Rogue Legacy 2 is entering early access on PC in July
Coming to Steam and the Epic Store.
Rogue Legacy 2, the sequel to Cellar Door Games' superb Castlevania-esque rogue-lite exploratory platformer, is coming to Steam and Epic Games Store early access on 23rd July.
The original Rogue Legacy launched to immediate acclaim in 2013, thanks to its compelling procedurally generated action-platforming that saw every new play-through undertaken by a previous hero's heir - with each new generation possessing a fresh mix of classes, abilities, and traits that could dramatically affect subsequent runs.
New heroes might, for instance, become tiny in stature or super strong, while clumsy heroes would destroy all breakable objects they touched, heroes with vertigo would find the game world flipped on its head, heroes with Peripheral Arterial Disease could pass through spike traps without triggering them, and so on. All this variety, combined with an extensive upgrade loop, made for a wonderfully re-playable experience.
Rogue Legacy 2 will follow the same basic formula as its predecessor but, as you'd hope, will expand on it in numerous ways. The first, most obvious change comes in the form of a visual makeover, which combines 3D characters and hand-drawn backdrops for a rather more lavish take on the original's pixel art aesthetic.
However, according to Rogue Legacy 2's Steam page (there's no equivalent page on Epic just yet), the sequel will also feature new abilities and unique weapons for hero classes, enhanced biome generation, a gold gain modifier boost to encourage players to use heirs with more debilitating traits, and improved accessibility to ensure both new and hardcore players are provided with an appropriate challenge.
More significantly, Rogue Legacy 2 will also introduce heirlooms. These are items that give players permanent new abilities that "fundamentally change how you play", enabling Cellar Door to craft an experience it describes as "true Metroidvania".
Cellar Door says the game has already been in development for two years (a full list of early access launch features can be found on Rogue Legacy 2's Steam page), and that it expects version 1.0 to arrive some time in 2021. Major updates - including the likes of new biomes, bosses, enemies, and NPCs - will come to the game approximately every two months during development, with minor updates and bug-fixing patches due in-between.
Rogue Legacy 2 will launch at $19.99 USD (around £16) on 23rd July, and its price is expected to rise to $29.99 (around £24) come the release of version 1.0.