Rogue Wizards

I could imagine the developers were thinking "Ok I have a good idea... Lets take Diablo, Ogre Tactics, and a slog of stupid grinding where enemies level up the same time as you do and there is no way for levelling up weaker dungeons. We won't really add much of a story, and because you have probably played Diablo so there self explanatory right?! We'll also add a npc to join in the fight temporary but really you only get one pet to join in on the fight, and their attacks well, is pretty useless, but as long as you believe that they are good well its something..."
I want to really like this game but it seems like the developers have thrown a whole heap of things in this cauldron , stirred it around and tipped out the good content and what is left is sitting on the bottom of the pot. It has potential, but for the life of me I cannot give it a thumbs up.
Clearly they are more focused on developing it for mobile game where players or more likely pay extra to gain abilities to progress... Another pay to win app.. Had I known this I wouldn't of purchased the game and somewhat feel cheated.
If i could i would get a refund and invest in time and effort in other dungeon crawlers out there... even though i got it on the summer special.... uninstalled.

Great roguelike. I've been playing story mode and the difficulty is balanced nicely. It's good for both shorter as well as longer game play sessions as you can save anywhere. Perfect for when you are in the mood for a casual turn based dungeon crawler.

A great little rogue-lite in the classic turn-based mold. Updates have made it better, even years after release, recently. It is absolutely great as a game to keep open and play at your own pace as you can. It is not the most expansive game out there, and it still has bits of its mobile-port roots showing but nothing affecting game-play. Choice between regular story-mode and gauntlet let you choose between perma-death and death meaning almost nothing, the gauntlet also lets you share loot between runs with different characters. Very limited vault space is an issue, but since you level your gear up it is not a massive deal. Overall, it is more than worth playing, especially if grabbed on sale.

In its current state, I cannot recommend this game. I read the commentary on the mud-on-the-screen / black HUD error, and still thought I could muscle through it. I take pride in surviving games way longer than normal. In 7 Days, I typically go over 500 days without dying in a new game. And even that's because I'm surprised and take on a bear with a shovel. But dying in this game simply because the health potion is simply gone is inexcusable.

THIS game, however good their intention is, is unpolished and only half-thought. Yes, there's a story, and yes it's pretty, but it's just not a whole game. The biggest issue is the mudslinger HUD removal thing. I'm to understand this game is not early access, which makes it a full release game. But in under 3 hours of playing, I've already got a vanishing HUD. It would be one thing if you could interact with the missing HUD by guessing. That'd almost be a 'game mechanic.' But this is an unmissable mistake. Even the options menu is inaccessible during these outtages. Not even a phantom window appears. But this error doesn't even happen ONLY with mud on the screen. I've had it just... happen. Not even in combat. Just standing there trading with the vendor.

Then there's other stuff. I was pushing through my dislike of the black screen. I had cleared all the enemies on a floor, and had disabled all the traps. All that remained was the locked chests. Thankfully, I had bought 2 keys in the overworld before I entered. I had 2 chests left and only 1 key. It's not like you can just go back to town and hope the vendor has more keys, either. I get to one of the two chests, praying that it will drop another key, when something NEW happened: The key BROKE. If that sort of thing is going to be included in a game, it makes some RPGs more fun and challenging. But every single other game with a key-breaking mechanic TELLS you it can happen.

But that wasn't the biggest concern. After the key broke, leaving me with 2 unopened chests, it dawned on me: I BOUGHT my last two keys. They were not drops on the floor. All containers were smashed, all mobs killed, everything else was done. If I hadn't COME IN with 2 keys, I would have been 4 keys behind. If each floor has goals which include killing all the mobs, opening all the chests, and disabling all the traps, and all the mobs are dead AND all the traps are disabled, then taunting the player with the missing reward caused by the devs decision to not include enough resources... That's just unreasonable.

If there are goals, and no option to reach them, at least let the player know. SAY that keys can break. Say that it's LITERALLY impossible to 100% all floors. Make it clear than you CANNOT use health potions with mud on your screen. And for the sake of gaming, leave it in beta-testing until it's ready to be released. This is not a finished product. These issues lead me to believe that there are even more problems buried further into the game, where no one has yet been able to find them since they can't get past the HUD-mud in the first place.

I was going for the 100% achievements, but the game is mind-blowingly dull.

