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Streets of Rogue Review


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2123815666_StreetsofRoguelogo.png.6f3f6a7de9a9bda41f93785fd730fac7.pngSome games, especially indie creations, suffer from having too broad of a scope and trying to do too many things at once. Streets of Rogue, from developer Matt Dabrowski and publisher tinyBuild Games, somehow manages to avoid those pitfalls while still packing an impressive amount of content into a fast-paced rogue-lite. Whether you're playing as a soldier and go in guns-blazing or try to play a more sneaky character class, Streets of Rogue offers up a ton of variety to make every playthrough engaging.
 
In a city of rampant inequality (as well as a surprising number of supernatural hazards, including vampires, zombies, and werewolves), a group of freedom fighters band together as a resistance against the mayor's tyrannical rule. That sets the stage for Streets of Rogue, but storytelling isn't really a priority here—dropping the player into a procedurally generated sandbox to play in is the real focus of the game. It's a shame too since when you do get a bit of dialogue it's usually pretty funny, but players will just have to be content with the endless possibilities of destruction available in the gameplay.
 
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Your goal throughout the game is to reach the Mayor's Village by first starting out in the slums and working your way up through the city, which in gameplay terms means fifteen procedurally generated levels. Each level has one or more missions you need to complete to progress, plus optional side missions, plus an overarching bonus mission depending on your character (e.g. the soldier needs to destroy power generators on every level). And since the layout of the map is different every time you play, the challenge is more in learning how to master the fundamental gameplay structure rather than memorizing paths or patterns. Although there is a short tutorial, the game doesn't do any hand-holding—like most rogue-lites, trial and error is the key to progress in Streets of Rogue. It's pretty overwhelming on your first attempt or two, but it helps to stick with one character at first while you learn the basics (the soldier is particularly nice since he starts with strong weapons and has health regeneration).
 
Like any good rogue-lite it's not just the randomly generated levels that keep things interesting, it's the item selection. There's a wide variety of items to find, purchase, or earn as a reward for completing missions, and they all help you interact with the game's world in unique ways. You may want to load up your character with guns and grenades in order to blast your way through missions, or you might stock up on lockpicks and window cutters to sneak into buildings covertly. Streets of Rogue finds a satisfying balance of letting players approach missions in different ways without completely overwhelming them. After a few playthroughs you'll have a good understanding of how best to use each item and whether or not they mesh with your current strategies, and at that point it becomes super addictive to try to make the most out of the items you find.
 
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And it's not just items that are going to make your playthroughs unique. Completing missions rewards you with experience points, and when you level up you're able to select a new trait which adds a passive effect or bonus, such as making it harder for people to see you when you're doing something illegal or increasing your melee damage. Even moreso than items these traits have a huge impact on how you progress, and like any rogue-lite there's a degree of luck involved—a powerful trait unlocked early in the game can make things significantly easier on you. There's a wide variety of traits that can be unlocked throughout the game and the good news is that you can toggle whether or not they show up in your current playthrough, which adds a helpful degree of customization and allows you to avoid traits that are less useful to your current character.
 
What truly makes Streets of Rogue stand out and helps make it so replayable is the variety of approaches you can take, which is generally dictated by your character class. For example, the soldier may be adept at surviving gun fights, but a physically weak character like the hacker has to rely upon more crafty strategies. Then there are characters like the bartender who are not built for combat or espionage at all, but excel at winning over ally NPCs to help complete missions or occasionally do your dirty work for you. In a way these non-combat classes are the "expert mode" of Streets of Rogue, since you have to have a good understanding of how the game's AI interacts between characters to play them effectively, but they represent an entirely different approach to the game which is just as much fun to explore as blowing up hostile characters as the soldier. You can even create custom characters to create unique challenges for yourself (or to build a totally overpowered character and just wreak havoc). The depth and variety of options is truly impressive and makes the game a true sandbox that rewards player creativity.
 
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That said, the game does have its repetitive moments as well. For all of the various options in the game there are still aspects that end up feeling a bit repetitive, and it's generally the missions you're assigned. There really only seem to be a handful of mission types and even when you're putting your unique traits and items to use they can get a little tiresome. You'll also run into disaster scenarios on occasion which up the ante with special challenges, such as a zombie infestation, though these disasters can be just as frustrating as they are exciting. What does help break up some of the monotony, though, is multiplayer. Adding a friend (or three) either locally or online has a big impact on how you approach the game. For the most part it makes it much easier since you can watch each other's backs when things get rough, but the added chaos factor is a blast even if you just want to mess around a bit.
 
The pixel art aesthetic is pretty charming as well, though it can't help but fall victim to some of the monotonous repetition that most procedurally generated games do. Even if you do end up seeing the same character designs over and over though, there is something satisfying about seeing these squat pixel characters racing around the screen. The music has a similar issue with being overly repetitive, but that's just the result of having a game based on replaying levels so much. Still, the techno soundtrack is infectiously upbeat, the perfect background music for causing a little mayhem.
 
Streets of Rogue is an ambitious game, and the good news is that it delivers well on the promise of varied, addictive rogue-lite gameplay. It's the kind of game where completing it once only gives you a small glimpse of the game's potential, because with a different character, different traits, and different items, you'll be treated to a whole new experience, not just in terms of map layouts but in how you fundamentally approach challenges. Add in a friend for some co-op chaos and you've got a game perfect for players that enjoy figuring out every little possibility that a game has to offer.
 
Rating: 8 out of 10 Traits
 
Review copy provided by publisher
 
Streets of Rogue is available now on the Switch eShop for $19.99.
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I'm sure I've seen the game's name before but never really thought about it but it seems there is quite a bit to the game in terms of gameplay variety between the characters/classes and the kind of traits you can obtain/build up and progress you can make. It sounds like it would be a fun multiplayer game for sure so I'm kinda interested in checking it out. 

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