It can be quite difficult to make a traditional turn-based roguelike stand out from the crowd. These are games that, historically speaking at least, place much less emphasis on polished visuals and instead focus on gameplay innovation, interesting synergies, and even fresh ways of exploring emergent storytelling.
Having said that, more recently, games like Caves of Qud have proven that a traditional roguelike can look authentic while still avoiding the feeling that you’re playing some super-antiquated game from yesteryear. Next up to the plate, we have Lost Flame by Bartosz Bojarowski, a contemporary roguelike that puts a fresh twist on a genre that really should be all out of spin by now…
What is Lost Flame all about, then?
In the simplest sense, Lost Flame is a fantasy RPG. It’s a turn-based roguelike with potions, armour, magic spells, and a loot-driven approach to character building – no set classes here.
The game’s USP is a smart combat system. In fact, solo dev Bojarowski wastes no time in sending a giant to smash you, and in these first intense seconds of battle, you’ll come to understand the game’s core hook.
Lost Flame’s biggest monsters attack large areas, not just the tile that you’re standing on, and you’ll have to stay nimble if you’re going to avoid getting battered by a sweeping blow. At first, it’s simple enough to manage, but pretty soon you’ll be juggling the actions and intentions of multiple enemies, and that’s when things get saucy.
You’ve usually got a bit of time to react to incoming damage, with a turn or two to move out of the area of effect, but if you linger too long, you’ll be pushing up digital daisies in no time. Red blocks denote incoming damage, with both ranged weapons and huge lunging blows.
You can counter these massive attacks (great band, btw) with a series of special moves of your own, which you must manage like you would any selection of RPG abilities, with each one mapped to a certain input. It’s a neat setup that’s linked to a ticker system that dictates how long each action will take.
My thoughts so far…
When these systems are combined with the constant need to reassess your location in relation to the evolving threat around your character, it creates an interesting and engaging tension.
There’s an overworld that you’ll find pretty quickly, and getting there opens things up with new characters to engage with, but ultimately, this is a dungeon crawl pure and simple, albeit one with really interesting combat.
When it comes to handling, Lost Flame is surprisingly intuitive considering the level of complexity it offers. It’s all simple yet smart game design. That said, the onboarding wasn’t as strong as it could have been, and while I don’t mind being left to work out things for myself, I know there are some people out there who’ll bounce without a good tutorial.
I enjoyed myself enough to add the game to this list of my favourite modern roguelikes. With its Spartan-yet-cute visual style, clever combat systems, and engaging gameplay loop, Lost Flame is a fine option for any fan of traditional turn-based dungeon crawlers who likes a bit of turn-based fisticuffs.
Lost Flame is out now on PC (Win), and I played via access kindly provided by the developer.
