Post edited 3:28 pm – January 18, 2011 by reberk

I picked 100 Rogues up during last week’s sale and was instantly taken by its unique approach to the classic roguelike genre. Having always been a fan of Roguelike conventions, I recognized (and appreciated) the typical conventions: random generation, the constant threat of starvation, and the many different ways to play your character. Where 100 Rogues goes above and beyond is in two areas: the game’s unique sense of character and its well thought out skill trees.

Upon surveying the class selection, I was glad to see a refreshing departure from the generic fighter/mage/thief that the fantasy genre is saturated with. Admittedly, the three available classes do fit this mold fairly comfortably, but with a little spin that makes them just that little bit more compelling to play. This little spin on roguelike/fantasy convention is consistent through the entirety of the game, from the assortment of enemies to the variety in weapons, to the interesting and unique bosses. It is so much nicer than running yet another generic dungeon and bludgeoning my way through yet another orcish horde. Great work on making something that takes inspiration from existing works but is clearly and uniquely yours.

Playing through it again and again with each of the three classes (as I purchased the skellyman fairly soon after the initial download), I really came to appreciate the thought that has gone into the skill trees. Being able to build a character in one of many ways and find success or failure in the dungeons as a direct result of it makes player decision even more meaningful. I’m constantly thinking of and stumbling upon novel ways to build a character (marksmanship applies to thrown items? Awesome!), and the variety in equipment makes so many different builds viable. I really like the locker functionality (and partially random spawns), and the limited space forces me to again make meaningful decisions about gameplay.

But there’s one thing that really holds this game back. Stability. Across 18 rogues, I have experienced approximately 35 crashes. Some of these have ended my adventure while others have just reset progress. It is a bittersweet benefit of the game’s nature that I never really lose that much and can just start another run, but it does begin to grate after a while. There are also moments of considerable slowdown that seem unrelated to my iPod’s background activity, but these are not game-breaking. It’s the fact that, in a game where players really control their own fate, one substantial thing is completely beyond my control when it shouldn’t be.

I don’t know much at all about programming and am sure that bug and compatibility testing are not a lot of fun with not a lot to show for it. But these are the issues that utterly defeat the unique and enjoyable game you’ve created and lead me away to other climes. I will certainly keep an eye out for future updates while I play as long as my patience holds, but really hope to see improvements in this area in the future.

In terms of future creative direction, I would say that new classes (and, to a lesser extent, new items and monsters) are certainly the most exciting prospect, but I wouldn’t shake my head at an additional environment, sandwiched in between dungeon and hell. True, it would make the game longer, but it’s so easy to pick up and play for a few minutes, resuming another roguish exploit from wherever I left off that I don’t really see that as a problem. Of course, more levels means more leveling, and I think the endgame as it is is fairly well-balanced.

I very rarely post on forums, but felt that this game was too good to let be overlooked because of technical faults. Keep up the great work that you’re doing; I really look forward to future releases and hope the app store is good to you.