Review: Roguecraft DX for Windows

Roguecraft DX for Windows Title

The development of Roguecraft from Badger Punch Games and Thalamus Digital Publishing has been an interesting one. Starting off as a Commodore 64 game developed for a 4 KB coding competition, Rogue4k was expanded into Rogue64, a full-fledged Rogue clone. Shortly after, they developed a version for the Amiga 16-bit computer. Roguecraft took the basic formula from the Commodore 64 version and added advanced graphics and animation, additional creatures, and more potions to pick up.

Roguecraft DX was the next development milestone, originally released for the Evercade ecosystem of retro consoles. While the basic game was unchanged, the graphics were enhanced, additional dungeon layouts were added, and even more creatures and potions were added to this version. The full run was expanded from 10 levels to 15, with the addition of an above-ground starting level. It soon became one of Evercade’s most popular single-game cartridge releases.

After the success of the Evercade version, Badger Punch has worked hard to bring the DX version to other platforms. It has been released on the Amiga and Mega65. Windows users now have a version of the game, and it is by far the most evolved to date.

Roguecraft DX for Windows

Again, the basic gameplay remains largely unchanged from the original Amiga version. You enter a dungeon. Using turn-based movement and attack, you dispatch the creatures found within, pick up potions and gold, and try to make it to the final level alive.  One of the key additions in the DX versions is the different player characters, which serve as a difficulty selector. The fighter is the easiest. Its health and strength can be increased more than any other character. The rogue is the mid-range difficulty level. Lower maximum health and strength than the fighter, but it gains the ability to teleport, which triggers a powerful back-stab buff when performed. The mage is the most difficult character. It has the lowest maximum health and strength of all of the characters, but is the only one capable of performing a ranged attack on enemies. This lets the player clear the level of monsters without ever getting into range of their melee attacks.

Roguecraft DX for Windows adds even more graphical enhancements, with more detailed characters and level tiles, and additional animations. Along with health and strength pickups, there are now three different potions in each level, up from two in the original game and DX versions, chosen at random from an even longer list of possibilities. Teleportation, stoneskin, and a room-clearing electrical spell are among the possible potions you could encounter on your runs. While the potion choices are static for each run, they change with every new game. This is one of the features that makes each playthrough truly unique. The main selling point is that each dungeon is procedurally generated for every game.

Roguecraft DX for Windows

The biggest addition to the Windows version of DX is two new game modes: Endless Dungeon and Chicken Run. Endless Dungeon is similar to the classic game mode, but instead of playing through the standard 15 dungeon levels, you are faced with an infinite number of levels to tackle. As you move down, each level becomes progressively harder than the last. Try to make it as deep as you can before the challenge becomes overwhelming.

Chicken Run is… weird. For context, one of the first creatures that you will meet in the game, and one that you will be constantly fighting throughout the game, is the chicken. You will kill many, many chickens in the game. Well, Chicken Run is where the chicken gets to have its day. Instead of a fighter, rogue, or mage, you play as one of the chickens. Your health and strength max out at just two levels, so locating healing eggs and eggs that temporarily increase your strength will be extremely important. Personally, I never made it past the second level of this version, but it is definitely a unique take on the classic formula.

Roguecraft DX for Windows

As I said, Roguecraft DX for Windows is truly the culmination of every version of the game that has come before. While some may balk at purchasing multiple versions of the same game, it has been very interesting seeing the development of this title throughout the various iterations, particularly from the original Amiga version to the Evercade DX release, to this latest version. Interestingly, Badger Punch and Thalamus have announced a version of the game for the ZX Spectrum Next retro system, which may be the most interesting version yet.

At $15 (on sale for 20% off until September 24th on Steam), the Windows version of Roguecraft DX is an easy recommendation. The game is addictive, and the procedurally generated runs and new game modes will keep you coming back again and again, as you try to make it just one more level deeper into the dungeon. Just watch out for the chickens.