Rogue Islands Review

A collaboration of minds - consisting of Big Fat Alien and Blue Sock Studios - has provided us with a quirky little fantasy FPS title by the name of Rogue Islands. In Rogue Islands you play the role of Motwort, a spritely gnome whose beard is so magnificent it has its own little hat. Motwart has been tasked with defeating a demonic invasion, which has taken over his beautiful homeland of Vitalor; a colourful land, home to the Great Tree Network. Due to the demonic invasion, the Great Tree Network has gone dark and it’s up to our brave little hero to restore peace. Time to don your wand and dust off your spell book!

At first glance you might think this title is just Minecraft with magic. Whilst there’s some truth in that statement, you’d be foolish not to give Rogue Islands a proper look. Beautiful, voxel graphics and procedural biomes await your arrival. Inhabiting each of these islands are various demonic creatures ranging from skeletal Mages and Hell Bats, to bony Spinefish and floating Ghasts. Surviving these relentless enemies is no easy feat and, as if that wasn’t hard enough, there are four bosses - the Lords of Torment - and one final boss, the Prime Torment. You’ll need your wits about you to even make it off of your boat in one piece, let alone navigate the perilous environments in search of materials and treasures. There’s plenty of food to be foraged, which is paramount to keeping your little wizard regenerating health and mana. As you defeat enemies you’ll be rewarded with Spirit Gems, a valuable crafting resource. The islands are rich with Diamonds, Emeralds and Rubies which can be combined with the Spirit Gems to upgrade various spells and abilities. You’ll also need to keep an eye out for the minerals required to make ship fuel, you can’t leave an island without it. Staying on an island until darkness falls will see you bumping into some, rather nasty, Ghasts. These guys take great pleasure in ending your life, so be wary!

On the title screen you’re given the option of three different difficulties. You can choose from Explorer, which is effectively easy mode. Nightmare is your medium. Then there’s Permadeath, which is pretty self-explanatory. One of the many neat aspects of Rogue Islands is the “Nightmare” consumable. Put simply, Nightmares act as your lives. For every one of these in your inventory you have the ability to come back after dying and pretend it was all just a bad dream. Being able to craft more Nightmares, from the resources you’ve gathered, means you have more chance of progression within the game. Being a Roguelite game I found myself dying a lot. I mean a LOT. Without the perk of beginner tips or a clear direction for you to take whilst on the quest line, you’re pretty much left to your own assumptions. Whilst this paves the way for a challenging experience, it may put other players off. You’ll be required to dodge a lot of enemy projectiles which, whilst not impossible, does call for some degree of skill. If you stick with it past the yelling and screaming at the enemies on your screen, you’ll start to get a better foothold and be able to explore that bit farther. Along your travels you’ll find castles and other structures, which house golden chests. These chests will give you a nice, welcomed, boost in resources and allow you to upgrade those spells and abilities quicker than if you were purely gathering. The gathering aspect of Rogue Islands is very tidy. It’s simple, and it works. Every item worth collecting has its own unique tooltip which details it’s uses and any recipes that it may be included in.

Crafting powerful gems and using those to empower your wands and spells will give you some serious firepower. This, in turn, will allow you to kill faster, loot faster and get those juicy upgrades. As you progress further through the quest line, you’ll notice the enemies get a little monotonous. In its current state, the game doesn’t offer them any alternative abilities or animations. Because of this, you’ll find yourself destroying creatures left, right and center with little to no effort. Picture a polar bear facing off against a sunflower…pretty one-sided right? The real test comes upon reaching a boss. Without giving away too many spoilers, you get locked into a zoned-off area, in which you do battle, with said boss. Quite frankly, it’s terrifying. The whole experience reminded me of the first time I played Zelda. The music changes to something far more sinister, you’re panning the camera around so much that you’re getting dizzy and all whilst trying to dodge copious amounts of projectile nastiness. Your time and effort is worth expending just to be able to face-off against one of these guys.