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Roguebook

An excellent game that provides a solid twist to the deck building genre. Needs only some minor polishing to get it close to perfection.
Roguebook Game Cover
82%Game Brain Score
gameplay, graphics
grinding, stability
85% User Score Based on 3,180 reviews
Critic Score 79%Based on 21 reviews

Platforms

Nintendo SwitchLinuxXbox Series X|SPCPlaystation 5Mac OSPlaystation 4Xbox OneXboxWindowsPlayStation
Roguebook Game Cover

About

Roguebook is a single player tactical role playing game with a fantasy theme. It was developed by Abrakam Entertainment SA and was released on June 17, 2021. It received mostly positive reviews from critics and positive reviews from players.

"Roguebook is a single-player Fantasy Turn Based Strategy game with a good plot and great gameplay, featuring marvelous visuals and ingenious music. It offers six hero pairs, each with unique abilities and card collections, for lots of replayability. However, the game is poorly optimized, has lots of bugs and grinding, which might deter some players."

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85%
Audience ScoreBased on 3,180 reviews
gameplay386 positive mentions
grinding92 negative mentions

  • Roguebook offers a fresh take on the deck-building roguelike genre with its unique map exploration mechanics and dual-character system.
  • The game features beautiful artwork and animations, creating an engaging atmosphere that enhances the overall experience.
  • The combination of characters and their synergies allows for a variety of strategies, making each run feel unique and rewarding.
  • The game suffers from frequent bugs and crashes, which can disrupt gameplay and lead to lost progress.
  • There is a lack of card removal options, which can lead to bloated decks and diminish the strategic depth of deck-building.
  • The overall difficulty can feel unbalanced, with some runs being too easy while others can be frustratingly hard due to RNG.
  • gameplay
    950 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    Roguebook offers a fresh take on the roguelike deck-building genre, incorporating familiar mechanics from games like Slay the Spire while introducing unique elements such as a hex-grid exploration system and a two-hero combat mechanic. Players appreciate the engaging gameplay loop, strategic depth, and the variety of character abilities, though some find the pacing slow and certain mechanics, like the ink system, can feel restrictive. Overall, the game is praised for its beautiful art and innovative mechanics, making it a compelling choice for fans of the genre.

    • “Roguebook is a delightful addition to the roguelike deck-building genre, offering a fresh take on familiar mechanics.”
    • “This system offers an impressive variety of strategies and encourages experimentation, keeping the gameplay fresh even after multiple runs.”
    • “The gameplay is great in the way that they combine the roguelike elements with deck drafting as well as the way they play with card mechanics in ways that are simply impossible or impractical with paper cards.”
    • “I find the base starting decks cumbersome and unbalanced; a lack of a consistent card removal mechanic and not enough deck manipulation tools or inter-party synergies mean I am almost always praying for RNG to provide me a bleed or rage-based win button.”
    • “The gameplay is basically ctrl c + ctrl v.”
    • “The mechanics are boring and absolutely uninspired.”
  • graphics
    358 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The graphics of the game are widely praised for their vibrant, hand-drawn art style that complements its storybook theme, with many reviewers noting the charming and polished visuals. While the artwork is considered beautiful and engaging, some players have reported minor graphical bugs and performance issues, such as longer load times and occasional crashes. Overall, the aesthetic is seen as a strong point of the game, enhancing the overall experience despite some technical shortcomings.

    • “The hand-drawn art style is charming and fits perfectly with the game's storybook theme.”
    • “Gorgeous graphics, beautiful music and sound work, engaging strategy, and fun exploration mechanics.”
    • “Roguebook has some of the best graphics for this genre.”
    • “I do have to say it crashes a lot and has some graphical bugs which are annoying.”
    • “The more detailed graphics result in longer load times.”
    • “There aren't any graphical options I can really do to tweak it so it's just annoying to have it stutter sometimes.”
  • replayability
    179 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The game's replayability is a mixed bag, with many players noting its strategic depth and variety of character combinations that enhance replay value. However, comparisons to titles like "Slay the Spire" reveal that it may not reach the same level of infinite replayability, with some players expressing concerns about repetitiveness and limited content. Overall, while there is significant potential for replayability, especially with future updates and character additions, some players feel it currently lacks the depth and variety needed for long-term engagement.

