While playing Reignbreaker at Gamescom, my first thought was 'this is Hades but woke', then I realised Hades already is woke. So maybe what I mean is that it's - dare I say it - Hades with something to say. Reignbreaker is the b*tch with a backstory of roguelikes, and channels the body positivity and diverse characterisation into something sharper and more pointed. Something vital.
I love Hades, for the record, and while I'm avoiding the second entry until the full release, I played through the first game's moving story and felt a connection to the well-written characters with meaningful tragedies attached to them. But it's a very personal story about a very personal issue, and Reignbreaker's front-foot aggression feels welcome in an indie scene that often prides itself on escaping from reality rather than confronting it.
Reignbreaker Is A Competent Roguelike Underneath Its Messaging
Playing as a former child soldier, Clef, who has joined the rebellion, your aim in Reignbreaker is right there in the title - to take down the monarchy. You don't have a good queen to install in place of the current tyrant, for no queens are truly good. This is about bringing power to the people and overthrowing the system, not simply having your team in charge. The devs tell me that while it’s set in a pseudo-medieval feudal system, there are clear and deliberate analogues to "the rise of authoritarianism we see today".
They describe it as an "anarchist power fantasy", and from what I played, it delivered. While it's easy to strip the anarchist movement for the cheap aesthetics of spiked collars and spray paint, the way Studio Fizbin presented the game's ambitions made me believe it was more than skin deep. And they are grand ambitions - Studio Fizbin is best known for Say 'No!' More, a light-hearted (if, again, fairly pointed) comedy game with simple graphics mostly played with a single button. Reignbreaker's style is hectic and detailed, with complex combos and plenty of player choice in its gameplay.
At first, it feels like a standard action roguelike, with the option to either shoot enemies from a distance or swing at them in a melee attack, but different boons start to branch each run differently - in my short time, I got a boon that dropped a bomb whenever I dashed, another that gave me a bigger blast radius, and a third that made enemies coated in paint (a side effect of bomb blasts) weak to gunfire, so my playstyle was built around that. This has always been the true charm of a roguelike, and Reignbreaker seems to be nailing it.
Kitbashing Brings Reignbreaker A Unique Medievalpunk Aesthetic
Another interesting facet of Reignbreaker is in its unique designs. It mixes futurism with medieval aesthetics, which links into the story in ways the devs aren't revealing right now. The queen has somehow gotten her hands on highly advanced technology, and uses it to hold onto her power. However, the rebellion has been able to salvage some parts, allowing for the jousting lance - Clef's weapon of choice - to be customised into various types of gun or be given other boons.
The enemies I faced included church bells with spider legs and laser beams, old school cannons that fizzed with electrical pulses, and random lumps of metal that pulsed with pink light before zapping through the air. There is a chaotic but charming marriage between inspirations here.
This opens up Clef's potential arsenal, and also allows for a broader range of enemies, inspired by the art of 'kitbashing' - taking parts from two disparate tabletop sets and building them into something new. Given the obvious link between the medieval queen and modern day politicians, there may also be an exploration in how governments manipulate and control technology and media to their advantage.
I've already compared where Reignbreaker might have an advantage over Hades, but as Clef surely knows all too well, when you come for the king, you better not miss. In my pre-gameplay presentation Reignbreaker is described as having a unique comic book artstyle, but there's more than a passing similarity to Hades in the cel-shaded visuals, even if Reignbreaker adds a new angle with graffiti tags and cybernetic pulses.
As well as the metallic creatures, there are various factions, each led by different characters. These fall into three different categories (Friends, Foes, and Flirts) though it's TBC on whether romance features in the game. Characters are often the backbone of a game like this, and only having met one for a brief pre-battle chinwag, it's tough to comment on their depth. But, similarity to Hades artstyle aside, they do feel fairly fresh and Studio Fizbin having a specific direction for the designs gives me faith that there is substance to those involved here.
Of course, the most important of these characters is Clef herself. Buff and broad, she's the type of character you might see as an NPC blacksmith or one in a roster of dozens in a shooter or fighting game, but it's rare to see a character like her take the spotlight, which also ties into Studio Fizbin's overall themes of giving voice to the voiceless. Less playful than Zagreus, she has a drier wit, and I'm fascinated to see if the character dynamics can make it beyond their compelling concepts into something robust enough to carry the game.
It could be a while before we see how this all pans out in Reignbreaker. The release date is just a nebulous 'coming soon', though unlike many games I saw at Gamescom this year, it was fully playable, if only in one small area. From the moment I got my hands on it, Reignbreaker shot to the top of my most anticipated games list, and I hope to see more from it soon.
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Hack and Slash Action Roguelike Systems Released March 18, 2025 Developer(s) Studio Fizbin Publisher(s) Thunderful PublishingWHERE TO PLAY
DIGITAL
