Loot Rascals

There are obscene levels of charm here. [Apr 2017, p.95]

It is a digital combination of an extremely difficult board game and deck builder, combined with some zany creatures and topped off with some insane levels of difficulty. Perhaps it is the requirement of balance that made me love a game with such randomness behind it, as balancing my turns or the cards made me feel powerful in a world of beautiful chaos. I think Loot Rascals actually taught me something, which isn't something I say often about video games.

Loot Rascals offers a great spin on the traditional rogue-like and presents a supremely strange and otherworldly setting to keep it all glued together. On top of that, it’s a game that’s finally managed to make inventory management fun!

Loot Rascals then is a decent roguelike with a very unique sense of humour. The sci-fi setting and the absurdist characters allow this to stand out from the general swords and sorcery crowd and give it a memorable style. The very random nature of the levels and pickups means that far too much of the game is dictated by luck, but the ability to seed specific levels to replay is a brilliant addition.

Colorful mix of turn based strategy and card organizing with a steep learning curve, a high challenge level and the typical rogue-like elements, that degrade the motivation over time.

Loot Rascals may have missed an obvious opportunity on the Vita and Nintendo Switch, but it's still worth playing on either PlayStation 4 or PC. It's a great deal of fun, it's charming, and it's highly addictive.