Strong points first:
* I like how the monster abilities synergizes. And (what I guess is) a random set of monsters you can meet on a level.
* I also find the aesthetics fitting. Nice even.
* I think I recall some close calls on the early levels. Which made things interesting. I may have been mistaken though. It's all a haze now.
* I believe the randomly generated characters you meet could have been nice in another game.
* I like the trap mechanics. Detect-hidden items are well rewarAnd its gone! Your item is no longer valid.

Bad stuff:
* The linear arethmetics for leveling and gearing and monsters. You do the EXACT same thing at level 200 as at level 5. It's as close to a cow clicker you can get without having any in-game purchases. It's really bad. It's padded with your need to change equipment. A lot.
* No difficulty.
* Not a shred of strategy.
* You level out of your items before you can say CA
* This game makes me angry at all poor decisions the devs must have made.

I feel the need to extrapolate on something here because I feel there could be some potential for things like saving gear for certain monster combinations. I mean a real strategic choice god forbid! But what's the point if the gear is old before you have completed the dungeon you are in. Instead you just go with whatever attack or defense is highest. And soon you won't even look at the stats the item gets as it levels up, because it doesnt matter, within a few minutes it still will be vendored. Green arrow? Change equip. Not even the character stats you gain as you level matters other than to unlock item requirements.

This is a $2 dollar game in my book (though I am quite poor). So grab at 90% for some 5-10 hours of decent gameplay if you know what you are in for. Have a good audiobook nearby and you might even enjoy it. Don't go for the 100% achievements - You'll hate yourself and the game.

Have a look at the achievements and inspect the bosses (achievements that are named "Defeat ...") You should notice they are all the same except colors (and beards!). That speaks volumes about this game. That's the amount of variation you are signing up for.

edit: Ah, I feel bad. In retrospect the game isn't all that bad as I make it sound. I should save my reviews until after the rage has faded. Anyway, it sure isn't a $20 title!

It's a good game for its price. It's not a great game though. It's just a treadmill for the sake of being one. Everything scales to you, so there's never a sense of progression or that your character is getting better. It's very much a resource management game as well; you can only have 5 potions, you have limited spell components, and it takes a turn to switch between items and most spells.

It has things that seem neat, but once you realize that it's pointless, they lose their fun. There are shrines and enchanters you can use, but there's no real point to do so because the next dungeon you go in all the loot that drops will just have scaled up numbers so they'll be better. Sure you might have a piece of gear for a few levels, but when you replace it, you won't seem like you've received a great upgrade. It's still going to take you the same number of hits to kill everything because they scale up along with you.

You have three stats, but it's not like you can decie how you want to build the character. They don't seem to do anything, and are just there to make you spend them to equip the scaled up thing that just dropped. Putting stats in never actually feels like it helps you out. It's just a resource for you to spend.

Speaking of spending, all you do is spend your gold to upgrade your shops to the next scaled up level of gear. So that you can spend your stat points. So that you can kill things in the same number of hits as you were before you leveled up.

It's a fun few hours, until you realise how pointless it all is. Play it through once for the story, if you like stories, but it won't ever feel like your character is getting better as you go.

So I am going to recommend this game, but just barely. It is a 5.5/10 in my opinion.

There are several good points. The graphics and animations have a charm to them. The music and sound effects are fitting. The controls are very well presented and easy to understand. The UI was a little large for my taste (I assume to be able to support mobile) but that was not a deal breaker.

However there are several points that hold this back. First you are a wizard with extreme limitations on how many spells you can cast. You are also limited in how many runes you can hold, so you can never build up a huge amount of a favorite spell even with grinding. You basically save your spells for the bosses... which means you are really a Rogue WARRIOR not a Rogue Wizard, as you will spend most of your time with axes, bows, chakra's and staffs.

Also, switching into a spell takes a whole turn in the turn based combat, which means it is very clunky to try and use your full arsenal. Basically, choose one weapon or one spell, and that is what you will want to stick to for an encounter to limit damage. This is especially true when so many monsters have knockback or stun or portal or summon abilities.

The above two issues means that the game quickly becomes very shallow. Good for a few hours of fun at most, but after that the lack of spells and the repetitive nature of the loot and monsters with no compelling end quickly gets old.

Buy on sale, if at all.

Hi guys, let's discuss Rogue Wizards for a bit here shall we..

