I mentioned in a previous post that I have been doing the very satisfying gameplay loop in HOH2, a roguelike and successor to Heroes of Hammerwatch (1, OG, Original, etc). Even more confusingly, both are a roguelite rift off of a base game, Hammerwatch and Hammerwatch 2. If you think that is confusing, you should see the questions and answers over at the Hammerwatch reddit forum. And oddly enough, I couldn’t find a webpage for HOH2, so here is a link to their steam page. I haven’t played any of the others and any prior backstory is seemingly not that important anyway.
The roguelite / roguelike “standards” themselves are pretty confusing. Some are hardcore ascii based permadeath adventures (Dwarf Fortress), others are graphics and twitch based (Hades, Returnal) but all in all, the modern version of login, play a game, have some persistent progression, lots of randomization on a per-run progression, die, rinse repeat. It’s the bite sized aspect of it coupled with the meta progression that really scratches the itch for me. Two of my favorite games of all time, Hades and Returnal, are both in this genre. And I was able to compete both with the twitch and reasoning skills of and average 50s something. So the barrier of entry is low.
The gameplay loop is really fun. You have a town you are responsible for, and all of your characters live there, and you leave, attack the dark citadel, die (eventually, so far, for me. There is a win condition too I have “heard”). The equipment you collect you get to keep (and share among your team of adventurers) and levelling has a positive impact on all of your characters (each character type improves a stat for all characters. Rangers increase attack power by 3. Paladins increase health. Etc.) The third part of meta progression is that you get materials on runs and can upgrade your town with new buildings, and improve those buildings to get more capabilities to improve each of your characters (and, in turn, each other).
On runs you kill things for xp, kill bosses for better loot, collect equipment, collect materials to upgrade your town, collect run specific “trinkets” (which stay behind when you die and are randomized) and when you get back you train your abilities, increase your base stats, and unlock specializations (three per class). All of which play very different and I have found all of them to be fun so far. I have been pushing to get all classes to level 10 (that’s when you get specializations) and you can switch freely between specs, which is also nice. Although I suspect there may be some benefit to making more characters if you really dig down on equipment based builds that align with the specialization. I don’t think I will go that far, however.
It is still a work in progress, although released – and the higher level you get the more opportunities you have to “skip” earlier parts (xp and items found in earlier game sections do not scale well. But abilities and trinkets do, so there is a cost to skip those early level in terms of potential power.) IF you are focused on levelling, skip the early levels. IF you are focused on getting as far as you can, you should visit the areas – but can use town upgrades such as “remove fog of war” (for a cost) to speedrun the early parts, skipping the things you don’t need or are interested in. It doesn’t take away the randomization of things, but it can save some time.
The sprite art is functional and I am actually surprised how much customization it puts in – it doesn’t take away from the game (and I actually think its a great fit) and the game also supports co-op – but I haven’t tried that yet.
Anyway – recommending this if you like the genre. There is room for improvement (classes feel uneven still, the early game could be built better to scale and make it more interesting, there is a lot of room to make better gear, different types and rarities – and I hear the endgame just turns into an NG+ fest – which may or may not be good. Still, its well worth the time I have put it and continue to play it daily.
I’ve played some of the earlier titles in this series so HoH2 has definitely been on my radar, just haven’t quite pulled the trigger on it yet.
Definitely been in something of a rogue-lite / action rogue-lite mood lately though. Dwarven Realms currently has my attention, which is just some big dumb fun it seems, at least at this point.
In terms of the Rogue-Lite vs Rogue-Like thing, as my understand the difference comes down to the fact that ‘Lite’ has some form of meta progression in it, which ultimately increases your chance of success. Rogue-likes on the other hand, did not. And every fresh run is (RNG aside) on equal footing with every one before it.
I far prefer lites these days. No time for that ‘like’ nonsense. xD
I am with you on meta progression. It’s what makes it fun for me, at least. Even failing miserably typically moves the needle, at least a little!