Virtual Rogue Review

<p>Rogue-like games are appealing to a wide variety of gamers due to their randomly generated nature&comma; as well as endless amounts of replay value and lengthy content&period; I’ve probably spent over 1000 hours in <em>The Binding of Isaac<&sol;em> and <em>The Binding of Isaac&colon; Rebirth<&sol;em> &lpar;as well as the Afterbirth expansion&period;&rpar; <em>Virtual Rogue<&sol;em> takes things in a less creepy and gory way&comma; instead detailing the struggle of a character named Note&comma; who is a text document who was accidentally created by the user of a computer&period; Instead of turning Note into a useful document&comma; the terrible user simply tosses Note aside directly into the Recycle Bin&excl;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<figure id&equals;"attachment&lowbar;106144" aria-describedby&equals;"caption-attachment-106144" style&equals;"width&colon; 1501px" class&equals;"wp-caption aligncenter"><img class&equals;"size-full wp-image-106144" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2016&sol;05&sol;03174438&sol;Virtual-Rogue-enemies-and-traps&period;jpg" alt&equals;"&lpar;Virtual Rogue&comma; Black Shell Media&rpar;" width&equals;"1501" height&equals;"810" &sol;><figcaption id&equals;"caption-attachment-106144" class&equals;"wp-caption-text">&lpar;Virtual Rogue&comma; Black Shell Media&rpar;<&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;<p>Your goal as the player is to guide Note in his quest for revenge&comma; hoping to destroy the computer he was created in as well as the user who tossed him aside&period; You will have access to 6 different characters&comma; over 121 different items and 36 different pick-ups that you’ll need to learn to utilize in order to defeat all of the randomly generated enemies and bosses that may stand in your way&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><em>Virtual Rogue<&sol;em> plays like any other twin-stick Rogue-like game&semi; the player moves with the left stick&comma; WASD&comma; or the Arrow Keys &lpar;depending on how they have their key bindings set&rpar; while shooting with the right stick&comma; or whatever key bindings they have set&period; In order to refill Note’s health&comma; you will need to pick up RAM&comma; which drops from enemies occasionally and as drops for completed rooms&period; You can also pick up Bits&comma; which work as the in-game currency and can be used in machines or in the shop on each level&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Unlike most Rogue-likes&comma; <em>Virtual Rogue<&sol;em> has a tutorial that helps you become familiar with the mechanics as well as spotting things like chests and vending machines&period; Also unique to <em>Virtual Rogue<&sol;em>&comma; is that in order to open the exit of each level&comma; you have to collect Bytes&comma; which can drop off of enemies and bosses&period; <em>Virtual Rogue <&sol;em>has the difficulty of a bullet hell&comma; mixed with the mechanics of a Rogue-like for a very difficult&comma; random experience that players will only succeed in with practice&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<figure id&equals;"attachment&lowbar;106145" aria-describedby&equals;"caption-attachment-106145" style&equals;"width&colon; 1501px" class&equals;"wp-caption aligncenter"><img class&equals;"size-full wp-image-106145" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2016&sol;05&sol;03174418&sol;Virtual-Rogue-Tutorial&period;jpg" alt&equals;"&lpar;Virtual Rogue&comma; Black Shell Media&rpar; " width&equals;"1501" height&equals;"810" &sol;><figcaption id&equals;"caption-attachment-106145" class&equals;"wp-caption-text">&lpar;Virtual Rogue&comma; Black Shell Media&rpar;<&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;<p>Like other Rogue-likes&comma; vending machines work in multiple ways&comma; there are standard vending machines which take bits&comma; and there are vending machines that require the player to sacrifice RAM in order to reap their rewards&period; This adds a layer of strategy to <em>Virtual Rogue<&sol;em>&comma; where if you are full of health and there are health pick-ups nearby&comma; you can sacrifice health only to refill it with the pick-ups AND receive the reward from the machine&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>You will find yourself facing folders&comma; sound files&comma; music files&comma; and all the various documents and computer related adversaries that you can click with a mouse&period; Each enemy has their own behavior&comma; attacks&comma; and overall look&comma; which the player will need to learn in order to succeed&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><em>Virtual Rogue<&sol;em> is surprisingly addicting&comma; and while it is punishingly difficult&comma; I can honestly say I do enjoy it&period; The only real problem that I have with it is that the visuals are terrible&period; The font is difficult to read &lpar;and I wear prescription glasses&rpar; and with the design of the levels&comma; it is difficult to spot the shop door in a sea of matrix green&period; The music is surprisingly catchy&comma; and isn’t distracting&comma; Overall&comma; aside from the visual issues&comma; the only other criticism I could give is that the game itself needs a little more polish and work to truly be of the caliber of games like <em>Rogue Legacy<&sol;em> and <em>The Binding of Isaac<&sol;em>&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Despite the visual issues&comma; <em>Virtual Rogue<&sol;em> is well worth the &dollar;4&period;99 price point and will most likely provide well over 100 hours of gameplay if you want to unlock all the characters and find all of the content of <em>Virtual Rogue&period;<&sol;em><&sol;p>&NewLine;