Info about Rogue Empire: Dungeon Crawler RPG:

Official game description:
Choose from **multiple races and classes that meaningfully change how your hero fights, survives, and grows**, then tackle a traditional roguelike built around tactical turn-based combat, procedural dungeons, persistent unlocks, and multiple ways to play.
Rogue Empire combines classic dungeon-crawling tension with a more modern interface, different game modes, and high replay value.
Every hero starts with a class — None end the same
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Build your hero from race, class, and difficulty choices, then grow through a mix of class identity, player choice, emergent talent offers, spells, loot, and rare rewards.
“_Some builds become legends. Others become lessons._”
Explore, quest and challenge yourself
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Choose how you want to play. Follow the main campaign, chase optional quests, explore the world map, discover points of interest, or push into special modes where the stakes rise the deeper you crawl.
“_One more floor is always a reasonable idea. Until it isn’t._”
Every turn opens new opportunities
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Fight through turn-based grid battles against dangerous enemies, champion variants, and unique bosses, using positioning, talents, magic, items, traps, and resource management to turn each encounter in your favor.
Uncover forgotten secrets, claim legendary items, and complete powerful item sets.
“_A strict no-refunds policy applies. Mostly to your life._”
Death Is Not the End
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Unlock new perks, discover illustrated story paths, reach different endings, and climb the leaderboards.
“Your hero may fall, but at least they were useful currency.”

Release date: Jan 25, 2019

Categories: Roguelike, Turn-based Combat, Procedural Generation, Character Progression, Meta-Progression, Dungeon Crawler, Multiple Endings

Feature scans:
- Proton/Linux: score 20; verdict: Works with minor caveats; summary: The available reviews only discuss Steam Deck compatibility expectations, noting the game is not officially Verified but is expected to offer a Playable-style experience. No Linux/Proton-specific issues such as crashes, performance problems, or required workarounds are reported, suggesting the game runs acceptably on Linux/Proton with only minor caveats.

- Hardware Profile: No data
Feature extractions:
- Community Price:
  - Community fair range: $10.00 - $15.00
  - Reasoning: The reviews consistently highlight that the game is a good value when purchased on sale, with one user explicitly stating that $10 for the game plus DLC was well worth it. Another notes the price point makes it a safe purchase, while others mention buying it only because of a discount, implying the base price may be slightly higher than the ideal value point. The community seems to consider a fair base price around $10-15, as that aligns with the sale price that generated strong satisfaction and still allows for meaningful discounts.
- Playtime Metrics:
  - Game completion: N/A
  - Story completion: 3.5h
  - Session length: 12.0h
  - Endgame: N/A
  - Reasoning: The story completion metric is supported by two independent reviews stating the Eghoss campaign takes 3-4 hours to finish, so I set it to 3.5 hours as the midpoint. The session length metric is supported by a single report of a nearly twelve-hour continuous play session, which I take as evidence of a long session length. No reviews provide a specific time to complete the entire game or to reach endgame content, so those metrics remain null.
- Time-to-fun:
  - Summary: Rogue Empire is generally enjoyable, but for many players the fun clicks only after a few hours of learning the systems and making a few runs. Early friction like the tedious hunger system and a learning curve for newcomers delays the payoff, which then improves with meta-progression and familiarity.
  - Stance: Clicks after
  - Anchor: After a few hours of play
  - Time to anchor: 3h 0m
  - Friction: tedious hunger system; learning curve for roguelike newcomers; tutorial lacks keyboard navigation guidance; repetitive early game quest; difficulty for newcomers
  - Unlock drivers: learning the game mechanics; unlocking meta-progression perks; understanding rest and hallway tactics; getting used to the hunger system
  - Conditions: for roguelike veterans, fun is immediate; for newcomers, enjoyment takes a few hours; if you enjoy classic roguelikes, you will likely enjoy it; if you find the hunger system tedious, early fun is hindered; if you play with the tutorial off, systems are easier to figure out; if you dislike repetition, the mid-game may cause a drop in fun; if you use meta-progression, subsequent runs become easier and more enjoyable
- Player Archetypes:
  - Roguelike Enthusiast (buy)
    - Motivation: To enjoy a familiar roguelike formula with modern conveniences and a more casual pace.
    - Playstyle: Compares mechanics to classic roguelikes, appreciates the meta-progression as a quality-of-life feature, and engages with the tactical combat.
    - Experience: veteran
    - Purchase stance: buy
    - Labels: long time roguelike & roguelite player
    - Reference games: TOME; ADOM; Stone Soup; Dungeonmans
  - Casual Beginner (buy)
    - Motivation: To experience a roguelike without the steep learning curve, using meta-progression to make progress.
    - Playstyle: Plays casually, relies on permanent upgrades, and appreciates the simpler mechanics.
    - Experience: newcomer
    - Purchase stance: buy
    - Labels: N/A
    - Reference games: Nethack
  - Completionist Grinder (buy)
    - Motivation: To collect all achievements, unlock all meta-progression bonuses, and climb leaderboards.
    - Playstyle: Grinds for Soul Essence, pursues secondary objectives, and engages with the meta-game.
    - Experience: familiar
    - Purchase stance: buy
    - Labels: OCD collector
    - Reference games: N/A
  - Traditionalist Critic (no buy)
    - Motivation: To experience a deep, challenging, and pure roguelike without modern concessions.
    - Playstyle: Critically compares to classics, may disable meta-progression, and seeks hardcore challenge.
    - Experience: veteran
    - Purchase stance: no buy
    - Labels: veteran grognard
    - Reference games: N/A


