt and Sanctuary, you can probably tell just by looking at this game what i mean. Just like in Slay the Spire, you'll plan out a route on a map determining what will be most useful to you at any given moment of a run. There's the main attraction, which is a normal run to push difficulty up higher (or just to keep practicing on a given difficulty level), and then there's an optional thing you acquire later on; challenge maps. These are shorter, more difficult runs usually involving some kind of theme. A darkness challenge will make it so that you can't see very far ahead on the map, and your vision is obscured during battles for example. Meta progression takes two forms. The first is through fungi, which can be spent on a plethora of upgrades which either improve your character or various things you will encounter within any run, and then Boss Essences. These are used to unlock special starting armors -- each one giving you a permanent bonus. For those of you that love build experimentation, you'll want to peruse these especially. The gameplay itself is satisfying. There's three weapon types, each corresponding to the three stats. Swords are strength, wands are Intelligence, and daggers are dexterity. Each of these stats also provide a bonus as you build them up further in a run. Each weapon also has it's own special attack, ensuring that even if you're using a water sword or a water dagger, they feel distinct from each other. Enemies are daunting and tricky at first, but like in many Souls-games, you can learn how they move and what their tells are, leading to very clean fights. The game has a leaderboard function, so you can check your ranking, and compare to the top players and your friends. So if you like a little bit of friendly competition, Rogue Blight has you covered there! I can keep gushing on and on about the game. But really, it's extremely cheap and I think it's worth the money. But if you're unsure, try the demo! It's still available totally for free, and it gives you a very good taste of what to expect. You'll also get a bonus of some starting fungi for playing the demo! So there's no harm in it. CodeRad (the dev) is also extremely active and quite friendly, still applying support to the game even after the launch, and has plans for future content. Expansions of content may come further down the line if they do come, but the game as it stands now is feature complete, so don't feel like you're getting into an Early Access game with no full release in sight. Give the game a chance through the demo, and I think you'll be just as hooked as I ended up being!