Rogue Legacy 2, the follow-up to Cellar Door Games' hit rogue-like dungeon crawler from 2013, was announced with some work-in-progress screenshots in April. Today, fans got their first look at live gameplay through a trailer released to advertise Rogue Legacy 2 being available through Steam and Epic Games Store early access on July 23.

The trailer shows off this sequel's aesthetic, which departs from the original pixel art into a 2.5D style with hand-drawn backgrounds and 3D characters, as well as its sense of humor continuing Rogue Legacy's use of quirks and disorders to create diverse challenges. Essentially, the games use one character's death to transition into one of three descendants in the next run, each of whom may have perks like extra strength or a gimmick that changes the world such as synesthesia.

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According to the description for Rogue Legacy 2 on Steam, where prospective players can currently wishlist the game, the titles are more "rogue-lite," as players can do things like build up their hub castles and receive upgrades that carry forward for new characters. The sequel will up these elements by adding "metroidvania flair" through new abilities that can be found in the randomly-generated world, unique weapons for different classes, and unique biomes.

Another big draw to Rogue Legacy 2 according to its Steam early access page is improved accessibility with mechanics that help struggling players, as well as more incentive to tackle difficult characters with gold gain modifiers for certain traits. The game will continue its development while in early access, and major updates are currently expected to roll out every two months or so.

The original Rogue Legacy was a big success for Cellar Door Games, and in 2019 it was re-released in the "Wanderer's Edition" on iOS, at the time for just one dollar. However, the developers clearly intend to make things bigger and better on all accounts for the sequel, and on Twitter today said one of the main goals is to make "combat more fluid, and versatile."

There will be two biomes, over 700 randomized rooms, four character classes, and more released as part of Rogue Legacy 2's initial early access offerings, with a lot of additions planned through future updates. For those who want more roguelike action while they wait for July, the co-op title Demon's Tier+ released on Switch, PS4, and Xbox One earlier this month.

Rogue Legacy 2 will be available through early access July 23, 2020 on Steam and Epic Games Store.

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Source: Steam