Below are summaries of things people say about the game per category.
Each point is assigned a weight that represents how often it is mentioned across all reviews.
What players like:
- Excellent roguelike experience (weight 0.37): Players consistently praise the game as one of the best roguelikes, highlighting its depth, fun, and advanced interface compared to traditional titles like ADOM. It is considered a well-constructed and visually appealing roguelike.
- Engaging and fun gameplay (weight 0.33): Gameplay is described as engaging, fun, challenging, and rewarding. The game is highly addictive and provides a satisfying strategic, turn-based tactical experience.
- Responsive and active developer (weight 0.32): The developer is highly praised for being active, friendly, and responsive on Discord and Steam forums, quickly resolving bugs and taking player feedback. This strong community engagement is a major positive point.
- Great value for price (weight 0.24): Players feel the game is well worth its price, often stating it is worth more than $10. The amount of content, even in early access, is superb for the cost.
- Unique random skill mechanics (weight 0.1): Randomly drawn skills and unique random skill mechanics make each game feel new and alter turn-based tactical battles. This adds significant replayability.
- Varied and unusual races (weight 0.1): Players enjoy the variety of races, including unusual ones like Trolls, Naga, cat-folk, and wood folk. This diversity enhances character customization and replayability.

Common complaints:
- Numerous bugs and crashes (weight 0.55): Players report a wide range of bugs, from occasional glitches to game-breaking issues like crashes, progression blockers, and teleportation errors. Some runs are unplayable, and achievements are often broken, indicating a lack of polish.
- Lacks depth and complexity (weight 0.49): Compared to other roguelikes, the game is seen as simplistic, easy, and lacking in interactions, complexity, and tactical variation. Players note few moments of feeling threatened and a flat, poor gameplay loop that doesn't stand out from the competition.
- Repetitive content and enemies (weight 0.39): The game suffers from severe repetition, with very little enemy variety, samey dungeons and maps, and repetitive environments. Mid and end game become a slog of mashing through rooms filled with the same enemies, leading to boredom.
- Inventory management is inconvenient (weight 0.38): Comparing items and weapons is difficult, with no stack splitting, no auto-loot except gold, and cumbersome menus without sort by weight. Players have to press P multiple times to pick up items and drag things to bars, making inventory a chore.
- Lacks class and customization options (weight 0.35): There are only 5 classes, which is fewer than older games like T.O.M.E. or ADOM, and players want more classes and character customization options. The skill system is also criticized for being random and lacking depth, with no deckbuilder mechanics like removing or rerolling abilities.
- UI is clunky and oversized (weight 0.34): The interface is frequently criticized as huge, clunky, and poorly scaled, with tiny buttons on right-click menus, overlapping popups, and no resolution options. This makes navigation and inventory management frustrating, and some players say it prevents a proper try.
- Quality of life features are missing (weight 0.26): The game lacks many quality-of-life features, such as auto-loot, stack splitting, and the ability to toggle loot names. There are also issues with the look function, fog of war hiding monster HP bars, and no way to easily see loot while exploring.
- Hunger system is tedious (weight 0.25): The hunger system is widely disliked for depleting too fast, being annoying to manage, and forcing players to constantly search for food. It also has overly strong effects on character efficiency, adding unnecessary pressure and hindering exploration.
- Random generation is flawed (weight 0.24): Procedural generation is seen as bad, creating glitches, oddly generated rooms, strange layouts with holes in walls, and repetitive environments. It can also lead to awkward difficulty combinations and poor door placement.
