Lost Castle 2 review: The rogue-like fix I didn’t know I needed

I’ll admit it, I have a problem, and it revolves around the rogue-like genre. The moment a good rogue-like drops, I completely disappear from the online world. I have this weird timeline with such games, where roguelikes become the primary game I play for a few weeks. After that, they almost become like a routine for me, wherein I play them alongside any other new game that I might be playing. 

This started when I first discovered Hades, and it pulled me in for hours. Dead Cells came in next, and it had me convinced I could beat the final boss – the Hand of the King – at 4 in the morning. After that, it was Vampire Survivors, and it was also the time the Steam Deck came into my life; I swear, all those metro rides turned into a two-hour gaming session. If you’re into roguelikes, I’m sure you’d relate.

But honestly, for a while now, I have genuinely felt like the genre has been hit with a stale end. Not a complete drought, as there have been releases here and there. But as someone who stands by this genre, nothing has excited me the same way as before. And it has been like this for quite some time now. But more recently, I came across Lost Castle 2, and as soon as it landed in my library, I can happily report that the dry run of roguelikes from my life is officially over.

After over a year in early access, the game has finally launched its full version today on Steam. But is the latest indie roguelike, Lost Castle 2, actually worth both your time and money? Without wasting much time, let’s get right into it and find out.

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Lost Castle 2: Graphics and performance

Let me first get the hardware talk out of the way, because it is actually one of the strengths. The game features a cartoon art style that works beautifully at almost any resolution. The character details are very good, the environment feels lively, and the whole thing moves with such fluidity that combat feels satisfying. It does not try to be photorealistic, and that is the right call for a game like this. 

Speaking of hardware itself, the system requirements are pretty decent. As mentioned on the Steam page, all you need is a dual-core 2 GHz processor, 4 GB of RAM, and an Intel HD 530-level GPU – basically, the specs you would find in a laptop from a decade ago. 

I tested the game on my own rig, which has a Ryzen 5 5600G paired with an RTX 3060 Ti and 16 GB of DDR4 RAM, and it ran without any issues. My experience was buttery smooth with no frame drops. Honestly, it is the kind of game that runs well on old laptops, and if you own a handheld gaming device, this might honestly be one of the best reasons to pick it up. 

The game’s pacing, its short-run structure, and its pick-up-and-play feel make it the ideal experience for handheld play. Personally, I would have had an absolute blast playing this game on my Steam Deck – if I hadn’t sold it, but well, that’s a story for some other day.

Lost Castle 2: Gameplay

Moving on to the gameplay, this is where Lost Castle 2 earns its spot as one of the best in the genre. The core loop will feel familiar if you have played roguelikes before. You drop into an area where you can upgrade and customise your player. You start with a basic weapon, fight through multiple different floors while collecting weapons and items at the same time, and either push through to the end boss or die trying. Regardless of the result, you start all over again. 

Sounds simple on paper, but it has been very well executed for the loop to be fun. What makes the game click is just how many ways you can approach each run. The weapon variety, for instance, is staggering, as you have the option for swords, bows and arrows, magic weapons and even guns. Trust me, it makes each run feel unique.

Usually, I’m not the kind of person who would pick ranged weapons; I generally prefer playing around with short-range combat weapons. But I’ll admit it, with this game, I actually liked playing around with ranged weapons as well. Unlike a beat-’em-up, where you’re just button-mashing, this game rewards players who actually take the time to understand their loadout. 

The standard benchmark for a great roguelike, at least in my books, is that every run should feel unique, and Lost Castle 2 absolutely nails that aspect. 

While I was not able to try it out, there is also a co-op mode for up to four players, which I would imagine would crank the chaos up to a whole other level. This definitely makes this game a great option for the multiplayer audience as well. 

There are a few criticisms I can make of the gameplay, though. One of them is that the game does not always do the best job of explaining how certain mechanics work. I will admit that I got slightly humbled by a few mechanics, but that was because there was way too much going on on my screen right from the start. It could have easily been avoided if the game had just slowed down a bit and taken some time to explain everything. 

Another criticism comes in the form of the controls. I played the game with a DualSense controller connected to my PC, and while that was a lot of fun, I cannot say the same for the keyboard and mouse experience. The developers recommend playing the game with a controller, but being a PC game, it would have been nice to have proper keyboard and mouse support. In its current state, it’s almost non-existent, so I would like for the developers to maybe consider adding it in future updates, if that’s a possibility. 

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Lost Castle 2: Story

Coming to the story, and this might be a bit controversial, but honestly, at least with roguelikes, the story has never been what I play them for. When I boot up games like these, I am there for the loop, the different builds I can explore, and the overall feel of just forgetting everything that is going around me. So naturally, the narrative is usually background noise at best.

And the same happened with Lost Castle 2. While it does have a story — you are a novice treasure hunter who joins a guild and sets off to conquer the mysterious dark castle — it never grabbed me. I never found myself invested enough to actually pay close attention. The story exists; it functions, but it does not do anything to make you think about it. 

As I said before, the story for me in this genre has never been the exciting bit, but then again, you also have games like Hades where you are hooked on the characters and the world as much as the gameplay. So, unfortunately, I will have to say that Lost Castle 2 does feel like a slight step back in that department.

To be fair, I understand that this is not what the game was built around. And for most people who play games in this genre, it probably will not matter at all. But it is worth noting, especially if you are the kind of player who wants the full package.

Lost Castle 2: Verdict

I have to be honest, after hearing the story of how this game was made, I started to root for it even more and hoped it would turn out great. Hunter Studio, the developers behind the game, are a 40-person independent team based in China. The studio started in 2015 after three friends wanted to do something because of their love for Monster Hunter and Dark Souls. 

With absolutely zero professional experience, they just started it out as a passion project. And now it has grown into a franchise approaching 3 million global sales. Things like these only happen when the people making them are genuinely obsessed with them. This does not change my final rating of the game, but stories like this are exactly why I love covering indie games. 

Back to the verdict, though, Lost Castle 2, in my opinion, is a very good rogue-like for anyone who has been waiting for something in this genre to scratch that itch again. This is the kind of game that will keep you coming back to it. The gameplay loop is fun, the build variety is impressive, the performance bar is accessible, and the whole experience is just addictive. 

Yes, the story is a weak link, and the game could do a better job of onboarding new players into its complex mechanics, along with the slight criticism I had about controls. But in the grand scheme of things, these are minor criticisms against a game that delivers where it matters most.

The game launches with a 30% discount that is live for the next few days. This is a game that will comfortably give you 20 to 30 hours of gameplay and maybe a lot more, too, if you feel like it, depending on how deep you explore – it’s a roguelike, after all. For a game with this much content, it represents excellent value. At a launch price of just Rs 810 – even cheaper with the discount – that is genuinely a good deal. 

Rating: 8/10

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