Rotwood is a roguelite dungeon crawler that you can play solo or with up to three friends.

Story

Do we really care about the story in roguelite games? Yeah? Okay, here we go. The story is quite simple: The world was dragged into chaos and the main character meets up with a bunch of other people that try to save the world – yeah that’s pretty much it. There isn’t too much depth to the story and that’s fine since it’s a dungeon crawler with roguelite elements which excels at exactly that.

Personal Note

I’ve played the demo version of Rotwood in 2023 and was quite happy with it. The art-style, which Klei Entertainment is known for, is adorable and fits to the overall vibe of the game. The gameplay itself was already pretty decent and worked well.

Fast forwarding a year: It’s 2024 and Rotwood was released into Early Access and I have to say that it’s fun. I played it with a friend and alone and honestly, playing it together with friends is probably the way to go. Not only is it more fun, but you can also just help each other with the grind and you have a little safety net you can bounce on in case you die a bit too quick – the safety net are your friends of course.

Every biome has different mobs and different bosses which means that you sometimes have to change up your gear and strategy to get through those different biomes without too many issues.

Bosses in Rotwood are a bit hit or miss. Some bosses are easy, some have mechanics that you have to do if you want to succeed and some are just cheeseable way too easy if the rng is on your side. I like that you can cheese an entire boss fight but also kind of dislike that the core mechanic is way too stressful for such an adorable little dungeon crawler.

There’s also some progression that is bound to the different weapons that change the way you play. And there are some customization options for your character which is pretty neat.

Rating

Pros
• Neat graphics and aesthetics
  
• Good soundtrack
  
• Nice biomes, weapons and gear
  
• Enemy and boss variety
  
• Enough content for your money

Cons
• Bosses are hit or miss
  
• Early Access

Conclusion

Is Rotwood worth your money? If you like dungeon crawlers with roguelite elements that come with a unique-ish and adorable art-style – sure!

The game itself isn’t expensive and it’s still in Early Access which means that there is more content coming.

As of writing this review (16.07.2024), there is a little beta going on, in which players can mess around with new powers. There’s also a new biome coming soon.

7.7 / 10

“Pleasure doing business with you.” – Doc Hoggins

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Amazing art, great animation, easy to learn and hard to master.

already addicted