Just a forenote, this is not a review by any means; this is a story about creating memories with a video game and how this can make the experience one of the most memorable gaming experiences I have ever had.
That game was Rogue Legacy on PS4.
Let me take you back to the end of last year, Maybe even 2 years ago, to a New Years eve without concrete plans in place, the other half and I waiting patiently to see if anything was going to happen on this most celebrated of nights as the night proceeded it would seem that nobody was going to come forth with any plans.
So let me tell you the full story of how this became the best gaming memory I have.
Let us take a few steps back, I mentioned that we were awaiting any plans; whilst we did have some plans in place these plans were becoming quickly apparent that they were not going ahead. As the night went on, so we booted up Rogue Legacy just to kill a bit of time whilst we waited to see if anything else would happen; this soon followed by opening a bottle of gin for us to have a little tipple as we played – I mean, it was New Years eve after all.
We very quickly came to realise the sort of game that Rogue Legacy is. Much like many Roguelikes before and since; the game is based around dying and coming to a realisation that your characters in the game are expendable and the time needs to be spent on generating gold in each subsequent playthrough to upgrade your manor (Rogue Legacy’s intriguing upgrade system that we loved). This upgrade system provided a unique dual experience in which I, as the more experienced gamer by many years, would accrue quite a large chunk of gold through my playthrough and then she would spend in on the upgrades whilst I would have minimum to play with on my turns.
So there we were on New Years eve, a couple of Gin’n’Juices down taking in turns in dying without any hint of the stresses of going out on New Years Eve or the cliches that come with this. After a couple more Gin’N’Juices we devised the Rogue Legacy drinking game, nothing too harsh we thought, just that each time we died on the game we would need to take a small(ish) swig of our drink and hand the controller over. this provided hours upon hours of fun.
The combination of hanging out with my girlfriend, a few drinks and an all over chilled out New Years Eve created my most memorable gaming experience ever.
Not to mention the best New Years Eve I ever had.