- Developer: Heliocentric Studios
- Publisher: Team17
- Release Date: 08/09/2020
- Price: £15.99 / $19.99
- Review code provided by Team17
Video Review
Introducing the Rogue Heroes: Ruins of Tasos Switch Review
When a land long forgotten to time begins to mysteriously call out for heroes to step on to it’s lands to defeat an evil sealed away millennia ago, what do you do? Do you take the long trek across the ocean to hear the tales and legends of the land of Tasos? The fantastic stories of treasure hidden within the land’s 4 dungeons, that would satisfy even the least greedy heart in the world. The epic lore behind the immense monsters traveling the land that would excite the adventurer’s heart. The fact you can bring 2-3 friends along for the ride to help solve puzzles, fight monsters, split the treasures you find, and fight bosses. That’s the REAL reason to take on Rogue Heroes: Ruins of Tasos: fact you can take on this Zelda-like Rogue-lite with a friend or 3! Keep scrolling to to read the rest of our Rogue Heroes review.
A Tale of Goddesses and Titans
Long ago, there existed four Goddesses that protected the land. Unfortunately, if there is an ultimate good in the world, there must be an ultimate evil as well. Enter the Titans. The Goddess Titan war spanned generations until one final intense clash led the Goddesses to take one final, desperate action: They sealed the titans away in four dungeons located in the land of Tasos. As time went on, however, the strength of the seals began to wane and the Goddesses were no longer powerful enough to keep the Titans sealed away. They gathered what remaining strength they had to call out to all corners of the world, for heroes that would come to Tasos and enter the dungeons, solve the puzzles, and put the Titans to bed once and for all. Take up the mantle of a hero. Decide what class of hero you want to be. Then find your way to all 4 dungeons because the road is long, the dungeons are dangerous, but you are the only one who can save this land!
Calling All Heroes!
Our review of Rogue Heroes starts strong. You pick the color of your outfit even if every starting player begins as a Hero. You’ll feel more engaged in the stories and adventures you have because you get to make your character all your own. Unless you bought the Bomber Class DLC before beginning the game, you begin in the Hero Class. Your strength, defense, and speed all balanced out. You’ll also activate a Dash Attack if you hold the B button which will have you run at full speed until you hit a harder object than you.
After creating your unique character and exiting your cabin, the story behind the Ruins of Tasos will play out via illustrated still images. Afterward, you can decide to play the Tutorial which will introduce the game’s main mechanics. It’s actually very helpful for introducing the various gameplay elements that will help you solve puzzles. Finish the Tutorial, then meet Griff. He will be the guy you return to to build new buildings such as shops, training facilities, a fishing dock, and more! He’ll do all of this in trade for gems you collect in the dungeons you enter. He tells you to collect 80 gems then return to him, and you’re off on your adventure! The only way to acquire gems is to go through the dungeons. So head Northeast to get to your first dungeon and begin collecting.
Like Rogue-Lite-Like-LikeLike-Elite
The gameplay of Rogue Heroes is a mashup of several different genres that work together very well. Yes, it’s a rogue-lite/like that takes advantage of the live, kill, die, power up, repeat method which the internet will defend to death if you find any way to criticize it. Combine this way of design with a top-down Zelda game and you’ve got a recipe for creativity, for interesting combat, and for innovative gameplay. You’ll quickly notice the Zelda inspiration with the way the characters move, attack, use items and use their class-specific abilities with the B button. Rogue Heroes actually has some very fluid design and smooth-as-silk combat that will entertain you and the friends you bring along for the adventure.
Ordinarily, rogue-lites/likes have a method of currency design that requires players to play through an entire run of a level, or a game, before they power the player character up for future challenges. Dying will cause all currency to disappear and the player to start over. Rogue Heroes has a very simple change-up to this design that elevates it above all others like it. You see, when you die, you KEEP your currency earned in dungeons! You lose no gems or coins when you fall to a pit, a monster, a trap or a slime. This means that you can power yourself up after dying for any reason, then take on the challenge that caused you pass on a second time with a renewed sense of strength. And possibly a new class, a stronger weapon, more health, or another power-up of some kind.
Final Thoughts
To conclude our review, Rogue Heroes is a game that can easily be beaten by the single player or a few friends because each player creates their own character, their own profile, to power up with the gems found in each dungeon. With each dungeon being a randomly generated set of puzzles and rooms in which you must defeat every enemy to move on, you can enter each dungeon multiple times to collect gems to power yourself up. This is an adventure game that will keep on giving. You can collect each class. Learn each one’s B-button ability. Buy each and every upgrade, tend to your farm and find the various secret areas that are hidden throughout the land. This reviewer highly recommends Rogue Heroes: Ruins of Tasos to anyone looking for a great combination of Zelda combat and Rogue-like/lite mechanics that you can play with friends!
Pros
- Dungeon design different each time
- Every class feels different
- Combat very fun
- Great gameplay with/without friends
- Fun bosses
- Currency not lost after death
Cons
- Stamina bar
- Some enemies don’t have stun frames while others do
- The stamina bar again
- Snakes hiding in jars
Verdict
Rogue Heroes is one of the few Roguelite/like games this reviewer can recommend if only because it’s so fun to play with friends!