First of all, this game reminds me greatly of the 'Braveland Trilogy' and that being said you can already create a pretty good idea about, ''if you're actually going to like it or not'' because i know such games might be a bit too boring for some.. I'm a bit of a geek so i guess i couldn't go wrong with owning a copy of this nice looking and fun to play game.
But again, it's just like i said before, you'll either going to love or hate it but that doesn't make this a bad game if you don't like it.
And that's precisely why i'm letting you guys know, why i personally like this game a lot.

Let's talk about the graphics: The game looks pretty nice and cartooney (like Braveland and such) and the animations are nicely done although don't expect blitzes all over the screen or bright flashes because this game is by all means not a AAA graphical masterpiece! But all in all, it looks pretty nice, it doesn't glitch and it works well with everything else.. So what's not good about that, right?
Let's talk about the music/sound: The music for this game is pretty much kept simple although the tunes are catchy and the animation/effects etc all sound just as one would expect from such a game. It works pretty well together impo.
Now let's talk about the gameplay: The gameplay is set up in turnbased mode as soon as you encounter enemies or obstacles such as hidden traps etc. The grid/map is also devided in tiles, so each step you make will be on one of those tiles each turn. While in battle (outside battle those limitations are absent) you'll need to do some planning as to whether to move, change weapons, cast spells or heal yourself during the turn/time you're given. Everything is done in steps so make note of that when you're used to playing a dungeon crawler and you like to rush in like Rambo because this is not such a game.. You will be whimpy at first, but soon enough you'll be wearing nice armor, wielding massive weapons and using destructive spells (you can explore, craft/sell stuff) all at the same time which i personally think is a really nice way to let you as a player experiment freely. Also you'll earn a ton of experience along the many main and sub quests, so each time you earn a level up you can invest those points into 3 separate skills such as Power, Finesse, and Stamina. (and you'll unlock more buildings along the way too that upgrade/sell you all kinds of neat stuff..)

There are 3 primary character based skills, namely: 'Power, Finesse and Stamina'..
Power: Speaks for itself as it will allow the player to boost the strength of the character, including increasing the damage output for all his attacks.
Finesse: Is your basic dodge, shield, luck counter that will affect pretty much everything you do so don't ignore that skill!
Stamina: Works hand in hand with Power, because both make sure you can remain longer in tough battles while making it possible to dish out a world of hurt to those that seek to end you (it's a Roguelike right)..
However, you're always accompanied by 1 or two minions etc that can usually hold their own pretty well, unless cornered by bosses or packs of poisonous blobs etc.
After completing missions you will be rewarded by gaining additional magic points that you can freely spend in the magic skills department which is always helpful when you would or better said will be encountering tougher enemies and bosses. Note that each enemy has resistances and weaknesses so make sure to spend those points at the earliest sign you're encountering foes that are immune to your current skill/weapon sets etc.
Don't worry though, because you can freely adjust your character within any level so just keep your eyes open when you're facing an enemy because it will be made clearly visible as to what his/her strengths and weaknesses are.

I can say much more about this fun game, but it is probably best that i don't spoil you guys too much and so all that's really left for me to say is, get the game at a sales and play it just like i did and hopefully you'll enjoy it as much as i do too.

If you've enjoyed Diablo, you'll enjoy this, it's a worthy successor in the genre.

If you haven't played Diablo, but like the dungeon crawling genre; it's a good one.

Nice, slightly funny, good, clean interface & graphics, simple but effective game engine, and it seems there are no game-ruining bugs (in fact I haven't seen any bugs so far).

This is a fun game. I like it more on PC rather than my iPad.

It feels inspired by games like Bastion (map design & the way it draws on the screen), Fate by Wildtangent (the atmosphere & loot), with a very fast & simple turn based combat.

Plays very well with Mouse & Keyboard such as Fate, or if you're not familiar with that, think of Torchlight--point, click, pickup loot & go.

I really like this game, and will play it more often than others that cost way more than this title.

I rate it 10/10: Highly Recommended!

Fantastic game - reminds me of Diablo a lot what with all the equipment that drops and the sheer varition. For those looking for a challenge there is the gauntlet which is basically a "dive down as deep as you can till you die" mode. Otherwise you can play the story mode which has town building (getting your merchants, upgrading them, etc.) and dungeons you can select of varying difficulty levels.

The visuals are very charming; reminds me of shatterred planet which is a game that's probably not well known, but in short the 2D sprites and animations are just fantastic.

