Review: The Serpent Rogue

Ukrainian dev defies invasion to release a quirky and rewarding rogue-like adventure

The Serpent Rogue, the new 3D sandbox rogue-like adventure game from Senga, made news on Steam and the gaming community when its development studio declared they would continue to release their game despite the Russian invasion. 

It, therefore, has to be noted that despite any drawbacks of the game itself, the grit and determination shown in the face of absolutely damning odds by the dev studio is something to be admired and praised. 

Luckily, this game is excellent, as you’re about to find out. So we don’t need to be all woke and pretend this game is great when it’s not. 

The story is that the player character, The Warden, must use their magical abilities to remove the blight on the land, thereby restoring balance to the world. If we say more than that, we’ll have the Spoiler Brigade after us, and we’d rather not deal with them any time soon!

Blight on the land

The premise of the story of The Serpent Rogue is not original by any means. 

But, the way it is crafted is immediately engaging and gives a clear reason for progression without sucking the mystery from the story.

Evil is spreading…

This is an amazingly concrete, understated and believably hostile world. Yet, at many points, Rogue is also playful and dynamic. 

Worms can be used to catch skeleton fish. And… lots of other casually hilarious skeleton things happen too! Skeletons wander about with their skeleton animal snake, frog and dog pets, bragging that they can “hold [their] breathe for, like, an hour”.

The balance of realism and playfulness is essential. Suppose you’re going to be spending a lot of time in a relatively small world, constantly revisiting the exact locations over and over. In that case, they need to feel realistic and beautiful, yet always slightly different with every visit. 

This is where the ‘Rogue‘ part of the game comes in, in that it’s a rogue-lite, with certain levels changing with every cycle. 

The sense of place in The Serpent Rogue is where the game shines. Much like games such as The Witcher 3, the essence of the outdoors is palpable. Totally unlike The Witcher 3, however, The Serpent Rogue had a fraction of the budget. 

This is part of its magic and mystery. And the outdoors is a big part of making this world look and feel immersive. 

The land is desolate and beautiful, and most animals are the same as in reality, but with little twists, such as the snake with horns or the skeleton undead. But, the absolute originality comes in the form of the Falraven. 

This creature with feathers is like a raven but walks on all fours, ala a dog or a big cat. This is a powerful, ferocious beast and its appearance links really coherently with the world-building and brings out the best of the imagination of the Senga development team. 

Weather systems come in the form of storms from which you must escape or perish. This forms the rogue-like aspect of the game, as, despite no perma-death and all biomes being accessible at all times, the storms prevent access from certain areas.

Magic in The Serpent Rogue plays out similarly to Skyrim. It is incidental; part of, but not everything about, the world, magic is an undertone rather than the main event within Serpent Rogue. Always present but never overt. 

This gives the game a subtle, discreet magical feel, making it more deliciously immersive. 

A storm is coming to this area!

As for visuals, details and effects are there where it matters. Great texture detail on rocks represents the fact that there is profound lore and atmosphere to Serpent Rogue, despite a simple story and simple textures throughout. 

There are awe-inspiring and detailed effects on the bubbling blobs of oily red and black amniotic sacks containing infected enemies. They appear glossy yet matt, like skin covered in crude oil. 

This is very evocative to set your eyes on, especially when whole bodies of water are covered in this caustic fluid, black with red bubbles popping out from the depths. 

Clouds are also a standout visual feature, with fluffy clouds looking dark and brooding when the uninhabitable storms are at their zenith and the red lightning begins to strike down from the heavens. 

You have tamed a Falraven

This game has a very steep learning curve, but this makes the experience extremely rewarding. The sandbox element and the rogue-like aspect are ad-mixtures to a game with the narrative at its core. 

Despite taking influences from other titles, this game is so much greater than the sum of its parts. There is a sense of inter-connectedness between all the different dynamics and aspects of the game that place the player into a living, breathing world, almost as organic as Horizon: Zero Dawn.

