![]() ![]() Emily Blunt is the only reason to watch Pain Hustlers Could Jeffrey Wright win the best actor Oscar? If he didn't quite manage it then, he gets a lot closer with The Creator. ![]() Back when Rogue One came out in 2016, Edwards said that he wanted to make a Star Wars film that reflected "the reality of war". But the world Edwards and his team have built is jaw-droppingly distinctive, with its own sombre mood and worn and grimy look. There are echoes of The Terminator, Blade Runner and Star Wars all through it – not surprisingly, given that its director and co-writer, Gareth Edwards, directed Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. That doesn't mean that it's wholly original. If there’s one video game genre that imbues me we a sense of catatonic apathy it’s roguelike deck builders.The Creator belongs to an endangered species, in that it's a Hollywood science-fiction epic that isn't based on a video game, a comic, or a film you've seen already. Throughout my video game life I’ve actively avoided any game that would define itself in such a way. Indeed, like a conspiracy spewing Twitter addicted crackpot, I’ve effectively denied the genre’s very existence. The world is flat, vaccines are an excuse to insert tracking chips and roguelike deckbuilders aren’t real. Maybe I would have carried on floating around in my video game echo chamber were it not for being commanded to review Roguebook. It popped my proverbial bubble and I couldn’t be happier about it.įunnily enough, Roguebook is a roguelike deck builder and it also happens to be brilliant. Your dynamic duo of fantastical heroes are trapped within the pages of the Roguebook. The eponymous tome will do its best to keep all those within it trapped forever. The only way route to freedom then is to defeat a formidable boss that guards access to the next page. To stand a chance, you’ll need to explore a map stuffed with helpful treasure and unhelpful foes. Thing is, to explore the map you’ll need to draw it into existence with a very important and exceedingly finite resource pots of ink. Paint the page and you’ll uncover all sorts of secrets to help you on your way. Once the ink well is dry though, the rest of the map will remain forever hidden from view. This being a roguelike, you’re unlikely to beat that boss on your first run, forcing a restart.Īll that’s then left to do is hope you’ve gathered enough cards and items to defeat the end of level boss. Thankfully on the next run you’ll benefit from being able to unlock a boost to your character’s base stats and abilities as well as expand your starting deck of cards. It’s a tried and tested mechanic and it’s one that works exceedingly well in the confines of Roguebook. The fact that ink is so limited means you have to be exceedingly strategic in its application, utilising a dab here or a splash there to access some tempting treasure tantalisingly out of reach. It’s in the combat that Roguebook truly excels however, the 2D turn-based battles proving a tense and exciting affair. All your attacks are triggered via selecting cards from a deck. However, those same cards can also confer to a defensive pool that will need to be boosted to absorb your foes attacks. As such, each turn offers a strategic conundrum, do you get stuck in with an attack or two or do you opt for defense – after all, opportunities to heal your heroes come few and far between in Roguebook. Ultimately this mechanic proves insanely addictive, something about the attack/defence balancing act just made my brain itch. The euphoria that was released upon figuring out how to solve that problem and successfully scratching the strategic itch was simply sublime.Ĭards are interesting and varied in their attributes and possible use. Each of the four heroes – from a fast and deadly warrior to a rage-fuelled demon rat dude – have their own unique cards and functions. Sorocco, the flame-breathing first mate, is all about support, defence and flattening enemies with his potent posterior. Whilst Auroroa, a magic spewing turtle no less, is best used boosting her ally and summoning frogs to do her bidding. Suffice to say, with such a diverse range of characters and cards to choose from, there’s a vast array of strategies on offer here. The game will tell you what your enemies are going to do next, the trick is to use all of the cards, abilities and items at your disposal in tandem to be able to counter it. ![]()
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