- Progression and leveling are poor (weight 0.23): Leveling slows down a lot after level 10, grinding is required, and progression is generally poor. Random progression can interfere with carefully planned builds, and roguelike elements gained from losses mean very little on runs.
- Controls are awkward and unclear (weight 0.22): Players report that the control scheme is awkward and not always clear, with specific issues like inconsistent hotkeys, double-clicking doing different things, and difficulty with misclicks. This makes the game feel unpolished and hard to play effectively.
- End game is unbalanced and painful (weight 0.21): End game combat is atrocious, with enemies that take forever to kill or cannot be killed, and balancing is completely off in all aspects. A boss at a tower can instantly kill a level 35 player, feeling unfair, and the main campaign ends in a painful slog.
- Equipment and items are boring (weight 0.2): Equipment is boring, repetitive, and samey, with legendary items never feeling impactful. There are few equipment options, magic scrolls, and only red and blue potions, making itemization feel shallow and uninteresting.
- Overworld map is lackluster (weight 0.17): The overworld map graphics are described as bafflingly awful compared to dungeon graphics, and the map itself is lackluster. The menu map is also so dark it's almost impossible to use, and the overworld has a time counter that increases with time passage.
- Monster AI is simplistic (weight 0.17): Monsters all rush straight for the player no matter where they are, with no wandering behavior, and everything seems to have sense-player capability. This makes entering a new level dangerous and reduces tactical depth.
- Auto-explore system is poor (weight 0.14): The auto-explore feature is criticized for taking random long routes, stopping at random times, and being unable to navigate past obstacles like crates. It also stops for all objects without feedback, making it frustrating to use.

Gameplay feedback:
- Roguelike with modern touches (weight 0.76): The game is consistently described as a traditional roguelike with modern accessibility, featuring turn-based combat, procedural generation, and meta-progression. It blends classic roguelike elements with contemporary design.
- Multiple races and classes (weight 0.41): The game offers 7 races and 5 classes, each with distinct stats and abilities, providing a wide variety of character builds. This diversity is a key feature for replayability.
- Card-based leveling system (weight 0.35): Leveling up presents a choice of random perk cards, often every two levels, from a class-dependent pool. This card-based system adds strategic depth and randomness to character progression.
- Multiple game modes (weight 0.32): The game includes three distinct modes: a linear dungeon, a campaign with an overworld, and a challenge dungeon. This variety caters to different play styles and preferences.
- Character development and leveling (weight 0.32): The game features a unique character leveling system with predetermined stat increases and randomized rewards. This hybrid approach adds variety to character growth.
- Soul Essence meta-progression (weight 0.28): Players earn Soul Essence during runs to purchase permanent upgrades, making subsequent attempts easier. This meta-progression system is a core loop that rewards repeated play.
- Inspired by ADOM and ToME (weight 0.2): The game is frequently compared to classic roguelikes like ADOM and Tales of Maj'Eyal, indicating it shares similar depth and mechanics. This comparison is a strong selling point for genre fans.

Performance notes:
- Performance issues and crashes (weight 0.27): Multiple users report performance problems including frame drops, long load times, and occasional crashes. These issues are sporadic but can disrupt gameplay, especially in dungeons.
- Crashes are minimal (weight 0.05): A user notes that crashes and bugs are minimal, suggesting the game is generally stable despite occasional issues.

