Roguelight is a 2D pixel art roguelike made by Daniel Linssens. Fans of Game Jams will be very familiar with his work, and he won’t need much introduction, but needless to say it means that we’re not talking about a beginner here.
Roguelight follows an unnamed character who begins the game with a bow that, when pulled back, lights up the area for a duration of time. The player’s main goal is to get deeper into the cavern, but the balancing of light and defense means that you need to be really careful of the increasing dangers below.
In the beginning of the game I had almost no clue what to do, all I had was the controls that were given to me on the page of itch.io page. All I knew was that my goal was to go deeper into the cave. As someone who has played many roguelikes (The Binding of Isaac, Spelunky, Hades, etc) I knew that at some point I would have to die but I didn’t expect it to be so soon. The main gimmick of Roguelight is that your main light source comes from your bow which, when strung back lights an area around the player but starts to dim as it’s drawn — although you learn pretty quickly that you can also shoot lamps in the area to permanently light up that area.
Default:
Bow drawn:
After I died for the first time a shop appeared, this is where I could spend coins that I collect by killing enemies, picking them up from the floor or lighting a lamp. The shop offered permanent upgrades for different prices depending on how good they are. It was made clear to me this was a game such as hades where you’re very weak at the start of your playthrough and you will have to slowly upgrade your equipment and get further in the game.
Pros
Roguelike makes for a great game to grind for hours to be able to afford better items for purchase, this will: one, make your next run easier and two, give you a reason to collect coins.
I love the unique mechanic of when using your weapon it allows the player to see more in their limited vision and also being about to use their weapon for lighting the lanterns, making for an interesting dynamic, and giving a simple choice of using the arrows as a weapon or to be able to see more.
Cons
The limited vision, while being a cool game detail, also makes for an annoyance when you’re just walking around with no arrows and no way to see. Mismanagement of arrows can lead to frustrating deaths on simple spike traps, which can get annoying if it happens a few times in a row.
Conclusion
As someone who enjoys roguelites, I had a lot of fun playing this. Although I do feel as though some may not like its pixel art graphics and deliberately dated sounding sound effects.
You can play Roguelight on its itch.io page.
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