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0 Don’t Lose Aggro is an action roguelite where you are the tank. Oren Koren, the developer, has taken the role and created a roguelite game loop around doing just that. It will be available in Early Access only on Steam.
Tanking Can Be Slow…
I bet you didn’t expect me to be writing about another roguelike game, did you? Oh wait… yeah you probably aren’t surprised. I’m not either at this point and I enjoy seeing the different flavors that are out there. Check out my thoughts on the early access build of Don’t Lose Aggro below.
Gameplay
The “holy trinity” of player roles, damage-per-second (DPS), healer and tank, are commonly found in multiplayer games. Don’t Lose Aggro extracts the tank role and puts it into a solo player experience where your task remains the same – get your party through by being the meat shield. In roguelite fashion you’ll have to gain experience to unlock and boost skills as you progress through each round.
Don’t Lose Aggro features a dungeon run, wave mode, and boss fight as different round types. At least those are the three that I’ve unlocked thus far with my inability to complete the dungeon 101 run yet. I did complete a wave run by my britches somehow but feel like it will be a while before I try that again. Maybe once I’ve gotten a number of passive buffs.
It’s been a long time since I’ve held the role of tank in any game. But Don’t Lose Aggro is a reminder that sometimes it’s really hard to hold the aggression of the enemy. Unfortunately it also is a reminder that the role of tank can sometimes be tedious and slower pace than you may be used to. This was definitely the case for me, as things felt like they were dragging more than they should for the style of game intended.
Graphics & Audio
The graphics in Don’t Lose Aggro are fairly simplistic, which is fine for the most part. I left settings at the default and didn’t notice any issues. Though the character models and environments have detail, the game area itself feels somewhat empty. The hub world that seems symbolic of a MMO’s capital city looks nice too but is overall just a more tedious game menu.
Music is more prevalent in the hub world and blends more into the background in dungeons. The ambient noises in Don’t Lose Aggro provide a quality atmosphere during runs but do not drive you as in most other roguelite games. There is of course and audible line from your companion when you do fail to keep or obtain aggro.
Longevity
I honestly can’t say what the longevity will look like for Don’t Lose Aggro. In this early access release, the developer states it takes around 10 hours to see everything currently in the game. I haven’t reached that amount of time yet but with the slower pace it’s hard to keep at it.
Final Thoughts
Overal,l Don’t Lose Aggro seems like it has a ways to go before it’s ready for prime time. There are some mechanics I found clunky, such as the way tab-targeting works and the lack of observable skill mechanics. Hopefully with some additional community feedback they’ll be able to make it more appealing to those of us expecting something with a faster pace than what I found currently. I’ll keep an eye on it for now.
Disclaimer: A code was received in order to write this review.
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