Long-time readers will know of the high regard in which I hold Halls of Torment, and so won’t be surprised to hear that I’m pleased to see that the game’s first major expansion is out now on PC (Lin, Win), and the game is also finally available on PlayStation and Xbox.
Both the main game and the expansion are available on PC and console, and there’s also a free content update for all players (although I can’t see any trace of the new stuff on mobile).
The new content can be viewed in two distinct camps. There’s the Bard, a new playable character who has been in testing for a couple of weeks now, and then there’s everything else.
Before we move onto the paid-for content, a quick word on the Bard, who unlocks once you’ve completed the base game and is a belated treat for all players.
This new class comes with six new abilities, six endgame artifacts, some new music (which has also been added to the soundtrack), and more than 20 new quests. Not bad for a freeby.
As cool as this Bardcore update is – and that’s from someone who goes full-bard whenever we play D&D – the headline is, of course, the new environment and associated gubbins.
Welcome to The Boglands
The name of the new DLC directly relates to the new environment, which you can unlock once you’ve grabbed up a total of 11 herbs.
A new boggy sandbox means new mechanics – in this instance you’ll be inflicting decay on your enemies, and using earth as an element.
The new characters are called the The Crone and The Alchemist respectively, and I look forward to unravelling their nuances in the coming weeks. The Crone’s skillset is linked to the new decay mechanic, while The Alchemist is more of a multi-elementalist.
Both of the new DLC characters are unlocked through the new Boglands quest board.
On top of the new playable characters, there are also three new abilities, as well as 12 new items, and six artifacts. Plus you’ll be able to engage in more than 50 (!) new quests – now that’s a lot of new torment to keep me busy!
Head to The Boglands’ Steam page if you’d like to find out more about the new content on PC. What’s more, the new content is also out on console, with Halls of Torment making the long-awaited move to PlayStation and Xbox Series (and while the base is on Game Pass, the expansion is not).
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Still with us? Of course you are! If you want to keep reading about great hand-picked games, the following articles represent a huge collection of the finest roguelikes and roguelites ever made.
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Now let’s get down to business. First, let’s establish the parameters for inclusion. We can answer the question of “what is a roguelike?” by briefly telling you about the game that started this whole party.
Rogue is a turn-based RPG with procedurally-generated dungeon crawling and permadeath. The genre has exploded in a hundred different directions since then, but all of the games on this list retain one or two core features that first appeared in Rogue back in 1980.
The best turn-based roguelikes: Caves of Qud | There are some seriously incredible turn-based roguelikes out there. Of all the modern games, these are the closest to the original Rogue.
Awesome first-person rogues: Gunfire Reborn | We almost went with Blue Prince for this spot, but most people checking out first-person rogues probably want to wield a gun, you know?!
Cool roguelike deckbuilders: Balatro | Sorry, Slay the Spire fans, but this poker-solitaire deckbuilder has stolen Mike’s heart and won’t give it back.
Exciting roguelike platformers: Spelunky | Now, don’t get us wrong, Dead Cells is an incredible game, especially with all the DLC switched on. But when it comes to impact, you just can’t beat Spelunky.
Amazing action-roguelites: Hades 2 | And finally, let’s wrap things up with our favourite of them all. There’s no beating the original Hades, although Hades 2 comes pretty close!