Recommendations:
- Recommended for roguelike fans (weight 0.53): Many reviewers recommend the game to fans of roguelikes, describing it as a must-have for the genre. This is the most common sentiment across the feedback.
- Good for beginners (weight 0.31): Several reviewers suggest the game is a great starting point for newcomers to roguelikes, offering a less punishing experience than traditional titles. It is recommended for those new to turn-based dungeon crawlers.
- Highly recommended overall (weight 0.22): Many reviewers give the game a strong recommendation, praising it as an excellent addition to the roguelike genre. This is a general positive sentiment.
- Try alternatives instead (weight 0.14): Some reviewers advise playing other roguelikes like ADOM, ToME, or DCSS instead, suggesting the game may not be the best choice in the genre. This is a notable counter-recommendation.
- Fine on sale (weight 0.11): Some reviewers say the game is acceptable when purchased on sale, suggesting it may not be worth full price. This is a conditional recommendation.
- Time pressure may deter (weight 0.1): Some reviewers caution that the game's time constraints might not suit all players, recommending it only to those comfortable with time pressure. This is a specific caveat for potential buyers.
- Start with first world (weight 0.08): Reviewers suggest playing the first world option first as it prepares players for the larger game, offering a helpful tip for new players. This is a practical recommendation.
- Recommended with flaws (weight 0.06): One reviewer recommends the game but notes it has some obvious flaws, indicating a mixed but positive overall impression. This suggests the game is enjoyable despite imperfections.
- Not for frequent deaths (weight 0.06): The game is not recommended for players who dislike dying often, as it involves permadeath and challenging gameplay. This is a warning for casual players.
- Watch video before buying (weight 0.05): One reviewer suggests watching gameplay footage before purchasing, implying the game may not meet expectations for everyone. This is a cautious recommendation.
- Good for character creation fans (weight 0.05): The game is recommended for players who enjoy creating multiple characters, highlighting its character customization options. This is a specific positive feature.

Other player notes:
- Frequently compared to ToME (weight 0.87): The game is most often compared to Tales of Maj'Eyal, with some reviewers considering ToME superior while others find Rogue Empire more polished and accessible. Comparisons also extend to ADOM, DCSS, and other traditional roguelikes.
- Developer is highly responsive (weight 0.45): Multiple reviewers highlight the developer's active presence on Discord and Steam forums, with quick responses to bug reports and community feedback. One reviewer noted a bug report was answered in half an hour with a patch provided in three hours.
- Early access with substantial content (weight 0.36): Reviewers note the game is in early access with the first campaign complete and the second about 70% finished, yet it already offers a large amount of content for the price. Some feel it still needs more content despite the volume available.
- Ongoing updates and support (weight 0.27): The developer continues to provide regular updates, including player-requested features, bug fixes, and balance changes, with some recent updates described as huge. However, one reviewer notes the last patch was 13 months ago, and another says the developer is responsive in discussions but not in making changes.
- Game modes and difficulty options (weight 0.25): The game features three game modes, three difficulty levels, and a challenge dungeon mode, along with a starter dungeon and campaign. A shorter 3-4 hour Eghoss campaign and a longer main campaign with race and class options are also available.
- Game features and achievements (weight 0.14): The game includes Steam Cloud, leaderboards, Trading Cards, and 44 achievements. It also has a decent tutorial and an ok story, though some bugs are present.

