Lost Castle

The most puzzling thing about Lost Castle is that it makes mistakes it has no reason to. The games that obviously inspired it have already solved its design problems — Rogue Legacy showed how to do an upgrade-based economy perfectly. Dark Souls‘ enemies have weaknesses and the player can defend. The devs rival Isaac‘s dizzying array of items and weapons, but nailing one out of three aspects isn’t enough to recommend it. There’s some quality stuff in Lost Castle and I genuinely hope it gets fixes for its flaws. But, as of right now, it’s a decent-ish co-op title that’s borderline unplayable alone.

If roguelikes are your cup of tea, you probably won’t find much gripe with Lost Castle. Seeing all the characters you could possibly be is enjoyable, and working through your skill tree feels rewarding, but the grind and repetition of much of the gameplay make you question whether it’s worth the hours.