While some find the repeating gameplay of a rogue-lite to be frustrating, others rise to the challenge that comes with a reset per death setup. Releasing the latest challenge to players is Squishy Games with their latest title Rogue Invader. With a setting in space and a story that is a bit funny due to its silly base and comical dialogue, they have made a title that is worth looking into. But after playing the game, I’m here to share whether or not it is worth playing.

Story

After being invaded for twenty years by the Zeno’s, but now your group, the Terran’s, have put together a fleet to fight back against the Zeno homeworld! The problem is, the Terran’s went through a series of massive space battles in which all supply ships have been destroyed. Despite having a huge invasion army, they are left to send a single invader at a time with their only remaining supplies; a single pistol and a single piece of body armor. At least the single drop pod can return itself to the ship so they can send another soldier if you should fail. In the end, the Terran’s intend to complete their mission - to end this war!

Gameplay

Going down one at a time, you will be playing a single-man or single-woman mission every time. If you die, another soldier will be sent down to follow your steps. In order to make it more plausible for the mission to be completed in the end, use your limited number of beamers to send back supplies to the ship during each run. With these supplies, more armor, weapons, repairs, and research can be done!

Each run has a bit of RNG to it so there is plenty of unknown aspects to the run, but there are only a number of things that can happen. If you are lucky, you will be able to go in with only regular enemies to face. However, you can also find yourself having other issues such as dangerous weather, a man-eating worm, dangerous pathways (pitfalls, lava trails, etc), and more. This is also true for when you reach further into the level, so even after you get the first areas down, don’t get too comfortable because what lies ahead can always change from what you experienced before.

While doing your runs, you will get weapons and ammo from fallen enemies, so don’t focus on beaming those items. You can always beam the small stuff, but the big hitters are armor equipment you don’t need and supply holders, such as barrels. Make sure to save your beamers to snag these up because they give the most for your efforts. With enough supplies, you can really bulk up your fleet with a number of things.

The research and forge decks grow as you make runs. Your team is always learning and the more you collect, the more they learn. Even if you don’t use the items right away, you will still gain intel on new items. Of course, beaming weapons your team hasn’t seen yet is always a quick boost forward and you can use spare weapons to research upgrades and add-ons for your weapons. Once you bulk up the items you can make and supplies you have to make them, you will eventually be able to go into the mission with a fully decked loadout that includes a helmet, body armor, grenade, stronger weapons, and even some fleet help such as the shield remover.

Dying comes with a bit more consequence once you start reaching higher numbers. The more soldiers that are sent down and defeated, the more fighting back the Zeno’s will do towards the ships. If your ships are taking damage, you will need to use supplies you have collected to fix them otherwise you will lose them. I would imagine it goes without saying that you don’t want to lose your fleet and main ship to the Zeno’s attacks.

As for the gameplay itself, you move across a sidescrolling type map where you can move left or right and shift up or down. If you hide behind a rock, especially when crouched, you will be able to avoid getting hit by enemy attacks, but the same goes for your enemies. You will shoot where your mouse is aiming at, so make sure your pathway is clear when shooting. As enemies are taken out, make sure you are switching out to a fresh gun every so often and grabbing the extra ammo from the fallen enemies.

Audio and Visual

When it comes to the voice work and music for this game, it is actually pretty well done. It didn’t seem like a game that would have decent work in this aspect at first since it could easily get away without any voice work, but that extra bit of effort helped this game build up its own interest. It also helped make the comedic dialogue work really well for the interactions and mocking from the Zeno leader.

The aesthetic of this game is a modernized retro look with a 1-bit focused art style for the background, foreground, and characters. There is just enough detail to tell everybody apart from each other and the enemies all look pretty well done even at the low quality the art style aims for. Overall, it is easy to appreciate the high detail in this retro-like title.

Replayability

Since you have to replay the level over and over in order to reach the end with a little more improvements and supplies collected with each run, I would definitely say there is replayability. It’s literally built into the gameplay’s overall style.

What Could Be Better

While the controls and gameplay are built in a simplistic style to work with the retro focus around the game, the accuracy of my weapon always felt slightly off. It may have been because of the way the cursor is for the aiming and so I would suggest that they have different cursors for different guns. Pistols can have the default cursor they have now, but rifles, snipers, and other guns should have a different cursor. Something more tight and accurate focused so that missing is less possible with a better weapon.

Verdict

Rogue Invader is a pretty solid rogue-lite that offers a challenging experience. While I couldn’t get myself to care for the story itself, I thought the overall setup for the gameplay’s scenario was comical and entertaining on its own. For those who enjoy a challenge in their game and are interesting in being a literal one-man-army, then this game is definitely for you. It is simple to get into and hard to master, so be prepared to strategize and learn a bit more with every soldier’s attempt.