Enemies all have their own strategies and powers so it's never just about moving one grid point or waiting so you can hack them. You'll get to know (and hate) a lot of them as they will use powers of their own to try and mess you up.

Equipment also has ranks (levels) and each piece levels up as you explore and/or use them. So for example after firing my bow a few dozen times it can upgrade and get a new affix like +10% crit hit or something else random. Very cool, I had one piece that had leveled up 4-5 times and was crazy good; very sad when I had to upgrade it.

The game runs on my potato computer too which is great. Overall I'm very happy with my purchase, it's a game I'll play for hours on end. I also have the mobile version but the PC version is much better as it is designed for one-time premium purchase and no IAP.

I rate this game a 5/10.

You may wonder why such a low score? Let me say that this is not a bad score. I'm not scoring it like a movie review where anything below a 7 is AWFUL GARBAGE. This game is not awful garbage. It's actually pretty okay. This is a dead average game, with many games that are better, and many that are worse. Luckily, it can be fixed if the devs decide to do so.

The good:
-The game feels polished. Sometimes when you play a game, you get that nagging feeling not all the features are implemented or something, but not in this game. It feels like a complete game. That doesn't mean I think it's a good game, but I digress.
-The artwork is really great! Wish I had a bit more playable character variety other than white guy/black woman, but indie games usually don't have the budget to expend on stuff like that, especially when the existing characters look so good.
-The music is pretty good, probably a 7/10. I've heard some bad indie game music before, so having something passable is nice. Would I ever buy the OST? No.

The bad:
-While being isometric is not a negative, I'm personally not a fan of games that do "tile fade in/out" when you walk forwards. I understand why it was chosen, but for me this makes movement very clunky. At least the minimap allows you to move around without getting lost, and you can click and hold to move in various directions.
-I encountered one major bug, it will probably be fixed at some point when I'll update this review. The bug was that when a very common enemy mudslinger type throws their mud at you, it 'mucks' up the screen (Intentional), which is fine, but if you load a menu or open your inventory the screen goes black and you have to exit the inventory to return to normal view, except now your hotbar disappears. This is a big problem because I don't see how a bug this bad could slip through Q&A. It happens every time with a very common enemy type. For me, this soured my image of a polished game.
UPDATE: After one and a half years, the devs FINALLY fixed this bug. FINALLY.

The really bad:
-Expectations are key. This game creates an image in the steam store that isn't fulfilled ingame. For a game titled "Rogue Wizards" you'd expect to have quite the spell variety, eh? No. Jump to 0:28 on the steam store trailer. See that image of the spells? Count them. Each one is a single spell, for a total of 18. In a game about Wizardry, I expected a very diverse array of spells, and instead you only get access to 6 spells to start, then you unlock more as you play after pumping points into some of the crappy early spells you probably didn't like.

-18 Spells isn't necessarily limited. The problem is that spells are not fun to use. There are two types of spell: The type where you press the spell button and they activate instantly (Fun to use) and the kind where you press the spell, it wastes a turn switching to that spell, and then you can cast the spell. Switching back to your normal weapon wastes another turn, meaning if you want to cast a spell just once, you'll waste two turns switching to and from it. The game makes NO distinction between those two types of spells, you just have to try them and remember them.

-Hey you're a smart person, so whatever if the spells are limited and half of them are basically unusable in combat! But the spells are also very finite. The only way to cast a spell is via limited gems that drop from enemies. For example, to cast a Fire type spell, you might need 2 of the red gems. You cannot start earning red gems until you unlock fire magic, and once you do, they will randomly drop up to one at a time from each enemy.
Notice that I said "Up to", not that every enemy drops one gem. Many enemies don't drop any. In my experience, it's about 50/50. The enemies on each level are finite, and if you have all 6 magics unlocked, that means you will get one of each gem, on average, for every 12 enemies defeated. Let's say there are about 50 enemies per level (It varies based on size), that means that you will possibly receive 4 of every color by the level's end with a couple extra left over.

The base spells might cost only 2 gems, but some don't, and the upper spells usually cost a lot more. That means if you are in the midgame and you clear an entire level, you might have enough for one or two casts of a magic spell, but that's usually only the base tier spells. Green magic's base spell, for example, costs 15 green gems! Wow!
Finally, there is a finite limit on how many gems you can hold in your inventory of each color. 100. You may have 100 red gems, and 100 blue, and 100 yellow, etc.
So you don't even have the option of stockpiling these gems up for a serious battle. Don't get me wrong, 100 red gems is enough to cast Fireball 50 times, but not the more advanced magics.


