Overall I don’t think it’s one of the best rogue-likes I’ve played, but I think it stands above your garden variety rogue-like. Its gimmick makes playing through the game really fast, yet it still demands careful planning. For just $8 on Steam and the Switch, it’s not a bad deal at all if you’re looking for something on a very low budget. It’ll probably last you 10-20 hours or so, depending on just how good you are at playing cautiously.
Bug Fables starts out as a totally fine homage to Paper Mario, but as you play the game you realize that the game has a lot to offer. If you really want something in that sort of ballpark, this game is definitely worth your time. If you don’t like Paper Mario specifically, then its a bit harder to recommend. It’s currently $20 on Steam, and beating it will likely take around 30-35 hours, and if you’re a completionist, it can easily get over 40 hours. I think it’s a little too long for its own good, but still worthwhile.
Black Future ’88 surprised me quite a bit. It’s a very rewarding and addicting game, and you’ll catch yourself saying “just one more run” every time you die. Its short length and fast pace makes it very conducive to replaying, and unlike some rogue-likes, it’s fun to play pretty much immediately. Even in a genre where a game like Dead Cells stands tall, this can certainly stand on its own merits. If you like rogue-likes and platforming action games even a little bit, this is an easy recommendation. It’s $20 on Steam and the Nintendo Switch eShop, and even though a successful run lasts 18 minutes or less, you can easily sink 10+ hours into it.
Loop Hero is a lot of fun, and gives you that “one more run” feeling that great rogue-likes tend to do. It’s incredibly unique also, there really isn’t anything out there like this. If you like rogue-likes, if you like strategy games, if you like card games even, I think each of those are vectors that one could take to find enjoyment in this game. For $15, you can’t go wrong with this.
Buying these games individually might’ve been a hard sell for some due to the almost non-existent story and generally very low run-time. The whole collection is a great value, though. For $20, you get three amazing platformers, and 20 hours worth of playtime, minimum.
Still, I do think the DLC is well worth it if you like Dead Cells. It’s more of a good game, and I’d argue that it’s some of the better content, at least as far as the early game goes. The weapons are all really fun too. It’s $5, and even though you can technically see all of the content within 20 minutes, this is a rogue-like. You’re gonna be replaying it quite a lot, and on a larger timescale, which adds quite a lot of variety. The base game is $25, and while that might seem somewhat steep for what the game is, I’ve put over a hundred hours into the game, so it’s well worth it.
If you haven’t played this game and read this review anyway, I still highly recommend playing this game if any aspect of this sounds compelling to you. I didn’t go over every little thing in the game, and it’s worth going through yourself. It only takes a few hours to play, and despite the somewhat steep price tag of $30, it’s well worth it. Judging it on the mechanics alone, it might seem underwhelming. But the way it ties all of its mechanics into the narrative and theme is fantastic, and the final sequence just knocks it out of the park, and had me in tears. Despite the odd direction in voice acting and the really lackluster visuals, its sincerity is what makes it compelling. It’s easily one of the more memorable games I’ve played this year, and it’s one I’m gonna be thinking about for awhile.
Killer7 is a game that defies convention at every turn. Nothing it does ever feels by the books, sometimes it seems to deliberately break certain “rules” just for the sake of breaking them. It’s a shooter, but it does things so differently from other shooters, its hard to really put it in the same category. The game oozes style in all aspects. If you’re in the mood for something that’s astonishingly unique, it’s really hard to go wrong with this game. It’s $20 on Steam, a single playthrough will last about 15 hours, and there’s extra modes you can unlock to play around with for added value. It’s well worth the money and certainly worth your time.