    • “Everything is refined, so much content for so much replayability, I'm surprised this is so cheap considering it feels like it has the budget of an AAA game.”
    • “The characters are very unique and interesting and the procedural maps make it infinitely replayable.”
    • “4 characters and a whole bunch of cards allow for tons of replayability, and if content rolls out on a somewhat consistent basis I can see myself coming back again and again.”
    • “The truth is it has a lot of fun ideas and is a decent deck building game, but the replayability isn't as good as other games of this nature (like Slay the Spire) and its annoying painting system doesn't allow you to really explore each map as much as you would like.”
    • “The problem is it just doesn't have enough to make it replayable at the moment.”
    • “The replay value just isn't there for me on this one compared to other games in the genre where I have easily been able to put in 30, 60, 90+ hours.”
  • story
    154 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The game's story is generally viewed as minimalistic and lacking depth, with many reviewers noting that it feels unfinished or underdeveloped. While the charming art style and whimsical theme are appreciated, the narrative often takes a backseat to gameplay, resulting in a simplistic backdrop that doesn't significantly enhance the experience. Overall, players express a desire for more substantial storytelling and worldbuilding, despite enjoying the core mechanics and aesthetics of the game.

    • “The hand-drawn art style is charming and fits perfectly with the game's storybook theme.”
    • “The story is interesting, the characters are fun to play, and the many card/character combinations keep me coming back again and again to try out different strategies.”
    • “However, Roguebook is more immersive in its story and has even more varied gameplay in its base system, as you play two characters, and their powers interact with each other depending upon which of the four characters you pair up.”
    • “The story is very lackluster; there's a bit of explanation of the setting at the tutorial and that's the end of it.”
    • “The lack of lore and story (gated behind weird difficulty) is making this hard to play as well.”
    • “Likewise, the story feels phoned in.”
  • music
    131 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The music in the game receives mixed reviews, with some players praising its orchestral quality and immersive atmosphere, while others find it generic, forgettable, or repetitive. Many appreciate the overall sound design and how it complements the gameplay, but there are notable criticisms regarding its lack of distinctiveness compared to other titles. Overall, while some players rate the music highly, others consider it a weak point in an otherwise engaging game.

    • “The quality of art, sound, music, and innovative gameplay make this a 10/10 for me.”
    • “This is a fantastic 9/10 deck building game and the music is a solid 10/10.”
    • “The music is especially powerful on this front: there was a moment in my first run where I closed my eyes and I was transported back to the rogue encampment in Diablo II.”
    • “The art, music, and story are also all subpar.”
    • “1/10 music... lazy and whimsical.”
    • “What I'm not too impressed by is the music; I'm sure the composer worked really hard on it, but it's mostly just generic-sounding and forgettable orchestral tracks.”
  • grinding
    94 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The grinding aspect of the game has received mixed reviews, with many players finding it tedious and unoriginal, often feeling that progression is artificially stretched through excessive grinding. While some players appreciate the aesthetic and initial gameplay, they criticize the slow and frustrating meta-progression system that requires numerous runs to unlock essential features. Overall, the consensus suggests that the grind can detract from the enjoyment, making the game feel more like a chore than a rewarding experience.

    • “You'll need a second life for grinding.”
    • “The concept of exploring a hexagonal tile map is interesting, but coming from other card battler games, the gameplay feels unoriginal and grindy.”
    • “The leveling system, by the way, is just tedious and much slower than other roguelites, and it feels designed that way to stretch out what little content there is, and the upgrade tree also feels needlessly bloated.”
    • “The load times and animations are just punishingly slow for a roguelite game about grinding through runs with permadeath, and there's no way to skip or accelerate them.”
  • stability
    66 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The game is widely criticized for its significant stability issues, including frequent crashes, UI glitches, and soft-locks, making it difficult to recommend despite its enjoyable gameplay. While some players acknowledge ongoing updates aimed at fixing these bugs, many express frustration over the game's unfinished state, likening it to a buggy early access title. Overall, the consensus is that while the game has potential, its current stability problems detract heavily from the experience.

    • “I mean it's a very fun game and not buggy, but it's very short. That's the biggest problem with it; normally games take so long for me to finish that I get tired of them before completing them, but this... this took so little time.”
    • “I do hold those games in high regard, and at least they are mostly bug-free unlike this title.”
    • “If it wasn't buggy, I'd wholeheartedly recommend it and will change my review once bugs are no more.”
    • “This is my favorite roguelike, yet it's almost still hard to recommend for what a buggy piece of shit it is.”
    • “The game freezes and crashes multiple times during a run.”
    • “But the variety caps out rather fast and it's buggy - frequent crashes and lost runs make it inadvisable to buy.”
  • optimization
    28 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The game's optimization has received largely negative feedback, with many users reporting issues such as high VRAM usage, stuttering, freezing, and crashes. While some players find the gameplay enjoyable, they express frustration over the performance, particularly on lower-spec systems, and hope for future updates to improve stability and speed options. Overall, the game is seen as needing significant optimization to enhance the player experience.

