I can’t resist a decent roguelike, especially when it’s less than two pounds (which is pretty much my barrier for an impulse buy).

Stop. Pause for a moment. In the App Store, over two pounds for a game seems expensive. Meditate on that for a while.

Right, let’s carry on. Sword of Fargoal is based on a simple early-eighties roguelike, full of monsters, treasure, traps and spells. The dungeons are randomly generated and once you’re dead, you’re dead.


Pretty standard, really, but there a few wrinkles. The combat is slightly different to normal – once in a fight you can sit back and watch if you simply want to carry on hitting the enemy with your sword. It’s not quite turn-based meaning if you put the game down without pressing the pause button, you’re in danger. You can see what items and spells are when you pick them up. No need for a scroll of identity here. (You might not know what they do, but playing around is always put of the fun.) There are a few other little wrinkles, but overall it’s simpler than even Rogue, while not being watered down enough to be boring. At least, not yet – I’ve only played half an hour or so.

(Remember, none of these blog posts are reviews, just my current impressions.)

So, it’s a slightly more casual roguelike than usual. What really sets it apart from other games of this nature is the loving presentation. It simply oozes style, with a gorgeous look that seems to effortlessly skip along the tightrope between retro and modern. It’s gorgeous and screenshots don’t really do it justice – which is odd, given the rather static nature of the thing.

If you want it you should probably grab it now, before the price goes up.