Review: Relive Glory Over and Over In Every Moment Of LOOP HERO

A roguelike game that literally puts your character walking in an endless loop? As much as it sounds silly or boring, Loop Hero is easily one of the best roguelike games I’ve ever played and easily in the running for my personal Game Of The Year list. This game balances so many different game systems and makes strategy and preparation as active as the actual battle. I was blown away by the depth in progression, combat design, customization, and unique gameplay.

There are so many parts to this little game, I’ll give a brief explanation of each section and explain why it is incredible. The first thing to talk about is the actual main gameplay; the loop. The hero walks around an endless (top-down view) loop that encounters more and more enemies. Those enemies drop loot and cards, then players will add more hazards to spawn enemies or resources to help her or himself using those cards and equips the gathered loot. After enough things are built around the loop, the boss will come and the hero will fight the boss. This endless loop starts out a little slow but progresses at a steady and strong pace until the boss comes. It is a fascinating concept to have the player not directly in charge of the fighting, and could possible become very boring, but the levels of balance in spawning enemies and choosing equipment keeps things moving at the perfect pace.

All the loot that players gain is essential to progression in each run. Players start simply by choosing between armor, shields, rings, and weapons that are dropped by enemies. And at first, the loot just changes small amounts of stats, but then loads of loot come pouring in with all sorts of abilities like evasion, counter-attack, vampirism, health regen, and more. Combining these with focuses on certain stats, passive abilities, and enemy types can make each run feel really fresh and surprisingly satisfactory. I’ve only had about six hours in the game since it just came out, but I’ve already seen such a wide variety of loot and there is an insane amount more to be unlocked.

The third major aspect of the main gameplay is the cards used to build your loop. Cards will drop from enemies and there are a lot of them. Some of them summon minions to be attacked. Some spawn chests for loot. Some boost total HP. Some boost HP earned at the beginning of every day. The list goes on and on and all that is unlocked from the first minutes of the game. As players progress, they will unlock new cards and can make a deck of specific cards to use throughout the run. It is impressive how many cards there are, their uniqueness, and interesting combinations.

Each run ends by leaving freely or being killed. When dead, the player will return to a camp and use various materials gained in the normal gameplay to build buildings. These buildings offer new cards, new features of the game, new classes, and more. In short, gathering these materials and choosing new levels of progression through the building is a fantastic way to implement permanent progression. This game also has probably the best-paced and most satisfying progression of any roguelike I’ve played.

I could see gamers thinking that the bosses are too tough or that each run starts a little bit slow, but this is a roguelike. They are all about building up from nothing. They are also about brutal bosses that require skill, forethought, and serious planning/management of items which is part of the fun! This game kept me engaged after about five minutes and I accidentally sunk three hours into it the first time I played. I was just doing run after run and was determined to succeed. I highly recommend this to roguelike fans, fans of fantasy or strategy games, or just about anyone who enjoys a challenge!