Not sure about the rogue-like but it is a decent retro-style ARPG | Full Review - Destiny Saga
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Destiny Saga is a narratively-driven retro-style Action RPG with gacha elements and seamless switching between party characters
🟩Pros
+Nostalgic retro-style JRPG art style
+Fluid and engaging ARPG combat
+Seamless character switching
🟥Cons
-Movement controls need tweaking
Destiny Saga is a mash-up of retro-style goodness, JRPG art style, ARPG gameplay, and modern gacha and RPG elements. Players can collect heroes, upgrade and equip them with gear, and engage in ARPG combat, all while being driven by a compelling narrative story.
The premise is centered around an investigative saga. Twelve years ago, the Montereys continent experienced a disaster known as the Xorc Crisis. The player, named protagonist, sets out to explore the continent once again with their friends, with only one clue - a core chip from twelve years ago. Their goal is to uncover the cause of the crisis.
Visually, Destiny Saga strikes a nostalgic chord with its traditional pixel art retro style for the in-game visuals, but the characters during dialogue are represented in visual novel-like Anime renditions. It’s your standard run-of-the-mill retro JRPG art design, including the sound design which features a mix of melodramatic and triumph tones commonly seen in many JRPG games. There are no voice acting, and everything — including dialogue — must be read by the player.
The gameplay follows a 2.5D style of format, in which the character is able to move in all four cardinal directions, however attacks can only be performed sideways or horizontally, which is still highly reminiscent of side-scrolling game style of combat. The only chance you can do damage vertically, is by use of skills. It’s worth noting though, that some enemies, especially bosses, can attack vertically.
Dungeon crawling element revolves around the player clearing rooms one after the other. You cannot proceed to the next room until the level is cleared. These missions are divided into multiple levels or “floors” (which is weird, because some missions are outdoors).
One of the unique standout features of Destiny Saga is the seamless character switching. From your unlocked characters, you can form a squad of three to bring in missions. These characters "merge" into one during gameplay, but allowing for seamless switching or tagging between them with only a very quick cooldown.
This feature enables you to chain attacks based on your squad composition, encouraging constant switching between characters and cycling through their skills. With each character having different health points and skills, the combat feels dynamic and fresh, offering engaging back-and-forth action between the three characters. The smooth transition between characters keeps the action fluid and engaging, ensuring players are always in control.
While character switching is enjoyable and intuitive, I cannot say the same for the movement controls. The UI element occupies too much space on the left side of the screen, limiting on-screen movement controls to the lower left corner only. It's not particularly comfortable to use, and even after changing the movement stick style from "fixed" to "free," it didn't fully resolve the issue. Considering the game's restriction to horizontal attacks only, movement controls are an important aspect that requires further tweaking.
Although it is marketed as an roguelike + ARPG, I don’t really see any rogue-likeness in it. There is no permadeath. When all of your characters die, you can still retry the mission or boss fight without having lost any progress or having to restart anything back from zero. It may have that rogue-like feel with the Dungeon Crawling, but I think the term Dungeon Crawler would have been a better choice to define this game.
As for the ARPG elements, Destiny Saga features a traditional RPG system commonly seen in mobile gacha games. Recruiting the other heroes and acquiring rarer items requires some form of premium currency, grinding, or waiting.
These individual heroes can be leveled up not only by killing monsters but also by "upgrading" them using materials and resources obtained from the game world. This upgrading aspect also applies to weapons and items. The itemization is reminiscent of ARPG game design, with items of different rarities providing various stat bonuses, including set items that can be completed to gain even more bonuses.
There is also an energy currency to limit dungeon runs, as well as the ability to instantly re-run finished dungeons for quick loot. Fortunately, many of the main quest missions do not require energy to proceed.
Destiny Saga presents a challenging gameplay experience that rewards skillful play and strategic decision-making. The intense combat, coupled with the limited attack directions, adds a layer of tactical thinking that keeps players on their toes. The boss battles are hard in their own right, with devastating AOE attacks that the player will need to learn in order to properly avoid them.
While fully singleplayer, the game incorporates a form of online connectivity with other players by means of a global chat and announcement messages like when players defeat a boss, it feels a bit MMORPG and makes the world more alive in a way, and it’s a nice touch.
While Destiny Saga is still under developed, the game already feels feature complete and is perfectly playable. However, the whole model is probably not yet finalized. You can expect a decent amount of grinding or spending real money to unlock the more heroes and gear. Still, I hope that this will be a fun game to pick up and play without the absolute need to spend money.
Conclusion:
Destiny Saga’s seamless character switching, nostalgic visuals, and RPG mechanics create a thrilling adventure that keeps players engaged from start to finish. With its challenging combat, rewarding progression system, and narrative, Destiny Saga offers a gaming experience that is both nostalgic and innovative.
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