Wayward Souls: Gloriously Obnoxious Rougelike

Ah, the rougelike genre... simple, unique, and truly infuriating. In case you didn't know, in a rougelike game, death is permanent. Your character doesn't level up, and usually can't purchase items and gear from an in-game store. There are no checkpoints besides the progressing levels. Sound annoying? RocketCat took these ideas and ran with them, which I'm not sure was a good thing, or a bad thing.
Anyway, the outcome was Wayward Souls, a game that genuinely restored my hope in app store games.

One of the playable characters
(also my best :P)

There are 6 individual characters, each with their own story as they all advance through the same levels. Every hero is different, with a different skillset and varying strengths and weaknesses.

I really love the way the programmers at RocketCat built the intro. It explains most of what you need to know, while also kicking off the story for the other characters. Controls are explained, (which are pretty easy to understand, but really hard to master) and separate components of different heroes incorporated into the intro hero. A fantastic way to start the game off.

True to rougelike form, it isn't possible to obtain gear from a store or anything, but you can improve your old gear with Emberforges placed in every even-numbered floor. The item you improve will receive a special power, different from the previous one in good and sometimes bad ways. Remember, though, if you die you won't be able to keep your re-forged gear.

Another really cool thing about Wayward is that most of the rooms are randomly generated. I love games that are random-gen because there is different skill required. You can't say: "Oh, this is where the three evil knights + the thief show up," because it isn't! It's always different! MWAHAHA!
So death is permanent, but most rougelikes have a way to permanently upgrade character stats and abilities. Wayward is no exception, as the money collected in-game may be used to improve champion stats. However, the improvement isn't very large, so you are required to rely on your skill to get you to the next room, floor, level.
Oh, right. I almost forgot to mention that there is no natural health regeneration. Entering the next floor will grant you some lost health, (this health quantity can be upgraded in the way I recently explained) and health potions sometimes show up, but they are pretty rare.

Gameplay

So, what about the money factor? No in-app purchases, but this means the game itself is $7. Totally worth it! Seriously, I enjoyed this game better that the Infinity Blade games, but that's probably cause of that love for pixelated games I told you about last gameview.
This game is a winner!


~Daniel

*UPDATE*

If you were thinking about buying this game, but haven't yet, I would suggest first getting one of RocketCat's other creations: Mage Gauntlet. This RPG is quite like Wayward, and happens in the same universe, which makes it an ideal introduction.