ROGUE FLIGHT Review

ROGUE FLIGHT is a roguelite, arcade shooter from Truant Pixel which I have to admit, fascinated me from the trailer. With a cool rock soundtrack that caught my attention, and of course, space, I knew that I had to check it out. Truthfully, I don’t play shooters very often, but admittedly, that’s because I get ridiculously addicted to them. So, since I haven’t played one for a while, I’ll share my thoughts on ROGUE FLIGHT and if it hooked me, or if I was sent crashing back down into orbit.

Playing as the pilot of the Arrow, Nadia, you and your allies need to take down ARGUS, an AI that has evolved and is threatening the destruction of humanity. The Arrow is currently the only ship that can be sent off into space to fight them, and you have three options for how to approach the situation: 1) Take down their manufacturing system, 2) Attack them head-on, or 3) Both. In order to complete Nadia’s Mission, you’ll have to complete all three routes successfully by choosing between them after breaking out of Earth’s orbit. Once you’ve completed all three of them, then you’ll naturally think it’s the end of Nadia’s Mission, right? Wrong. It’s right to New Game Plus for you, where you keep all your weapons, and fight even stronger enemies. Of course, you’ll also find that by completing Nadia’s Mission in New Game+ that you’ll be able to unlock Retro Mode.

Now, before that, there’s another option that will appear in the Play Game Menu, and that will be Rogueflite Mode, a roguelite mode for players to enjoy. In this mode, you’ll need to battle your enemies for as long as possible, until of course, you run out of lives. It’s a challenge and one that’s definitely worth it. After all, there are some pretty cool Upgrades that you can get there, and if you’re tired of repeating the campaign, it’s a welcome treat. But I’ve not had much of an issue with the campaign. The story’s been interesting, and it’s got an interesting branching narrative, that showcases the real issue with battling your enemy in space when there’s no way to simply get back home.

In terms of art, I really appreciated the throwback to ‘80s and ‘90s anime. While there isn’t a large cast, Nadia has a clear relationship with Dr Mason, whom she assumes doesn’t care about her, and her own superior office. Not being a soldier herself, or a scientist, Nadia is simply there on a mission to protect humanity. All she has to do is shoot her enemies down, with whatever weapons she unlocks on the menu. You start off with a Vulcan, where you can shoot bullets, but then you can get the opportunity to unlock the Waves, Lasers, and Lightning. Personally, I really loved each of these, and with the Left Trigger, you can lock onto your opponents and send out Missiles, which admittedly, are in limited supply, but you can increase your holding ability as you go.

Of course, the other controls are as you expect. The right trigger is to shoot, and of course, if you’re like me, you’ll be holding down that trigger for as long as possible. You can use the left and right shoulder buttons to do a barrel roll to dodge attacks and parry them back, and you can use the upward-facing button to enter Cockpit mode, which is a fun little challenge. Especially if you’re used to one of the stages and want to make it a little more challenging for you. Using the right analog stick, you can also use Drift Attacks, which can take out multiple enemies at once, and using the left-facing button, you can cycle through your Weapons to change up the level of damage you’re doing.

Overall, the controls are incredibly intuitive, and it didn’t take me long to get to grips with it. There are five difficulty levels, so if you’re stuck on the Standard Mode (like me, who didn’t realise that was the default at first), you can tone down the difficulty by one or two notches to get to grips with everything. Once you’re used to the controls, it should be smooth sailing! Just survive with all three of your lives (or at least one of them) and renew your Shield by picking up Shield items, or getting your Combo high enough that your Shield recovers.

You can customise the Arrow with different Tags, your Pilot’s Name, the colour scheme, and other upgrades that change the number of weapons, how tough your shield is, and how many missiles you can carry. There’s a really good number of colours, designs, and different Tags to use, and my personal favourite was “Edgelord”. Of course, the best way to get more upgrades is by completing levels and beating your scores, which was a lot of fun.

When it comes to the levels, each of the nine stages was unique in its own way, and each provided their own unique challenges. None of the stages are too long, and you can toggle off the Tutorial if you don’t want to play it again when completing the Campaign. There’s slightly different music for each stage, but regardless, the guitar riffs are an excellent addition, and the voice acting is really good.

Personally, my only drawback is that I do wish there were more stages available. While Rogueflite does have a randomised option, it would be cool if there were a few more. But overall, that was my only complaint, and it’s more of a desire to see more than anything else. If you like shooters, space, and anything with a cool soundtrack, then honestly, I recommend giving it a go! ROGUE FLIGHT is a perfect entry point for beginners, and experienced fliers will no doubt have a great deal of fun here!