Rogue Galaxy
Great Games You, Probably, Never Played
Dark Cloud is often pointed to (for good reason) as the game that Level-5 fans would love to see revived in some fashion. However, Dark Cloud 1 & 2 wasn’t their only bangers in the PS2 era, they also released Rogue Galaxy very late into the life cycle of the PS2 and after the release of the Xbox 360.
Perhaps it’s because people were already looking ahead towards the next generation of consoles that Rogue Galaxy was overlooked by so many, and is one of the best RPGs of the PS2 era that many RPG fans probably missed out on.
Imagine a mash-up of Dark Cloud’s satisfying action-RPG combat and weapon building system with a healthy dose of Skies of Arcadia’s themes and vibes. Sound good so far? Rogue Galaxy sees the player play as planet-hopping space pirates that find themselves at odds with a greedy corporation that threatens their way of life.
It’s the gameplay that really stands out though. Although definitely inspired by Dark Cloud, it offers up many more layers of complexity, allowing you to control multiple characters at once balancing auto-attacks with special abilities that will give you an edge in battle. Characters can switch between melee and ranged attacks, and as you wear one character’s action gauge down, you’ll need to give them a quick rest or swap to someone else.
While in 2021 its gameplay is hardly revolutionary given the current popularity of action RPGs, back then it was quite the trip. It scored very well among critics and was eventually re-released by Sony onto the PS4 digitally, giving fans a rare second chance to experience an underappreciated gem.
