I play a lot of roguelikes here, but I’m also keen to play games that sit adjacent to my beloved roguelites, and one such video game rolled out yesterday, if you’ll pardon the terrible pun.
What is Rolla?
If you’re a fan of classic sci-fi B-movies, then one look at Rolla will tell you nearly everything you need to know.
As you can see in the screenshots and artwork, Rolla is a game where you get to play as a giant sentient flesh monster that absorbs anything it comes into contact with.
I played Carrion a few years ago, and that was a smart Metroidvania exploration of the same idea. Rolla takes the concept into a 3D arena, brings it to life with rustic PSX graphics, and wraps it in a news report-themed UI that confirms your ongoing destruction via a tallying up of the damage you’ve caused.
Rolling up the charts
You earn points from rolling over little humans, smashing into their cars, or bashing through their pesky buildings. There are multipliers to reward your efforts, and various Tony Hawk-inspired collectables and mini objectives to complete in each mission.
The eponymous Rolla grows as it absorbs more people, but then shrinks when damaged. This is simple at first, but it’s not long before EVERYTHING is trying to kill you. Bullets whizz, flames bellow, and helicopters circle. Staying alive is easier said than done, especially when the bigger enemies start showing up.
Once you have run your race and the bullets have destroyed your favourite sentient meatball, your score is added up and, if you’ve unlocked enough objectives, it’s on to the next arena.
I spent a good chunk of last night taking it in turns to play Rolla with my eldest son, and we both enjoyed the pacing of the action and the high-score-chasing element. This is a simple game compared to many I play, but it also offers a purity and arcade-first approach to gameplay that I really enjoyed.
Rolla is out now on Steam PC (Win), and I played via access kindly provided by the developer Tyrmä Games and publisher Pantaloon.
