⚔️ Review: Pylon: Rogue - "rogue, rogue, rogue your boat" 🧙🏻‍♂️ #GameDev #IndieGame

Game Title: Pylon: Rogue

Developer: Quantum Squid Interactive

Platform Reviewed: PC (Steam)

Pylon Rogue is an action/adventure roguelike game which looks great in trailers but when played, doesn’t quite hold up to the initial promise.

Allowing you to choose from four characters with different skill sets, the third-person action is set in rooms divided by gates, which remain locked until all waves of enemies are defeated. The attacks are controlled mostly by one button and combos are made by either tapping or charging said button. Whilst other controls are used for special powers, these require scrolls in order to be used. For example, the paladin character has a hammer throw that stuns all enemies for a short time whilst the rock golem takes of huge damage with a leaping attack.

Visually, the game looks pleasant enough and the scrolling and animation is smooth. The audio in the game feels somewhat generic but the main issue is in the game play which just feels repetitive and unsatisfying.  The enemies have two modes, run towards you or scuttle off until it’s their turn to attack. This means that each area feels the same and every enemy has its own basic pattern and feel very rigid in their capabilities. Whilst the game features a variety of weapon types and items for each character, this variation can’t overcome to vanilla feel of the game. With every area feeling the same and the rogue genre working against it as each death is permanent and requires a restart, there’s no sense of progression and so it’s hard to keep up any enthusiasm for how well you do in each run as you know you’ll be doing this all again in a few minutes. It doesn’t help that, although there are different environments which hold their own enemies, the locations themselves don’t differ beyond how they look, there’s no area-specific obstacles or differences beyond the aesthetic.

Summary
Pylon Rogue could be worth a bash if you and a friend really love the rogue genre and fancy a challenge, but even for those types of players, I can’t imagine this game holding interest beyond a couple of hours. It feels like a stepping stone for the developer to move onto something meatier as the character models, visuals animations and RPG elements are all there, they just deserve to be in a more expansive game.

💧❄️ RATING: MELTING ❄️💧

Ratings Explained

ICE COOL (Great Game Recommended)

MELTING (Recommended with reservations, one to consider if you are a fan of the genre)

MELTED (Not A Recommended Purchase)

Review By Britt