This is all fixable, thankfully. The problem is, I'm guessing the game's devs are locked into this system and have balanced around it heavily. A shame. Were I to recommend any changes, it would be these:

1. Remove the limit of 100 gems per color. It's dumb.
2. Make all of the spells instant casts. This is the most important. I can live with all the other issues if I'm not wasting a turn switching to a magic.
3. If you can't even do number 2, the LEAST you could do is differentiate which spells are instant and which ones are not in their descriptions. Edit: Turns out the game does make a distinction. I specifically looked for this yet never saw it, weird.
4. Also, minor quibble, when you unlock a spell, it becomes your equip if it's an equippable spell. This means I will often unlock fireball, return to the game, attack an enemy, and cast a fireball instead of attacking with my previously equipped weapon. I don't know if this is a bug or intended behavior, but I personally don't like it.

TL:DR

The game is really not bad. The enemies are balanced decently enough and the variety is okay (I think there's only like 20 enemies in the entire game excluding bosses though), but the magic system, which this game named itself for, is just abysmal. This is the biggest killer for me.

Also, I thought the story was kind of boring, but the game has zero unskippable cutscenes, so that's a net positive for me.

Other thought: Companions and pets suck. You can't alter their inventories or see their stats or anything, and they can even be a detriment, specifically against replicating slimes. If you deal enough damage to kill a slime in one hit, it won't replicate, but your idiot companion and pet always hit them with weak damage, causing them to replicate. You can't kill them fast enough!

The companions also charge forwards like idiots into whatever tile hazard is sitting on the ground. "OOOOH ACID, LET'S CHARGE TO OUR DEATHS!"

I really genuinely dislike them. Giving me some form of control over them would make them a lot more interesting.

Rogue Wizards is a fun and fine looking Rogue-Like.

It offers depth and lots of customization + progression.
Being far from being 100% balanced the game is still a lot fun and the devs release frequent patches.

It is a pitty that it is so hard to find games like this one.
Grab it and support the next next patches.

Very nicely presented, lots of charm, plays like a free web game or a $2 mobile app. The screenshots had me expecting a Disgaea-style tactical RPG, but it's pretty much click to move to the next room, click on the nearest monster to attack, click on chest to open it, click on treasure to pick it up, rinse and repeat.

Slow and boring. The animations and enemies taking their turns just kill enjoyment
The ice dungeon is particular boring, with enemies causing you to slide all over. I frequentlly WANTED to be frozen, because then I could get a hit in.

The movement is pretty clunky and requiring mats for casting spells kind of ruins the game if you like playing dungeon crawlers as a caster, it's melee or...melee...as you will never find enough mats to cast spells even 1/100th of the combat. Which is a real shame.

Yes teh spells do a LOT of damage, but so does my staff. And the spells would give it variety over the fairly cookie cutter combat.

REVIEW

I finally had to tear myself away from this game to give this game a review.
I LOVE IT.
It is a colourful, animated rogue playing game which oozes with charm, amusing characteristics and a joy to play.

Graphics
Lets get the main part over. Its flat 2D (not 3D or even full 3D) and may look old hat to some of todays modern players who are use to fancy graphics etc.
But, WHO CARES!
The graphics are big, bold, sharp, colourful, cartoon like and detailed with some lovely animations and on a resolution of 1360 x 768 that graphics are sharp and very clear. The isometric view reminds of an old ZX spectrum game called Knightlore which was very popular at its time. I love the design of the characters that I have met so far as well as the detailed dungeon walls, floors etc. The animation is extremely good with humans eyes blinking, or the way the hero switches between weapons to the different creatures movement to the way they die. When I first saw the size of the graphics it was BIG on my screen which was good because it makes the game much more claustrophobic as you only see a small section of the dungeon and you don't know what is in front of you. As your hero moves sections of the dungeon falls away behind you as a new section rises up to meet you. When playing the game you forget it is 2d because you are so engrossed with look and style of the game play especially when the manic battles occur. Also because of the 2d aspect it mean it less strain of the computer system requirements and allows you to have battles with lots of monsters and animations flying back and forth with a fast, manic and smooth look. The death animation of the creatures ranges from cute to funny to surprising. Also the special ability that each creature has so far (Only seen a few) again ranges from very funny to amusing or even frustrating when your in battle, but that is part of the charm. The town is nicely set out with a some nice animations. But it is the dungeon where the action takes place and thrill seeing a new creature with special abilities.
Score (9/10)

