The onslaught of auto-shooters continues, and the latest game to ask for some of your precious time is Rogue: Genesia. I’ve had this one wishlisted since I first saw it – the game has been available in Early Access since last year – and there’s a demo on Steam that I thought I’d take a look at.
It’s impossible to write about Rogue: Genesia without first referencing Vampire Survivors. What I will say is that it is interesting how quickly genre conventions have formed around the bullet heaven gameplay loop. In my admittedly limited time with Rogue: Genesia, my experience is that it does lean into those new-found conventions.
It’s up to you whether that’s a big deal or not, but for me, it’s no drama. I’m still dipping in and out of Vampire Survivors and having fun with it, so a new game that borrows much of that formula is absolutely fine with me. Especially when that game looks as good as Rogue: Genesia. It reminds me of Square Enix JRPG Octopath Traveller, which is high praise indeed.
I only made a handful of runs at the campaign but that was enough to know that I was playing a game with potential. The experience is supremely accessible, and thus I was quickly upgrading my attacks, adding new weapons, and bulking up my defences. It was reassuringly familiar, but at the same time, there was enough individuality that it didn’t feel like I was playing just another clone.
Rogue: Genesia’s story and setting
The only concern that I have after playing the demo is the pacing; it all felt a bit stop-start. This was most noticeable during the choose-your-own-adventure style scenarios, which were all the same and presented the player with the same mundane choice: give up an ability card and slow the development of your build, or offer up some health. This part of the game feels rather undernourished and I wanted more interesting decisions to make.
I only say this because Rogue: Genesia goes to the trouble of coming up with a really great premise: you’re a celestial space knight who has been sent to a load of different planets to rid them of monsters. There so much that can be done with a setting like this, and I’m hoping that more of the game’s personality and story can shine through.
The game’s setting alludes to a wider infestation of monsters that the player has to deal with across a range of besieged planets. Taking control of a character called Rog, he’s described as “the master of all weapons”, which is handy because there seems to be a few.
As for what else I noticed? The monster designs impressed, although there’s plenty left for me to discover, so I’ll see how things evolve on that front. The levels looked pretty decent, too. Textured and stylish. However, they could do with a bit more visual variety at times – another very fixable shortfall.Â
I also quite liked the nodal system for mission progression. As you can see in the image below, you’ve got a degree of agency as to how you progress. I’ve mentioned the choose-your-own-adventure elements, and it’s here that they appear. It’s a neat set-up, and reminded me a little of the old sector map in FTL.
Based on my time with the demo, I’d say that we’ve got a good game on our hands here. There’s also a fair amount of room for Rogue: Genesia to expand and grow, which makes it rather exciting, I think.
I’d certainly recommend that you play the demo and try it for yourself, Dear Reader. There seems to be a generous slice of the game included, and I reckon that most of the people who play it are going to want to see more.
Update: I’ve fixed the article to remove references to the open beta.
