Metroidvania? Check. Roguelike? Check. Two of my favourite gaming sub-genres. Rusty Rangers comes from developer Fantastica! and publisher Games Harbor, but can it standout from the massive crowd of other similar titles?

“Rusty Rangers is an action platformer and roguelike with elements of metroidvania. Choose your ranger and explore procedurally generated dungeons. Will you be able to defeat all the bosses?”

Before I get to my review, a little story. I was given a review code for Rusty Rangers several weeks back. I loaded the game up and everything was in Russian. Not being able to read Russian, it was a bit tricky for me to play and review. I fumbled my way through the menus and did find a language change, I selected English and… everything was still in Russian.

Well, almost everything was still in Russian. The dialogue between characters was in English, but the menus were still in Russian, the map screen was in Russian, the inventory was in Russian, etc. Then, when I purchased an upgrade from the shop… it was in Japanese.

I tried to keep playing, but it was too distracting. So I reached out to the devs and sent them a brief email. I got a very quick response with an apology and a promise that it was a bug that would be fixed fast. It was, I got another email a day later thanking me for bringing up the issue and telling me that it had been fixed, and it had been. I only bring up this little story because, I was really impressed with how fast it was fixed. This showed me that the devs really cared and were eager for players to have the best possible experience. and now, onto my review…

Rusty Rangers already put a smile on my face before I had even played a second of it, just from the game’s art style. I love it, the 16-bit pixel art is crammed with personality, tiny details and wonderful animations. It was just watching a trailer that had me putting in a review request, I didn’t even look into what kind of game it was (but had an idea from the trailer). When I did finally get to play the game, I was a tad underwhelmed… at first. Honestly, I always seem to get this feeling whenever I play any roguelike. Still, as with any title in this sub-genre, the more you play, the more it opens up and the more involving it becomes.

As is standard for any roguelike, dying is a big part of the game and how you progress further. You die, you learn a bit more, you unlock a new upgrade and you go again, and again, and again. Rusty Rangers has procedurally generated levels, loads of weapons and upgrades, multiple characters to find and unlock… and an eccentric professor. The controls are really easy to get into, though I did slightly tinker with the button mapping just to get everything exactly how I wanted it. You have a jump, shoot (four-way aiming), a dash and a special weapon. Everything is uncomplicated and it is one of those games that you fall into with ease, but will have to put many hours into it to get the most out of the game.

There’s the main hub, the Ranger’s Shelter. Here, you can unlock permanent upgrades by upgrading the shelter. As you unlock new characters, they move into the shelter and add another layer of upgrades for you to invest in. This Ranger’s Shelter also has a lot of distractions and challenges, if you feel like taking a break from the main story.

The procedurally generated levels levels keep things fresh, and it needs to as (being a roguelike) you will be playing and re-playing the same sections over, and over, and over, and over again. There are some really great boss fights and even they can throw up several random encounters. There’s just so much packed into Rusty Rangers that I have been playing for the last few weeks and I’m still fully engrossed in it. I’m sure I could’ve finished the game a while back, but I don’t want to… not yet. I’m enjoying my time with the game and I’m more than happy to coast through it at a nice slow pace.

Rusty Rangers is available now for all the consoles (for around £13), but the PC version won’t be released until the end of July. After a slow start (as with all titles of this sub-genre), Rusty Rangers has become my favourite roguelike of the last few years. The retro graphics are wonderful and full of detail. The areas that you go to are varied and keep you wanting to push forwards to see more. The various rangers offer different strengths and weaknesses. The procedural generation means that every run will be different. This game is just stuffed with quality gameplay and (if like me) you’re a fan of roguelikes, then this is a title that you need in your collection.