Sound/Music
The sounds effects are nice with some nice touches. I like the sound of the shadowlord dying, or when splodges hit your monitor before sliding down with a squeakily sound effect. The music is nice and I have a favourite track which takes place in the dungeon. This track has a pulsating heartbeat sound accompanied by an eerie music track which give the game more atmosphere especially when going into deeper and more challenging dungeons. The other tracks for the dungeon and town are nice and enhance the game further. Its the music for main menu that is maybe the weakest as you are more interesting in getting into the game that you bypass it quickly. Score (7/10)

Gameplay
The game is turn based however due to the fast response, the smoothness and quickness of the movement/battles etc it is very easy to be fooled into thinking that it is real-time. The number times I have moved my hero too quickly only to end up smack bang into a horde of monsters is my fault. This of course ended my turn only for the enemy to start hurls weapons, spells etc at me doing more damage before I could damage them. One particular battle was the battle with gryphons in which they made a large section of the tiled floor all ice and because of my quickness my hero and NPC were sliding about in opposite directions. This was both laughable at the start and then frustrating later due to being so eager to fight them that I forgot it was turn based. So going turn based may make the game feel slower but it cranks up the tension and atmosphere in the dungeons. Battles required tactical thought when dealing with different monsters at the same time. Boss battles require even more thought because before you know you it, your surrounded by their minions etc.

There are lots of weapons in the dungeons and comparing them to your own weapons reveals each of them have their own good and bad traits. You have to decide which one might be good for you. With so much choice, I spent about 5 minutes deciding whether to replace the sword I have with a new spear which has some bigger bonus hits but with less abilities. Gold is in abundance but that is quickly spent on upgrading the armoury and blacksmith in your town to get better stronger weapons and armour.

Magic is a crucial factor and with 6 schools of magic totalling 18 spells each with levels to go up in make the game more interesting which gives way to deciding which spell you feel it better for you. You have 8 slots to hold weapons, magic and other items to use in battle etc but which ones to go into which slots.
Gameplay (10/10)

From what I have seen there are 2 aspects to this game: Story and Gauntlet.

The Gauntlet:
I first went into this by mistake right as the start with no clue as to how the game work and died very quickly. I tried again thinking I made a mistake somewhere only to die again. It was then I discovered the story aspect and realised that the gauntlet is a straight into dungeon rogue game to last as long as possible. Will try that once I complete the story aspect

The Story:
This the main part of the game which introduces you to the game mechanics as well as the object of the game. Build up your hero male/female with weapons bought or found, fight monsters, gain gold and acquire other items scattered about the dungeon to help you . There is a town which you have to build to acquire more weapons and allow you access to your magic spells etc. In your quests in the dungeons you will encounter NPC characters/creatures who will give aid in battle with their own style of weapons. As to what the story is about well I will leave that up to you to find as I am finding out now.

Criticisms:
I only have one. When you hover you arrow mouse over the buildings it would be nice to see the name of the building. I sometimes select the blacksmith when I want the armoury or select the vault thinking it is the armoury. but that is the only quibble.

Bottom Line
This is a game is fantastic with its old style look that should appeals to gamers old and young. It has sharp, colourful animated graphics, with good game play, nice sounds/music etc and once you learn the game mechanics it is very easy to control. A big thank you Spellbind Studios for creating a beautiful looking rogue style game. Score (9/10)

EDIT: Wow, not more than a week since I posted my intial review, all of the enhancments I mentioned have been implemented (FOW control, increased animation speed & game speed controls) Not sure if these were already planned and/or were driven by player feedback, eitherway, the dev is on top of it.

For those who appreciate Roguelike fundamentals: procedural replay, permadeath, gear/stat progression, etc, this fits the bill, and does so with more esthetic polish than your typical entry

As with most RL's, there is an element of grind, which is no different in Rogue Wizard, I appreciate the improvments made to game pacing, making the grind far more tolerable.

A notable element that makes this more of a Rouge Lite rather than a Like, is the Diabloesque random-gear drops. ie "Dull Sword of the Noob", etc. A departure from the Diablo scheme is that all drops (so far) are identified, without the risk of cursed or unknown effects that are typical of more traditional rouge-likes. Also keeping it in the RougeLite realm is the absence of food/hunger. While this might be welcome for some, its something that in traditional RL's, establishes a sense of desperation, further enhancing the tension of permadeath.

