You push through a castle one heir at a time in Rogue Legacy 2, a sequel to the 2013 original and a platformer built on roguelite and Metroidvania ideas. In roguelites, every run is different and death sends you back to the start, while Metroidvanias let you unlock new paths as you gain abilities. Instead of one hero, you play a family line, so when your character dies, one of their children takes over with their own traits and abilities. Some traits make the run harder but pay out more gold, so each heir brings a different mix of risk and reward.
Each run rebuilds the rooms inside the castle's six areas at random, though the areas stay in the same broad places on the map, so memorized room layouts won't get you far. You jump, slash, cast spells, and search for gold, healing food, weapons, and relics along the way, and gold matters most since it pays for your progress. When the next heir leaves the Docks for the castle, Charon the ferryman takes all the gold you're carrying as his fare, but the Living Safe upgrade lets you keep part of it. When an heir dies, any relics they're carrying are lost.
Back at the manor, you spend your gold on upgrades that stay for every heir after them, and new classes unlock as you build their halls and workshops in the manor. Heirlooms are special rooms you look for while exploring, and completing their trials grants permanent abilities like the air dash, some of which are required to reach later areas. The long-term goal is to grow the manor until each new heir has a real chance against the castle.
- Developer
- Cellar Door Games
- Publisher
- Cellar Door Games
- Release
- Nintendo Switch: 2022-11-09 · PlayStation 4/5: 2023-06-20 · PC (Steam) Early Access: 2020-08-18 · Full release (PC and Xbox One/Series X|S): 2022-04-28
- Platforms
- Windows (Steam and Epic Games Store), macOS (Steam), Linux (Steam), Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5
Game data
Classes
Classes set each heir's weapon, class ability and fighting style in Rogue Legacy 2. The Knight is the only class at the start, and the rest are unlocked by buying Manor buildings with gold from your runs. When an heir dies, you pick the next heir from a few random options, each using a class you've unlocked.
Relics
Relics are unique items that change how a run plays out, with effects ranging from stat boosts to new abilities. Equipping one uses up part of your Resolve, and when Resolve falls below 100 percent, your maximum health drops. Players find them through starting heroes, Arcane Chambers, special rooms around the Kingdom, and Curio Shoppes, where swapping a weapon, spell or talent also earns blessing relics.
Weapons
Weapons decide how your heir fights in Rogue Legacy 2, and every class starts with its own, from melee blades to ranged bows and wands. Fabled Weapons are alternate versions tied to Fabled Classes, which you buy in the Soul Shop, and Curio Shoppes can offer a new weapon mid-run. Traits such as Contrarian and Pacifist can change your weapon too, so the weapon you carry often shapes how a run plays out.
Traits
Traits are the quirks each heir carries into a run in Rogue Legacy 2, and they can help, hurt, or simply change how the game looks. Traits with gold bonuses range from +25% up to +200%, and each bonus applies to all the gold earned during that run. Many traits come with a trade-off, so the good and bad sides are worth weighing together.
Collectibles
Runes
Runes are bonus items in Rogue Legacy 2 that boost your character, from healing on kills to faster movement and pulling in gold and loot. Each one has its own effect and weight, and your Rune Weight limit caps how many you can equip at once. You find runes in Fairy Chests, then buy them from the Enchantress. Leveling a rune up takes duplicate copies, and most of them don't show up until New Game Plus.
Armor Sets
Armor sets are groups of five matching pieces that your hero wears in Rogue Legacy 2. Each set has its own stats and strengths, and wearing several pieces from one set builds unity that unlocks bonuses at 20, 50 and 100 points. Armor blueprints are found in castle chests, and the blacksmith at the docks sells the gear once you've unlocked it.
Rogue Legacy 2 gameplay tips
- Spend your gold at the manor before every run. Upgrades are permanent, so the gold you spend helps every heir after you, while gold you hold is always at risk.
- Open chests for gold instead of chasing every fight. Chests are the quickest source of gold in the castle, and the stronger enemy variants drop far more gold than their weaker versions, so they're worth fighting once you can handle them.
- Use every ability on your first heir, even with no enemies around. Each class has its own talent and spell, and learning their range and timing before a real fight is much safer. The spin kick is worth extra practice, since it helps with both platforming and combat.
- Practice bosses with Noah the Architect. Once you buy the Screw Distillery upgrade, Noah appears at the Docks and can lock the castle to its last layout for a cut of your gold. A locked castle lets you fight the same boss again and again, which makes its attack patterns easier to learn. Use him when the practice is worth the gold.
- Use House Rules when a fight is too hard. House Rules let you change enemy health and damage, turn off contact damage, and even allow flight for tough platforming. The learning curve is steep, so they're there to let you play at your own pace.
- Take a big gold-bonus trait when you can handle its downside. Pacifist is a good example. It gives a large gold bonus, but you can't hurt enemies with weapons or Spin Kick, and your health drops. Pick up a real weapon at a Curio Shoppe and the trait changes to Pacifier, which keeps the gold bonus and lets you deal damage again. That makes it useful when you're short on gold for an upgrade.