Rogue Legacy PS4/PS3/Vita Beginners Guide

It’s been just over a year since the hard as nails indie platformer Rogue Legacy proved to be a smash hit on PC, and despite it being designed with the PlayStation controller in mind, only now are patient console gamers are getting to battle for every inch of its randomly generated dungeons.

If you’re planning on jumping in for the first time then you can expect to wave goodbye to your starting character before long, only for them to be replaced by one of their totally unique heirs, each with their own skills and quirks, which include colour-blindness (meaning that the entire game appears in black and white) and dwarfism (where the character is short, and thus can squeeze into small gaps).

Loot earned by a somewhat less-fortunate ancestor in the dungeon passes on to each new character, giving them the opportunity to spend their inheritance on upgraded stats, new classes, and better equipment to aid them in their quest.

Sounds simple enough right? Well after a year of learning the hard way, seeing many generations die needlessly in the dungeon, we’ve seen to it that you’ll be properly prepared to take your first steps (and deaths) into Rogue Legacy.

So here’s a few things that new starters need to know:

Yes, it is normal to die a lot

It’s easy to get discouraged when you watch your perfect new character fall in the first four or five rooms, but sadly that can be Rogue Legacy at times, you will have to grind a lot when first setting out on a new run.

Ultimately you just have to try and see the big picture as you chip away at the blacksmith, slowly but surely getting enough gold together for that next piece of gear that will make all the difference.

But no, you’re not doing anything wrong, no need to panic, welcome to Rogue Legacy.

Every penny counts!

While yes, you will be dying a lot, don’t make those deaths be in vain! Focus your efforts on collecting every last piece of gold in your first few runs and try to save as much as possible, writing off a couple of characters as gold hunters and sacrificing them when you eventually reach a boss. After a couple of generations, you’ll be able to get your souped up heir ready to take on the world.

Spend smartly

After all the work you did to scrape together a halfway decent amount of gold, it’s no use blowing all of your money on runes.

When it’s early days your smart money should be going on equipment, manor upgrades, and especially on improving your stats. A big chunk of extra health to burn through never hurt anyone.

Lock down that boss

When you do eventually pull together an heir worthy of taking on a challenge, be sure to get friendly with the Architect. Despite a fairly hefty gold penalty when active, once you’ve tracked down that next boss it’s worthwhile to use the Architect to lock the castle layout in place.

Doing this means you can avoid having to stumble around the castle halls, wasting your health on the same old enemies and risking silly deaths.

The Architect can also teleport you right into the middle of the boss room, where your fresh and well prepared character can swiftly dispatch an otherwise troublesome boss.

Cancel all of your plans for the next few weeks

Despite the initial frustration you’ll quickly find yourself unable to step away. There’s always one more heir to take a gamble on, another room to clear out, another run at the boss to try. Being randomly generated means that even when you feel like you’ve mastered Rogue Legacy, there will always be a completely new challenge waiting for you.

It’s kind of the developers to include Cross-Play in this one, as with it’s mid-summer release date you won’t be forced to leave indoors all of the hours spent in its dungeons, you’re free to throw your save file over to your Vita and get some sun.

Have you been finding Rogue Legacy too frustrating, or do you have any tips for new players? Let us know in the comments below!

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