The presentation is AAA, assets are high-fidelity, almost vector-like, losing no definition at even the highest zoom level, however not a big fan of the variable floor tile depth. Realizing this is stylistic, and without it, the game might look like any other iso-rpg, it just feels like the variability of tile depth is extreme, an exaggerated homage to FF-Tactics-style isometric presentation. Similarly, I wish there were actual walls, the environment feels too open, like platforms floating in space, allowing you to make ranged attacks on mobs in other "rooms", which could be deemed an advantage, but just doesn't feel right.

While your avatar changes based on active weapon/spell, as others have mentioned, it would be nice if player appearance was even more dynamic, with head, torso, feet, etc, changing as different gear is equipped.

I hold PixelDungeon as the benchmark for today's roguelites, mainly due to it being a modern but faithful iteration of its inspiration: bRogue, which itself, helped define much of what we expect in RL's today. Rouge Wizard, is comparable in many respects, superior in many respects, and with ongoing enhancments being made by the dec, its earning its place among these benchmark games.

Sincerely hope that Spellbind continues to refine and enhance this gem to its full potential.

Very polished and charming rogue-like with lots of character and a beautiful art style. I've picked up nearly every rogue-like on Steam hoping to find "the one." I do believe this may be it.

At first it will come across as simplified but it's actually very deep. Monsters have elemental weaknesses and immunities (Pokemon style). There are some tile modifiers not often seen in rogue-likes such as ice that can cause involuntary movement (slipping).

There are many quality of life improvements over traditional rogue-likes such as companions, teleportation and being able to see your equipped weapons. There is a story mode that gives you an otherworldly Harry Potter meets Pokemon feel. The Gauntlet mode is where you'll find your traditional rogue-like if you're not interested in the story.

UPDATE: 24 hours after the game's release the developer released a patch addressing gameplay changes based on feedback from the few negative reviews.

After 4h of playtime as of writing this, I'd say this is a pretty fun game, but maybe more of a "pick up on sale" game then a must have for roguelike/dungeon crawling fans.

The story mode is your tipical linear progression, go-to-that-dungeon-for-that-quest type, with a central hub of merchants to sell your loot and restock on potions. I personally don't really care for the story, but if you dig evil wizards doing evil shit with evil magic, this is the title for you.

Then it has the actual roguelike game mode, called Gauntlet. You start on a dungeon at level 1, with only a sword and potions, and you keep going through the floors until you die, collecting loot and leveling up as you go. Every X amount of floors there's a boss who is higher level than you character and can screw you if you are bad like me, but drops some good loot when killed.

The actual mechanincs and balance of the diferent types of weapons and spells seems good from what I've played so far. The combat is a fast paced style of turn-based, where you either attack, move, use a potion, or switch weapon/spell. But for example, a Lance allows you to move and attack on the same turn, and in some situations (with the right mob placement) kill multiple enemys in one turn; however, it's a two-handed weapon, meaning you can't use a shield with it, like you can with sword or an axe, meaning you can't block attacks. Also, if you play Hearthstone, think of your potions as Reno Jackson - they always heal you to full. You also have the system of when you level up puting points into your stats and into your spells, and a pretty cool system for your gear where every piece will have a rank, wich goes up by using that piece - for example a weapon rank goes up by killing things with it, and every time you go up a rank it rolls a new affix on that weapon, wich can be the damage or another random property (think Diablo 3 loot). So your common drop can actually be better then a rare drop if you have used it more.
You get bonus XP if you kill every enemy and open every chest on a floor (it tells you when you do), and you can use the map to teleport to various waypoints spread across the floors (the entrance and exit, when you find it, act as waypoints to). You need keys to open the chests, the keys drop from enemys, so if you find a chest and don't have a key, you can always go to it later easily. And from my experience, you always get enough keys for all the chests.

All in all, it's a fun time killer, with some good ideas from games you problably played before, and an interesting art style. My only gripe so far is that the tiles out your character's vision just disapear and pop in when you move constantly, and since you move relatively fast out of combat it can be a bit anoying, but I eventually got used to navigating that way.

EDIT: After recent updates, most of my issues have been solved. Definite recomendation.