2) Rogue Legacy
Well made roguelikes lend themselves well to replayability by virtue of their randomly generated design elements. These randomized elements help to alleviate the sense of monotony that sink other experiences of a similar ilk. Rogue Legacy is an incredibly balanced and superbly designed platformer RPG roguelike with charm by the bucketload. The aim here is to explore randomly generated dungeons and defeat four bosses from each of the four unique environments in order to unlock the game’s final boss.
Every run-through feels distinctive and one of its big draws is the game’s sense of progression. Every failure is an opportunity to upgrade your character as gold accrued on a run must be spent before re-entering the randomly generated dungeons. It’s this feeling of progression that really hooked me in, as failure never truly felt like failure, but instead felt like a lucky chance to improve your character’s stats and skills.
Add to this a unique heir system, where every time you meet your maker you’re given the choice of your next player character by selecting from several potential and differing descendants in the family tree, and you have a habit-forming platformer with the tail to truly keep you invested, not only for the one playthrough, but for the amply devised New Game Plus mode, too. Even though it’s a few years old, it’s still super addictive stuff and absolutely belongs in the pantheon of modern, addicting indie gems.
