Over the past several years, the popularity of the roguelike genre has increased exponentially. Games like Hades and Returnal may be what fans think of when they hear the term now, but several releases contributed to this modern popularity and implementation in multiple genres like platformers, like the original Rogue Legacy. It played its own role in popularizing the genre, and now in a couple of weeks, it will be getting a sequel in Rogue Legacy 2.
Rogue Legacy 2 has been in Early Access for some time now, but April 28 will mark its full launch. Players will be able to pick it up on PC, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S, but that may understandably raise a few eyebrows. The original is currently available on PC, PS3, PS4, Vita, Xbox One, Switch, and Mobile, so many PlayStation and Switch owners may be curious if they’ll get ported to those consoles. During a recent interview with Rogue Legacy 2 lead designer Teddy Lee, Game Rant asked if any of these ports were planned.
There are two things to keep in mind here. The first is that Rogue Legacy was released on the aforementioned platforms over several years after its PC launch in 2013. The PlayStation platform came a year after its initial launch, while the Xbox One version came a whole year after that. It was 2018 when Rogue Legacy hit Switch, and iOS port was still a year after that. The second is that Rogue Legacy 2’s developer, Cellar Door Games, is an indie studio, meaning it’s rather small compared to other companies.
This is important because it plays a role in Rogue Legacy 2’s PC and Xbox releases. As Lee said,
“Well, one of the big reasons we did Xbox is because we have two programmers on the team. We are very small. Most companies have like a guy who does the porting. That's their whole thing. They're just doing the port. We have two people, so they were doing porting while doing development at the same time. Even doing the Xbox version was so difficult.”
It's no secret that game development is incredibly difficult and often has hundreds of people involved, but indie developers don’t often have this manpower. Teddy notes how difficult it is to just get another platform added to its launch, while also having to juggle core development and prepare for the upcoming release.
That doesn’t mean it won’t ever happen, but if it did, it’s likely to be similar to the first game—taking place across extended periods of time. As far as if PlayStation or Switch ports ARE currently planned for Rogue Legacy 2, Lee stated, “we’ve only been thinking about that so far, so we’ll see.” Cellar Door Games may have considered ports, but that doesn’t mean they’re happening yet or at all. Players would be wise, then, to keep expectations in check, as Lee makes it clear that this shouldn’t be taken as a promise. “We don't like to make any promises or say anything if nothing’s set in stone, right?"
While PS4 and Switch owners may be disappointed, it’s worth noting how much work Cellar Door Games has put into bringing it to more than one platform at once but also the amount of work that has gone into the game itself. Lee describes the 1.0 release as “a lot bigger” than the Dragon’s Vow update but also remarked that the team is feeling good going into this launch. As Lee stated,
It's super stable. It's like the most stable we've ever been. And a lot of a lot it has to do with early access and everything. But yeah, we're pretty excited. We're actually on schedule, which is pretty amazing.
This should be exciting for fans who have been keeping up with Rogue Legacy 2’s early access developments, especially as there’s plenty of content for veterans who have played before but welcoming features for newcomers too. Either way, it’ll be interesting to see how the game is received at its full launch.
Rogue Legacy 2 releases on April 28 for PC, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.