For a kid that grew up with Star Fox 64, there seems to be a shortage in the nostalgia department for this style of game. Space combat gameplay is exhilarating, satisfying, and rewarding, and was a large attraction at arcades for decades, so it’s an untapped genre in modern times in comparison. Some fans ended up being game developers, and one such group is Truant Pixel, who have brought Rogue Flight to the forefront of space combat, with a particular focus on evoking “prestige anime” from the 80s and 90s like Cowboy Bebop and Neon Genesis Evangelion. Can Rogue Flight capture that very feel?

The big draw to space combat is to simulate aerial dogfighting, but crank everything up to eleven, especially in the speed department. Rogue Flight manages to make you feel like you’re moving at light speed with a buttery-smooth constant 60 frames per second showing the environment whizz past you. With enemies flooding the screen, you’ll need to pick them off one by one in hopes of racking up combos that can heal your shields and be the difference between losing a ship in your limited number of lives. Lose three ships, and you’re on a path to get a game over, in true arcade fashion.

Rogue Flight is voice-acted, with a personal favorite in Darin DePaul (Reinhardt in Overwatch) delivering a performance high in quality among others. Much like the aforementioned Star Fox 64, there are multiple paths to take, and some modes/unlockables that can only be achieved if all scenarios are met, encouraging high replayability for those who seek to master their spaceship skills. Those who dare to do this are in for an uphill battle, though; at the time of launch, only 2/3 of players could beat the first level, and only 40% could pass the second. The bosses in Rogue Flight flip the difficulty on its head and demand cheesing, luck, and training to defeat.

With such a high difficulty in Rogue Flight, it’s a level of anti-hand-holding that forces the best effort out of players. At the same time, it might be too harsh to simultaneously give the player less than a handful of chances, necessitating them to learn quicker than they possibly can or risk losing dozens of minutes of gameplay. With the tedium of the regular levels setting in after destroying the same five enemy types, it would benefit the game to either offer unlimited lives, or to fine-tune the bosses so they don’t become barricades of progression.

While Rogue Flight‘s difficulty will weed out those who can’t keep up, its presentation and tight controls make it a victory lap for those who are craving a new space combat experience. Muscle memory from Star Fox 64 absolutely kicked in with neat little Dualsense additions like haptics and the controller’s speaker coming into play. While managing to defeat a boss with only 5 shield left got my heart pumping more than most games can muster, so my time was well-spent for the most part. Even if some aspects aren’t fully up-to-snuff, there’s absolutely a market for Rogue Flight that will be enthusiastic to see it to full completion.

A PS5 review copy of Rogue Flight was provided by Perp Games for the purposes of this review.

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Rogue Flight

$19.99

7

Score

7.0/10

Pros

• Responsive Controls
• High Replayability
• Banging Soundtrack

Cons

• Insane Boss Difficulty
• Very Repetitive Gameplay Loop