I’m finally ready to confront the Deceitful Chaos God. Beams, splotches, and balls of darkness permeate the battlefield as my character dances from one end of the screen to the other, thanks to their designated build and Treasures, which improve Dodge. I’m not alone, however, Raven the Mage is also ready to end this long battle, his spelldust causing Magic-Powered Disc to redouble its efforts in serrating the God. Even then, I count two abominations: a boar, a nightmare doll, Spore Bug Nest and its offspring, living Totems, and my Portable Magic Turret. These creatures and more are under my thrall as I chose to embrace the Summoning path Lost Castle 2 put before me. I’ve taken down this boss a number of times, yet I’m just as excited to do it again. Lost Castle 2 may be repetitive, but I was enthusiastic nonetheless.
Lost Castle 2 puts you in the shoes of your player-created treasure hunter in this roguelite co-op experience. While the completely predictable and typo-laden story tasks you to find a big score only to discover something much more sinister, what you’ll actually discover in Lost Castle 2 is a gorgeous and compelling roguelite experience. I don’t say this lightly, as Lost Castle 2 is one of the better roguelites I’ve played, impressing me at every turn. Whereas some roguelites stop iterating or just disregard player experience, I’ve found Lost Castle 2 to be one of the least frictional roguelites I’ve played. When I died, I wasn’t mad or frustrated by my lack of progress or due to bad Random Number Generation (RNG) because I inevitably made some sort of substantial progress, even if the run was not a complete one. Over the course of my playtime, I realized how some Treasures were awarded and that the developer had my back. In the worst roguelite experiences, I find myself cursing anything that isn’t adjacent to perfection. Lost Castle 2 avoids this experience by having actual progression as opposed to an ever-widening RNG pool of items. Even though the game needs to address its numerous typos and odd grammar, the items and other goodies behaved as I expected. While this may sound minor, keep in mind that this is a roguelite where a death restarts the experience. I was surprised that I could try a myriad of builds instead of being forced into one or facing death. Hunter Studio puts players first in their experience with Lost Castle 2.
Lost Castle 2 starts the player with one of nine weapons, from the standard sword and board, to the more strange Phantom Lantern and Turbo Lance. While I do think there are stronger weapons, each of them has unique mechanics like the Dual Blades’ combo point system or the Katana’s parry capability and Iai Slash, which makes the choice more of a matter of preference. Even if you find a particular weapon unsatisfying, there’s almost no punishment to start a new run or recycle the weapon for something else mid-run. I never felt like I was backed into a corner or without options, as even if Treasures didn’t make my weapon more appealing or dangerous, Soul Inscription left my mouth agape with how many options and how powerful you could become. Soul Inscription isn’t the only part of Lost Castle 2 laden with choice and specialization; it’s in almost every aspect.
Hunter Gear gives players the choice to start with a bomb, shore up their recovery with a Miraculous Banana Vine, or carry an alternate weapon with a Weapon Sling in addition to other options. The Ethereal Nightmare comes with plenty of options to customize your gameplay, especially if you feel Nightmare Depth 5 isn’t hard enough. Recruit an NPC ally, play with friends, or don’t. Choose three buffs for your Alchemy Amulet, which can do a number of things, like generating poison mist, giving you an extra life, or increasing your dodge invincibility. Play with Cursed treasures, which you can purify, or leave them Cursed for that extra challenge. Choice is rich in Lost Castle 2, and this even expands to the three major item types of Akhil, Parati, and Nairu. While that may not sound like much variety, Akhil allows players to build up crit damage and percentage, or improve their direct attacks. Parati can trigger Rune Quakes around players, buff their survivability, and spew noxious poison. Nairu improves your mana pool while triggering effects, lets the player shoot Rune Bullets with almost any action, and allows the player to freeze enemies. The best part of the item system in Lost Castle 2 is that you’re encouraged to mix and match, and can even influence drops with certain Treasures or Alchemy Amulet builds. This allows for unprecedented combinations such as an Akhil/Parati item-throwing character, an Akhil/Parati summoner who fills up the screen with minions, a Parati/Nairu character whose Rune Bullets trigger Rune Quakes, or maybe you’d just like to grab the Elemental Crown and pick up every item you see and be rewarded for it. There are also a number of items that can drastically change your playstyle, or if you’d rather stick to the weapon you came to the dance with, this is completely viable as well.
If Lost Castle 2 has one area it needs to improve, it’s onboarding. While players can press start to open a comprehensive compendium of things they’ll find on their journey and tutorials, asking them to stop everything and read during a possibly multiplayer session is not ideal. Explaining mechanics as they unlock or providing nominal quests would solve this issue. For instance, I did not realize over the course of my sessions just how overpowered and lengthy my full dodge was. Luckily, the game is no worse for the lack of explanation, or even due to typos or languages that aren’t the one you’ve chosen.
Great
The Final Word
Lost Castle 2 is a testament to Hunter Studio and the iteration they’ve been able to implement since the original. I play a lot of roguelites, and the worst are filled with RNG that results in nothing but wasted time. In the best, you’ll encounter cool items, become overpowered provided you play your cards right, and be offered substantive and fun choices. Whether solo or in a group, Lost Castle 2 is an experience that should fit right into your gaming time. I know the word “roguelite” can scare some people, but there’s a lot of beat ‘em up gameplay here to enjoy as well, whether you had that experience in the 90s like me or later.
