Rogue Legacy 2 is the perfect ‘one more’ game

digitaltrends.com:

I both love and fear a good “one more” game. That’s a term for the kind of video game that has me saying “I’ll just just play one more round” for hours. It’s a flexible distinction. For me, it can be a game like Halo Infinite that keeps me jumping into matches until I can go out on a good one. For my mother, it’s Candy Crush with its addictive puzzle hooks. The perfect “one more” game can be broken down into digestible sessions, runs, or rounds that make players feel like they can always improve if they just have one more go at it.

Rogue Legacy 2 is the most effective “one more” game I’ve played so far this year. The roguelite, which exited early access at the end of April, is a polished sequel that improves on its predecessor in just about every respect. Over the weekend, I found myself playing it for four hours at a time as I kept instinctively loading up another run every time I died.

The secret to its success lies in its approach to progression. Every individual attempt is a building block that sets players up for long-term success. It’s not just that players will feel like they can do better next time — it’s that they actually will.

At first glance, Rogue Legacy 2 is nearly identical to its 2013 predecessor, save for its cartoon art style. It’s still a roguelite where players travel through a castle slaying monsters and killing a handful of bosses to unlock a final encounter. All of its main hooks return, including its defining feature: Heirs. Every time a player dies, they choose an heir from a randomized selection. Some of them have positive traits, while others have hereditary quirks that can be a hindrance (being born with vertigo means the entire screen will be upside down).

But the sequel’s most important