What looked at first to be a cruel April Fools’ joke is, in blessed reality, some of the best news I’ve heard all week: Cellar Door Games is making Rogue Legacy 2. Scheduled for release sometime this summer, Rogue Legacy 2 adapts the original game’s pixel art style into 3D, while still maintaining the side-scrolling procedurally generated dungeon bombing that one would expect.
As with the first game, Rogue Legacy 2 is a dyed in the wool rogue-like, emphasis on the “like.” The “manor” stat improvement system returns, as does the rune system from the first game, only this time players can stack an infinite number of runes. “It’ll take a while, but if you wanted to have penta jump, and lifesteal, and hyperspeed you can,” reads the game’s Steam page. Additionally, each class now has a unique set of weapons, rather than everyone (mostly) using the same big ol’ sword. “Take down foes from afar with your bow as the nimble Ranger,” the listing reads, “or get up and close with the massive Battleaxe as the Barbarian.”
Your Legacy continues#RogueLegacy2 pic.twitter.com/uUGeLE9TPm
— CellarDoorGames (@CellarDoorGames) April 2, 2020
Based on some concept art tweeted from Cellar Door’s official Twitter account, it also looks like fan-favorite spooky guy Charon will return for Rogue Legacy 2, though it remains to be seen if he’s retained his ability to lock down the layout of the castle … for a price. Also returning is Rogue Legacy‘s trademark Heir system, wherein each attempt at conquering the castle is undertaken by the next generational successor to the family name, who often come with randomized traits that either help or hinder the hero.
“Every child is unique,” Cellar Door Games says. “Some might have Synethesia, others might be a pacifist, and some could just be a little chubby. Through the powers of Socialism, traits which have more debilitating effects on gameplay now give gold bonuses!”
Cellar Door promises more details in the coming weeks, so hopefully we’ll get to see some real gameplay footage before too long. It doesn’t seem like a ton is different this time around (aside from the new visual style, of course), but when you’re making a sequel to a game as good as the original Rogue Legacy, you might not want to screw with the formula too much. If Cellar Door got out there and was like “yeah actually Rogue Legacy 2 is a multiplayer-only pachinko management sim exclusively for Google Stadia,” I’d be less enthused.
If you’ve never played the original, all of Cellar Door’s games are currently on sale on the Nintendo Switch eShop, with Rogue Legacy discounted by 66 percent and available for just $5 and change. If you’re into Alucard/Samus games, Rogue Legacy‘s value proposition is hard to beat at its normal price of $15, so nabbing it for five smackers is a no-brainer, especially on a system as perfectly suited for it as the Switch. It’s also available on iOS and Android (and Vita, lmao), but I really recommend having physical controls for this one. Platforms for Rogue Legacy 2 have yet to be announced, but since there’s a Steam page we can go ahead and assume that a PC version is on the docket.