Combat is as simple as you’d expect for this budget game, but it functions adequately. There are a few different weapons, such as axes and swords, but not a tremendous amount of variety. There is a blocking option, which is essential against more minor enemies, and various enhanced weapons that can be crafted or looted. 

All weapons can also be upgraded, provided you can find the relevant recipe and have the right ingredients. 

Potions can add depth and encourage tactics in combat

Potions that remove some of an enemy’s health or even make them age more quickly can be indispensable in taking down more giant creatures such as bosses. 

Potions can also summon followers, such as chickens. These don’t do much damage but distract enemies, particularly useful for boss fights, so you can concentrate on damaging your foes. This can really turn the tide of a battle.

Human followers can be recruited for gold, with the fee depending on how many hit-points they have and whether they come equipped with a weapon. As in many other games, followers make quests and searching for resources easier. 

---

“Despite the drawbacks, the different dynamics of the game make for a concrete, convincing world.”

---

However, followers also come with many irritations, such as being so weak that they often die quickly or needing to be constantly healed when fighting enemies or just through their own stupidity. 

However, each game dynamic coalesces beautifully with its counterparts, especially when unlocking and finding new items. Another great touch is the food mechanic, serving a few functions, from needing food to sleep to refilling health to defining how much stamina can be expended before recharging.

The discovery, taming and harvesting (not in that order!) of animals is another great addition. The taming works okay, though the player has to know what foods an animal likes to eat, which can be tricky. Also, most smaller animals don’t survive very long in combat situations, making them often not worth the effort. 

It would have been great if this taming dynamic was more balanced and accessible, allowing the player to tame any animal with different strengths and weaknesses more quickly, but this is not present in the current build. 

It is a needlessly confusing and time-consuming task to learn how to tame each animal, and this is a huge missed opportunity for functionality and immersion.

Despite the drawbacks, the different dynamics of the game make for a concrete, convincing world and deeply satisfying gameplay, chocked full of rewards and getting all of those endorphins flowing. 

Disney-esque tension

In the early stages of the game, the musical score is of a folk style, comforting, rustic and beautiful, bringing you back to times that never existed but somehow feeling familiar in this fantasy land. And there is a clear eastern-European folk strand running through it. 

There are a variety of different instruments for different environments and scenarios. War drums thump the player into combat, and pan pipes soothe every muscle when present in pleasant and cosy settings. 

What unifies all parts of the score is that sounds are always atmospheric and catchy for every level, yet with enough difference and cohesion to be enjoyable and fit within the same game.

The swamp’s level is particularly memorable, with its mildly Disney-esque and orchestrally ominous atmosphere, hinting at the threats always lurking in the murky shallows. 

Overall, the score gets under the player’s skin in a way many scores just don’t. It is a memorable, immersive and unique experience.

Emotive response

Right from the beginning, I didn’t know what to expect from A Serpent Rogue. Described in PR literature as a sandbox, this game has enough structure to keep anyone interested. 

Right from the outset, there was something very intriguing about this world and the meaningful nature of its gameplay.

The sandbox element is exciting, even exhilarating, but it takes a lot of experimenting to hit its stride. However, as the game continues, experimentation becomes less and less necessary, which is a shame. 

However, total experimentation without reward and giving tools to progress would be impossible. 

Even losing everything is fun in this game. At one point in the game, I lost everything due to death through sheer hubris (and some pesky ghouls). However, due to all the inventory, crafting and storing dynamics, it was satisfying, rewarding and quicker than I expected to build myself back up to former glory.  

I eventually became comforted by the knowledge I had been taught by the game to squirrel away resources and had slowly discovered how to use those resources to manipulate the game to my whims without even being aware I had learnt so much already.

Overall, easy to recommend to anyone who loves slow-burn games and a rich atmosphere.  

The Serpent Rogue is available on Xbox Series X and S, PS5, Nintendo Switch and Steam, price TBD