Kickstarter Shout-out: Rogue Wizards

With the disappointment of Diablo III, and just how long it took to make the game, other dungeon-crawlers and isometric RPGs have moved on up to the east side to become what dungeon-crawlers should be designed like. We have Torchlight and its sequel Torchlight II, and of course, with the help of Kickstarter, we have gotten a multitude of isometric RPG Kickstarters. You have examples such as Wasteland 2, Popup Dungeon, InSomnia, Hard West, and you get the idea. We are in no short supply of these kinds of games, but it always doesn’t hurt to keep talking about the more interesting dungeon-crawlers that appear on Kickstarter. This is the case of Rogue Wizards, a procedurally-generated dungeon-crawler that has some serious ex- Blizzard and other RPG talent looking to make what looks like a promising game. Let’s jump on in and see why Rogue Wizards is getting my Kickstarter Shout-out!



We will be skipping directly into the gameplay, since Rogue Wizards doesn’t really have a story besides you having to figure out why mysterious portals are appearing all over the world. This is an isometric procedurally-generated-turn-based-dungeon-crawler. You will be traversing through dungeons that will always be different. The main gimmick that this dungeon-crawler offers is a crafting system. You use this system to craft everything, from items to your magic spells. You will have melee weapons and shields to equip to your character, but the magic spells are where it’s at! You can also upgrade your spells to become stronger and more powerful. Outside of the dungeon-crawling, you can also build your own town where you can make vendors for weapons, armor, medicinal items, and magic. One of my favorite features to see on this Kickstarter is the game will have co-op gameplay. I mean, who wouldn’t want to play a dungeon crawler with a friend? Anyway, I love what this game is offering, but as usual, I have my concerns that I will later talk about in this article.



Graphically, I like it. It has bright colors and a friendly art style. I think it does slightly teeter on the line of looking like a Facebook social game, but it looks better than any of those kinds of games, so I will let that fly. The game’s music is composed by, well, I couldn’t find the person on the Kickstarter who is composing the music. This means I really can’t talk about it besides that the few bits of music that I heard sounded epic and are on par with what most dungeon-crawler soundtracks sound like.



So, where do my concerns come in? Well, besides my common concerns of randomized and procedurally generated gameplay, like hoping the dungeons have enough variety and replay value with actual change each time you go through them, I don’t have that many concerns. I think it looks like a well-designed game, but I do hope people are not turned off by the game’s art style. With the downfall and the current social status of social games, people can be turned off by an art style most commonly used with games from Facebook or of the free-to-play area.



However, I think this game will be excellent. The game’s funding goal is $70K and it is currently at over $38K. Even though we are seeing a lot of isometric RPG games that are either designed like the original Fallouts or Diablos, it is nice to see that while this game is yet another isometric RPG, it does have some unique elements. You have town building, item and magic crafting that reminded me of that American-made Secret of Mana game, Secret of Evermore, has a colorful and appealing art style, and it has co-op! I really don’t need to say much more, with the exception of, congrats Spellbind Studios, Rogue Wizards gets my official Kickstarter Shout-out!

(If you want to support this Kickstarter, you can go to this link!)