Freehold Games’ Sproggiwood is a turn-based roguelike that mobile gamers should anticipate. Where many games in the genre use its conventions to be extremely difficult, Sproggiwood tries to be a lot more forgiving for the person who isn’t a die-hard and just wants to enjoy the gameplay of the genre without being punished each time, as the game features persistent equipment upgrades and a world-based structure that encourages shorter play sessions and progression without having to survive intensely-long runs.
The game is segmented into different worlds that have multiple levels each, though each one starts the player off at level 1, requiring them to re-earn any upgrades by leveling up. Those levels are procedurally-generated so that they’re never the same. Any weapons or armor earned while playing can be bought with the coins earned while playing.
There are multiple character classes, each with their own skills. The warrior, for example, is built around close-up combat, and boasts abilities like damage prevention and attacking all enemies around. The archer has ranged abilities that help keep away enemies, and a roll that gets out of trouble quickly. Each character has their own sets of equipment to buy, but there’s also hefty rewards for beating a world with a character for the first time.
Combat is ruled by a stamina system, where killing an enemy refills one of the five stars. Most characters have a one-star ability, but the more powerful abilities have higher costs. The farmer’s healing comes in handy, but 3 stars is a steep cost. The archer’s abilities are mostly 1 star ones, but it’s possible for a smart player to keep the stamina high by having proper builds. Along with the different worlds, there’s also a town that can be customized with different creatures found in the dungeons and various buildings that are unlocked as the game progresses.
Sproggiwood is currently available on desktop, but is coming to iOS and Android. And it’s not just a “we’re making this in Unity, so we can slap it on iOS" deal. The game’s interface was actually built from the ground up for touchscreens. There’s a compass that enables moving in the 4 cardinal directions with wait in the center. All the interface items are designed to be large enough that they’re touch-friendly. In fact, even with the desktop version, the game feels best on a touchscreen, as it’s quicker to get to all of the interface items with a finger rather than keyboard and mouse. Once released, this should be a great fit to the mobile gaming roguelike scene.