Emotions:
- Enjoyment (weight 0.23): Players enjoy the game for its strategic turn-based combat, variety of classes, and deep tactical gameplay. The combination of roguelike charm with modern accessibility, along with immersive music and graphics, creates a highly engaging experience. The meta progression, perk system, and randomized elements add replay value, keeping players coming back for more.
- Frustration (weight 0.17): Players are frustrated by numerous bugs, clunky UI, and tedious inventory management that hinder gameplay. The repetitive mid-game content, unfair boss deaths, and lack of quality-of-life features add to the frustration. Issues like the autoexplore system, hunger mechanics, and inconsistent themes further detract from the experience.
- Satisfaction (weight 0.11): Players feel satisfied with the game's polished presentation, responsive developer, and rewarding gameplay. The game offers a complete experience with good graphics, music, and progression systems that hold interest. It serves as a great alternative to other roguelikes, providing distinct experiences and well-implemented mechanics.
- Disappointment (weight 0.11): Players are disappointed by the game's simplicity and lack of variety compared to other roguelikes. The repetitive gameplay, poor balance, and unmemorable maps make it feel inferior to its inspirations. Awkward controls and character scale issues further diminish the overall experience.
- Excitement (weight 0.08): Players are excited by the leveling system, random drops, and the potential for new builds and classes. The game's addictive and balanced gameplay, along with the anticipation of future updates, keeps them engaged. Discovering new rooms and unlocking chests adds to the thrill of each playthrough.
- Appreciation (weight 0.08): Players appreciate the developer's consistent updates and active engagement with the community. The art style, music, and quality-of-life features are praised for enhancing the gameplay experience. The game's completeness and frequent content updates even in early access are highly valued.
- Annoyance (weight 0.03): Players are annoyed by the hunger system and timed campaign mechanics that require constant management. The enemy spellcaster missile animations and difficult-to-read fonts also cause irritation. Merchants running out of coinage makes selling items cumbersome, adding to the annoyance.
- Boredom (weight 0.03): Players experience boredom due to repetitive enemy variety and lack of tactical variation. The game becomes monotonous after 10-15 levels with the same mobs, leading to a dull playthrough. Few moments of feeling threatened reduce the excitement and engagement.
- Admiration (weight 0.02): Players admire the game for being better than all the best roguelikes, with a truly awesome experience. The art style and the ability to zoom in and admire the figures are particularly praised. This admiration stems from the game's overall quality and visual appeal.
- Addiction (weight 0.02): Players find the game highly addictive, with some playing for almost twelve hours straight. The engaging gameplay and rewarding progression keep them hooked for extended periods. The addictive nature is a testament to the game's compelling design.
- Approval (weight 0.01): Players approve of the game's user-friendly interface and its adherence to roguelike roots. The game is considered the most accessible version of the genre while maintaining core roguelike elements. This balance between accessibility and tradition is well received.
- Concern (weight 0.01): Players are concerned about a small memory leak in the program and the lengthy grind for Soul Essence. These technical and progression issues may affect long-term enjoyment. The grind for resources can become tedious, impacting the overall experience.
- Gratitude (weight 0.01): Players express gratitude for the developer's hard work and dedication to the game. They thank the devs for creating such an amazing piece of work. This appreciation is driven by the quality and effort evident in the game.
- Motivation (weight 0.01): Players are motivated by the random perk cards on level up and the difficulty in normal mode that encourages accumulating soul energy. This system pushes them to improve future heroes and continue playing. The progression mechanics provide a clear incentive to keep going.
- Love (weight 0.01): Players love the character creation and level up system, considering them the best they have played. The leveling system is a standout feature that enhances the overall experience. This love for the mechanics is a key reason for their positive sentiment.
- Liking (weight 0.01): Players like the game's casual yet unique nature, which sets it apart from other roguelikes. The card system for skills and soul essence improvements are particularly appreciated. These features contribute to a positive and enjoyable experience.
- Tension (weight 0.01): Players feel tension from the constant threat of losing a promising adventurer and the risk of exploring unexplored areas. This tension adds to the game's challenge and keeps players on edge. The risk-reward dynamic is a core part of the experience.
- Hooked (weight 0.01): Players are hooked because the game demands a lot more attention at every corner, keeping them engaged. The need for constant vigilance and strategic thinking makes the gameplay compelling. This level of engagement is a key factor in the game's addictiveness.
- Nervousness (weight 0.01): Players feel nervous about losing a character due to greed or miscalculation. The permadeath mechanic heightens the stakes and creates anxiety during gameplay. This nervousness adds to the tension and challenge of the game.
- Dislike (weight 0.01): Players dislike the time pressure mechanics, including the hunger system and sweeping darkness. These elements force a specific playstyle and limit free exploration. The constant pressure can be frustrating and detract from the overall enjoyment.}