Like RPG elements, roguelikes have infiltrated many different genres over the last few years, introducing a degree of randomness to breathe life into some well-worn genres: first-person shooters, match-three puzzle games, side-scrolling platformers and traditional shooters. Now the roguelike has made its way into the traditional beat-'em-up by way of Rampage Knights, and while the game has flaws, the experience remains loads of fun.

Loaded with treasure, a duo of adventurers makes its way home after a long and treacherous journey. On the way, however, they get lost in a forest, and with night descending, they decide to make camp for the night. As they sleep, a sorcerer emerges from their campfire and steals their treasure. Before the adventurers can retaliate, the sorcerer casts aside their weapons and banishes them to a part of the forest where they'll be stuck in an eternal loop of life and death. Determined to get their treasure back and get out of the forest, the duo marches toward the sorcerer's castle.

Each playthrough has you starting in a forest clearing that's also inhabited by other adventurers in the same predicament. More than just window dressing, these people act as various options for your game. The traveling surgery shop allows you to change your face type and gender, and the nearby hat shop provides several different headgear options. You can check out the progress you're making in the challenges, which is the game's alternate name for Steam Achievements. Though you start off as an Adventurer, you can change your class to one of five others, including an Assassin or Pirate, though they must be unlocked via gameplay. The same goes for the difficulty level, which only has Normal available unless you beat the game and unlock the higher levels or die enough to unlock the easy one. Once everything is set, you can practice in the training area or proceed to the game.

From here, the beat-'em-up mechanics immediately come into play. For all characters, you have a basic combo set that's available from your lone attack button. You can also do jumping attacks, and while you can't run, you can perform charged dash attacks. Uppercutting the enemy is also an option, as is the ability to perform air combos and stomp on prone enemies. You can even grab your foes and use them as a swinging weapon before hurling them away. With a number of attacks at your disposal, your lone defensive maneuver is a rolling dodge.

The combat is strong thanks to the responsiveness of the controls, so every action is executed exactly as you wanted, but there is a bit of a learning curve when it comes to making the dash attacks responsive all of the time. It also helps that the game adopts some action/RPG elements. You'll pick up items that are permanent buffs, like increased speed and strength, and spells can use up part or all of your regenerating mana. You can pick up weapons that provide simple damage increases or other effects, like applying poison or burn damage to a foe. Some armor adds abilities, like floating above the ground or initiating an infinite jump. One-time use spells can unlock all doors in a room, and there are loads of potions. There are even familiars that unleash attacks. Basically, you've got what amounts to Diablo with a different perspective and some brawling sensibilities thrown in.

Of course, since Rampage Knights is a roguelike, the level of difficulty on Normal is pretty high. The randomization means you can get into a room with loads of pits, spike traps, and strong enemies. There are also potions that make things harder for you until they wear off a few rooms later. In solo mode, you at least have a one life buffer, so the first death doesn't mean losing everything, but you eventually succumb and are sent back to the beginning with nothing. Fortunately, you retain your progression, like number of enemies killed, so you aren't left empty-handed.

Normally, that progression is presented as a grind you must endure before you finally make some real progress in the overall quest. That's not really the case here, since there are plenty of categories that are being worked on in any given play session, all of which is trackable via the Achievement system. The multitude of things to track creates a drip feed system of unlocks that make every play session feel worthwhile, since you're always starting something new or progressing toward something. Oddly enough, the stat buffs don't pop up until you've completed the long-term achievements, so you'll get a chance to use new cosmetic items and play with new classes before you get into the more tangible stat increases.

Like any good beat-'em-up, Rampage Knights supports co-op play either locally or online only with a friend. The only difference is that online players can explore parts of the map separately from their companion. Unlike the solo game, each player only has one life, but they can be resurrected by the other player if enough enemies are killed in their partner's absence. The fallen partner isn't useless during this time, since they come back as a ghost that can attack enemies. Their damage is reduced drastically to only one point, so it's almost useless, but their familiar and passive attacks still dole out normal damage.

The enemy count doesn't increase with the presence of a partner, and that would make you think that the game becomes a much easier affair. However, that isn't necessarily the case since friendly fire is on at all times. Hitting your partner won't take away HP, but it still counts as a hit from an enemy, so you can leave them open for further attacks. Unless you and your partner have a specific plan to ensure that you won't interfere with one another, expect co-op play to be as daunting as the solo game.

The title does many things right. Load times are practically nonexistent in between stages. The randomization makes things feel fresh in terms of enemies, items and room layouts. The game is just the right length, so you have a great deal of gaming to do if you're on a lucky run. The humor, while apparent, isn't overpowering. Even online calamities are handled gracefully; the game saves whenever a new area is entered, so you can even continue online matches right where you left off. You're not going to find much to complain about here.

Graphically, Rampage Knights looks pretty good. The animations and bright colors will remind you a lot of Castle Crashers. There's an inherent bit of goofiness with the character designs, especially the knife-throwing enemy that resembles Danny Trejo, but they all look and animate nicely. The backgrounds are similar in terms of color palette and style, but it is still distinct enough that the two elements don't blend together to create confusion. There's also a nice assortment of effects, none of which slows down the game when lots are occurring simultaneously on-screen. Overall, this is a looker of a game.

The audio, however, is unspectacular. The music is typical adventure material that's done with a higher grade chiptune effect, but it suffers from lots of stuttering. It doesn't happen unless you launch the game from Steam's Big Picture mode, and those players need to fully reboot the game to get rid of it. It's enough to drive some players to simply shut off the music altogether if they're playing on a home theater rig. The effects, meanwhile, are good. There's only so much you can do with swords hitting people and the knock of hitting wooden shields. If a fix would come in for the music stuttering, then the audio would be decent.

Rampage Knights is a very good choice for beat-'em-up fans who are looking for something a little different. The roguelike elements blend in well with the combat, and while the game is difficult, it feels fair in both co-op and solo play. Though there is inherent grind in the formula, there are enough rewards that it feels worthwhile. Fans of both genres will want Rampage Knights in their collections — just remember to launch the game outside of Big Picture mode until the audio issue is sorted out.

Score: 8.5/10