Rogue Legacy 2, the sequel to the rouge-lite with a genealogy twist by Cellar Door Games has been in Early Access since August 2020, but it’s now ready for its 1.0 launch.
Rogue Legacy is one of the early indie rouge-lite hits. It’s a roguelike but with persistent unlocks that carry over between runs. And its twist of having your character of subsequent runs be an heir of your previous (and dead) character with various perks and traits.
Rogue Legacy 2 is expanding that formula in so many ways. “Our goal for Rogue Legacy 2 was always to make ‘Rogue Legacy 3’ because we didn’t want to settle for just more,” developers Cellar Door Games said in a press release.
The sequel adds 15 new classes like Rangers that shoot poison arrows, a bard that sing and dance leaving enemies dead in their wake and a Dragon Lancer that can fly. There’s also a change in art style- characters are rendered in 3D but the environments are hand-drawn similar to the original game.
The levels are all procedurally generated but each biome will have different “build strategies”, so the layout will feel different between the biomes.
Rogue Legacy 2 is also adding a new kind of permanent unlock: heirlooms. This will give your lineage of heroes new abilities Metroidvania-style, though earning one will require you to work for it.
Speaking of lineage, there are more traits, positive and negative, that will shake up your runes. But now there’s more incentive to run with a character with debilitating traits, as you can gain gold modifiers to encourage not going for the optimal route.
There are accessibility options in Rogue Legacy 2 in the form of House Rules. Contact damage and global damage and health can be adjusted. And there’s a way to make platforming easier. And there are more mechanics this time that can help make the journey easier, like.. off-shore banking.
For the hardcore players, there are also ways to make it harder in New Game+.
You can get Rogue Legacy 2 right now on PC (Steam, Epic Games Store) in Early Access form. It will launch in full on April 28. In addition, the original Rogue Legacy is currently free right now as the weekly Epic Games Store freebie, available until April 14.