Rogue-lites have seen a huge resurgence in recent years with the launch of many games featuring a perma-death mechanic. However, these rogue-lites have done away with the "start afresh" idea of the original Rogue games and opted for a carry over "leveling" or unlocks that carry between game runs. So, points or progress in a particular run will unlock skills, powers or characters for a new run.

Has Been Heroes by Frozenbyte (released in 2017) is one of these side-scrolling Rogue-lite games. Featuring a cute cartoon visual design and a tongue in cheek style of humour, it released on multiple platforms... including the ever popular Nintendo Switch!

The Setup

Well... the story is a bit of a funny fig-leaf of a story. What we are here for is the endless runs and the unlocking and the constant failure that is the characteristic of these Rogue-lite games!

So, you are one of the King's loyal heroes... and over many years of service, you have been one of his most tireless champions. However, you got old... along with your companions. These days, you are entrusted only with the delivery of the King's Princesses to school...

However, that proves to be a touch more dangerous than it first sounds.. who would have thought?

The Game

In the bottom right hand of the screen, you map out your strategic path through each dungeon level through the various branches in the map. Backtracking over a path will cost you in "candles" and each node will have some sort of interesting encounter... from combat through to shops or puzzles.

The action portion of the game plays out as a side scroller... with the enemies approaching from the right and the Princesses and Heroes defending from the right. There is a novel mechanic at work, where you select the hero that you want to attack down a lane, who will then switch places with the hero that is currently deployed and attacking. This means that your heroes will be constantly switching positions.

Of your three heroes, there are the different classes, the Tank, Magic Caster and Rogue. Each of these classes hit a certain number of times and if these match with the number of armour points that an enemy has, then it is stunned. This means that a follow up attack will deal MORE damage AND throw the enemy back to the start of the lane, buying you more time to plan out your tactics!

Needless to say, in the heat of battle... things can get quite hectic! So, the slow motion button is a HUGE asset to be constantly using as you are sizing up which lanes to attack or defend! The above screen is nowhere close to the most packed that it can get! I just had a slight respite to hit the screenshot button on the Switch!

Along the way, you pick up spells and artifacts which change up the way that you deal damage in terms of number of attacks, stun effects and elemental damages. Enemies start to get elemental vulnerabilities and defenses, and so it becomes another layer of difficulty when you are juggling those aspects in addition to the armour sapping!

Shops and gambling vendors will offer artifacts and spells as well, so it is always a good idea to keep a bit of reserve gold (and keys for locked chests) on hand to pick up some really nice loot! I did find that the inventory system was a bit simple here. There was no way to easily dump the artifacts that you picked up in case you wanted to replace something... and the spells appeared to be hard locked into the slot that you first put them in. This means that you couldn't easily take advantage of the spell bonus that exists in certain character spell slots.

At the end of each level, there is a Boss showdown. These are pretty epic battles which involve quite a lot of juggling between attack and defence... and pushing back the enemy Horde so that they don't overrun your heroes. It is unbelievably hectic... thank goodness again for the Slo-Mo mode!

Of course, most of your runs will end in failure... however, never fear! Each run will unlock new characters, artifacts and spells for the future runs. Which tend not to be overpowered, but offer new attack types and combos for your heroes. I haven't really found anything to be overbalanced... and the artifacts and spells drop pretty randomly anyway!

Visuals, Sound and Performance

Playing on the Switch in handheld mode was no problem for this game. Visuals were nice and crisp... and I was generally playing it on public transport, and so the sound was off for most of the time. The sound and music is okay, but nothing spectacular that I would need to put headphones on for!

Performance wise, there was again no problem in handheld mode. Most of the time, you will be playing the action sequences in Slow Motion mode anyway... so, the little machine has no need to pump out crazy amounts of pixels. Even if it did, the mostly sprite based animations are not really that demanding!

My Thoughts

This is one of these games that are a perfect match for the Nintendo Switch as a handheld portable machine. I saw that it released also on PC and other more powerful consoles, but I think it would be a bit of a wasted gem on those platforms. This is a game that is cute, easy to pick up and playable in short bursts... however, it has quite a bit of depth to the mechanics and tactics... even if it is relatively simple. The way that the game mixes up the attack/armour matching dynamic and then starts to try and flood you with multiple enemy types is a great puzzle to figure out!

I loved this game, and despite the way it looks. It is a slow-thinking game!

Review Specs

Played handheld on:

Nintendo Switch (1st generation)

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