    • “It's a cute mechanic and allows for some different types of optimization during the game.”
    • “For instance, certain cards are good because of some details in the mechanics that are not apparent, because they were not supposed to matter, but that were nevertheless discovered by the player and exploited in a perspective of absolute optimization.”
    • “Very good, but deeper optimization and more speed options would make it great.”
    • “However, be wary, this game seems incredibly poorly optimized.”
    • “However, the game is constantly stuttering, freezing and crashing.”
    • “Performance of the game is pretty bad.”
  • atmosphere
    14 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The atmosphere of Roguebook is widely praised for its compelling and whimsical storybook-like quality, enhanced by excellent art, animations, and sound design. Reviewers note that while the visuals and music contribute significantly to the game's charm, this atmosphere does not translate into the gameplay experience. Overall, the game's aesthetic elements effectively create an engaging and immersive environment.

    • “The atmosphere is very compelling and charming.”
    • “The art is great and the atmosphere is storybook-like and whimsical.”
    • “The game's characters, voice lines, sound effects, and art are excellent and really build the atmosphere well.”
  • humor
    10 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The humor in the game is widely praised, with players highlighting its funny interactions and light-hearted style. Many find the comedic elements refreshing, especially in contrast to other games that require excessive clicking to exit. Overall, the humor contributes significantly to the game's enjoyable atmosphere and world-building.

    • “Very nice art and funny interactions.”
    • “It's funny that I have to call this out because so many games make you click 5 times to exit.”
    • “It's hilarious how people still drop 'Richard Garfield's' name as if it's a good thing.”
  • monetization
    10 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The monetization strategy of the game has been widely criticized, with many players labeling the downloadable content (DLC) as low-effort cash grabs that undermine the game's reputation. Concerns have been raised about the prioritization of monetization over quality, leading to fears that the game may follow the same path as its predecessor, which failed due to similar issues. Players express a preference for DLC that supports ongoing content development and includes modding support, rather than feeling exploitative.

    • “Honestly, both packs are just really cringey, low effort, shallow cash grabs that cast a bad light on the game as a whole.”
    • “The last one (Artifact) also launched with monetization as a priority, and is all but dead; let's hope this doesn't see the same fate.”
    • “Within hours, they were flooded with complaints, as most assumed this was a scummy cash grab for a product the team must not have faith in.”
  • character development
    7 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    Character development in the game receives mixed reviews; while some praise the vibrant and charming art design along with appealing character designs, others criticize the animations as stiff and unnatural, leading to a lack of cohesion in character presentation. Overall, the character designs are appreciated for their aesthetic appeal, but the execution in animation detracts from the overall experience.

    • “First off, the art design is lovely; much like Faeria, it oozes with storybook charm, bright colors, and really beautiful character designs.”
    • “Overall, the game feels right; it's snappy, the combat and effects are satisfying, and I'm really taken by the character designs.”
    • “[Fun familiar gameplay, bright and colorful graphics, good character design and mechanics.]”
    • “The animations feel stiff and unnatural, as if they took a character model and just stretched it in Photoshop. The character designs are uninspired, and none of it feels cohesive.”
  • emotional
    4 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    Players express a strong emotional connection to the game, often experiencing joy to the point of tears, indicating that it evokes powerful and positive feelings.

    • “I cried happy tears!”
    • “That made me feel good.”
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20h Median play time
29h Average play time
10-50h Spent by most gamers
*Based on 44 analyzed playthroughs
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Frequently Asked Questions

Roguebook is a tactical role playing game with fantasy theme.

Roguebook is available on Nintendo Switch, Xbox Series X|S, PC, PlayStation 5 and others.

On average players spend around 29 hours playing Roguebook.

Roguebook was released on June 17, 2021.

Roguebook was developed by Abrakam Entertainment SA.

Roguebook has received mostly positive reviews from players and mostly positive reviews from critics. Most players liked this game for its gameplay but disliked it for its grinding.

Roguebook is a single player game.

Similar games include Arcanium: Rise of Akhan, SpellRogue, Across the Obelisk, Monster Train, Trials of Fire and others.