Sting's bleak roguelike about descending a labyrinthine dungeon to atone for sin. Haunting surreal atmosphere, punishing systems and a memorable score. For patient genre fans only.
Your verdict
Category
Roguelike1 player16+
Description
Dark roguelike inside a post-apocalyptic tower with procedurally generated floors. Published by Sting, released in 2007 in Europe, North America and Japan. Procedural dungeons, permadeath, nightmarish atmosphere and oppressive soundtrack. International edition.
Baroque review
3/5
Art direction
★★★★★
"Polished"
3/5
Music
★★★★★
"Memorable"
3/5
Story
★★★★★
"Solid"
Gameplay
"Decent"
Fun
"Mild"
Addictiveness
"Engaging"
Difficulty
"Punishing"
An oppressive descent into a shifting tower, this roguelike distills a difficulty built on wandering and deprivation: you lose almost everything on each death and the game explains next to nothing. Managing hunger, items and your sanity weighs as much as the fighting. Disorienting and demanding, it rewards curiosity and stubbornness, and has cultivated a singular cult aura ever since.
Sting's remake of the cult Saturn-era dungeon crawler, Baroque reached Europe at the very end of the PS2 cycle in December 2007, in a tiny pressing that explains a used price almost level with sealed. Its sickly post-apocalyptic world, punishing roguelike loops and cryptic storytelling make it an atypical niche object on the PAL market, never reprinted. Scarcity here stems as much from the late, low-key release as from the singularity of a title unlike anything else in the library.
