The Serpent Rogue

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The Serpent Rogue

by Aethyna Apr 28, 2022 | 1 Votes | 33 Played | 0 Reviews

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Genres:

Action , Adventure

Graphics:

3D

Labels:

Adventure , Sandbox Game , Souls-like , Crafting

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Team 17 Set in a world that’s gradually becoming infested with some kind of corruption, it is your job, as a Warden, to track down and cleanse the source of the corruption and bring the world’s balance back in this unique sandbox soulslike, The Serpent Rogue! Play Now Similar Games Played Post a Review

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Summary Plotline Gameplay Graphics/ Sound Conclusion

Summary

Set in a world that’s gradually becoming infested with some kind of corruption, it is your job, as a Warden, to track down and cleanse the source of the corruption and bring the world’s balance back. The game features a soul-like gameplay with a hefty dose of crafting and resource gathering, and the best part? The game gives players almost complete freedom to play as they like. There are just so ways you can approach each challenge in the game!

Plotline

A malignant corruption has upset the balance of the world, tainting everything it touches. As Wardens, you job is to maintain, and in this case, restore, the balance by using the powers of alchemy and transformation that are unique to your people. You’ll set off on a perilous journey to track down the source of the corruption, while defeating or purifying everything hostile that comes your way.

Gameplay

The Serpent Rogue offers plenty of hours of playtime, thanks to its soul-like gameplay and the grind required to gather certain resources. The goal here is to have enough supplies so you can take on the big bad baddie to move the story forward, but of course, there are also other “side quests” that will grant you some great rewards, whether it is helpful potions or unlocking a new zone for you to explore and make use of.

Talking about zones, in addition to the static zones like the Abandoned House and the Camp, the game also has a zone called the Wastelands, where a constant Corruption storm event will kill everything in it, including you if you can’t get away fast enough (Pro tip: fast travel out right before the storm hits, you’re welcome!).

This storm happens to completely regenerate the landscape too, and yes, by “regeneration” we mean new resource deposits, new enemies, loot chests that you can lockpick, and the reshuffling of the Points-of-Interests (POIs) on the map. So, the idea here is that you’ll try to go further every time you enter the zone, but of course, this is easier said than done sometimes.

This also means that you can, and are expected to, keep going to the Wastelands to farm for ingredients that you’ll need for crafting the things you need, be it a potion, a tool, or a food item. I should point out that the game spawns events for static zones as well provided that something happened in it. For instance, if you kill enough people at the Abandoned House, the corpses littering the ground will then attract ghouls which would then swarm the place. Makes for a good way to farm ghoul-related ingredients though!

In terms of difficulty, I think The Serpent Rogue toes the line between casual and difficult. It’s fairly casual in the sense that despite being soulslike, it’s not as brutal as you might expect. As long as you’re careful, it’s easy not to die. In a way, it’s also more like The Surge since even if you do die, the game gives you a chance to retrieve your inventory… as long as you don’t die on the way to retrieve your dropped inventory, that is.

The difficult part, which I personally think is the fun part, mainly involves little to no hand-holding. You see, besides some of the basics, you are left to figure out the rest on your own usually through trial and error, like how purifying potions work or how to get rid of the Looming Vines. There are hints for those who are observant, of course.

There’s also a survival aspect to the game where you’ll need to keep your food meter (the green one) up as much as you can. Granted that you can’t die from starvation here (at least I think you can’t), but the penalties you’d get can be punishing. Plus, the food meter also doubles as your stamina meter, so if your Warden is hungry, he/she won’t be able to run as far. Surprisingly, this game mechanism actually makes sense and is one of the rare moments in gaming history where game logic intersects with real life logic.

One of the main highlights of the game is undoubtedly the Wardens’ extensive talent and knowledge in all things alchemy. You can discover and craft a huge variety of potions simply by mixing the correct ingredients together. However, before you can use an ingredient, you’ll need to do the necessary research which could take a while since the game may require you to have multiple copies of the ingredients… all of which would be used up during the research process. Like I said before, there are lots of “ingredient farming” here.

Thankfully, you can accumulate quite a number of the items you need if you’re clever about how you go around doing things and aren’t at all worried about getting your hands dirty… including killing innocent travelers and their pets, or at least stealing from them. Though, I’d recommend just slaying the people for their loot rather than stealing, unless you’re playing a pacifist run), since stealing can be a bit more tedious and well, there’s still a chance you’ll get caught and cause your victim to start attacking you anyway.

There are tons of potions that you can discover in this game, some of which can be more… interesting. You see, in The Serpent Rogue, you can pretty easily change your form as long as you have the necessary potions or if you happen to be in close contact with a transformation statue.

Each form comes with its own perks and downsides. For instance, it may fun to become a rat since you can access secret stashes around the place but as a rat, you can’t really carry a whole lot of items and you can’t cross streams that are too deep for a small creature, but not for a full-sized Warden.

Hate having to eat food so constantly? By changing your form into a Restless a.k.a. an animated skeleton and do away with the food meter, but this do come at a cost – since the stamina meter is tied to the food meter, you now can no longer run. That being said, not all forms are as useful. It sure doesn’t seem as helpful to change into a chicken or a dog in this game.

Another interesting aspect about The Serpent Rogue is the creature/follower-collecting aspect. It’s no Pokemon per se, but you can actually tame various creatures you come across in this game as long as you’ve “discovered” enough of them to unlock crucial taming information, i.e. what is their favorite food. Then, by feeding them their favorite food – sometimes you might need to do it a few more times, you can then recruit them as your pets.

These creatures aren’t just passive pets that do nothing except haul any excess stuff you may have. They can help you fight and some, like the chicken, can even provide you with other items provided that they are well-fed and, in the case of the chicken, have a nest nearby.

Besides animals, you can also hire people or even the Restless to become your followers. They can become your “beasts of burden” and they will help you in combat as well! However, for this to happen, you’ll need to first, unlock the Farewell Pier and second, have enough cash at hand.

Coins are fairly easy to earn in this game if you know how to make full use of the kiosk and how to reject offers that just aren’t worth the payment. Of course, you could always try stealing as well. Robbing your victims after you kill them also works too. You do you!

However, as much fun as I had in the game, I'm a bit disappointed that the game doesn't provide players a way to dodge an attack. There's only a block, which will prevent an attack from landing at the cost of a large chunk of stamina. Unfortunately, it's not as useful since sometimes, you get hit multiple times in one go and the stamina bar just can't take multiple hits. Plus, if you are playing as a Restless, you can't run out of the way since there's no stamina for you to use. A dodge would be better in this case, allowing you to quickly roll out of the way.

Graphics/ Sound

The Serpent Rogue features stylized graphics with strong outlines similar to that of comic books for the characters and softer style for the background. The art styles blended really well with each other. The soundtrack is fantastic here as well. It really immerses you into the game world and set the tone and atmosphere for each scene.

Conclusion

The Serpent Rogue is truly a unique soulslike that gives you almost complete freedom as to how you approach a challenge. There are just so much to discover on your own here, after all! The storyline, the theme, and the setting are intriguing enough to reel you right in as well. That said, the game does seem like it could add a few more features, such as the ability to dodge, just to flesh out its combat a bit, and the game can start off a bit slow as it tries to ease you into the good stuff.