Streets of Rogue

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

For the past few days, I've been playing Streets of Rogue on my Switch.  No, it's nothing like the Sega beat-em-up series Streets of Rage.  Instead, it's a top-down "twinstick" action game with permadeath, many character classes, and many ways to clear (or fail) the missions for each level.


The one successful character I've had so far was a Gorilla.  These apes have maxed out Endurance, Melee, and Speed stats, but have a 1 in Firearms.  Then again, guns are pointless when they have the Stubby Fingers trait that prevents Gorillas from wielding them in the first place.  Another Gorilla drawback is the inability to speak to NPCs unless they find a Translator.  And even if you get that item, shopkeepers are Annoyed with Gorillas because of their Malodorous smell and want to chase them out of their buildings.  Scientists are always Hostile to Gorillas since the apes have a grudge against their experiments.


The Gorilla's special ability is a lunging melee attack, useful considering they have to fight all the time.  Their optional Big Quest is to free trapped Gorillas throughout the levels, which you'll want to do most of the time anyway because they fight alongside you.


Only one "mutator" option was used in my Gorilla run:  No Disasters.  I mostly wanted to get rid of the "different status effects every few seconds" event because it was annoying.  And the game was already challenging enough.  The key to winning was to buy as many Bananas as possible from vending machines, and then take the Gorilla perk that increased Banana healing.  A timely Translator let my character bribe Cops to ignore crimes and pay a Doctor to heal.


Uptown was the hardest area because of the densely packed buildings and many Supercops who were too honorable to bribe.  Mayor's Village was surprisingly simple for a final level, as all my Gorilla had to do was to beat up the Mayor, swipe his hat, get away from the few Supercops, then go to a nearby podium to make a speech.

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

My 2nd No Disasters win happened today when I picked the Soldier.  It's almost as combat-focused as the Gorilla, except you start with the ability to talk to NPCs because you're human.


Soldiers start with 2 Endurance, 3 Melee, 4 Firearms, and 2 Speed.  Equipment in their basic loadout includes a Machinegun, Grenades, Land Mines, a Combat Helmet, Door Detonators, and a Kill Ammunizer.  Their starter gun is one of the best in the game, and can effectively clear out rooms.  Many of the enemies in this game are melee, so ranged attacks are a significant advantage.  The Kill Ammunizer occasionally gives ammo for kills, so the 3 Melee aptitude is somewhat wasted on this character.


Instead of an active ability, the Soldier gets the Modern Warfarer trait that regenerates HP up to 20.  If you're lucky enough to upgrade the perk as I did, it heals up to 40.  The Big Quest for the Soldier involves blowing up every Generator, even those that aren't relevant to the random story missions.  This tends to get the player into even more fights, especially in shops.

 
Most of the playthrough was a "run and gun" style, though I sometimes made use of a cloned companion with a spare gun.  Poisoning ventilation systems was useful as usual to cause extra damage or scare potential enemies out of the building.  Many items were sold in order to buy more ammo, or heal at a Doctor in Uptown. 


One funny moment happened when one Industrial mission was to escort an NPC out of a building to the entrance.  The problem was that the NPC refused to leave the room he spawned in, and I couldn't attack him in the normal way to fail the mission.  Then I realized Land Mines were activated by proximity instead of faction alignment.  As far as the game was concerned, that character walked too close!


The Mayor was deposed in a Machine Gun coup, as you'd expect.  My Soldier then gave a speech about how "guns don't kill people", and therefore guns needed AI to solve that problem.


It is possible to win the game in a peaceful if corrupt election, but perhaps a more sociable class like the Bartender would be better for that.



Perks:

No In-Fighting (Aligned, Loyal, or Submissive allies and you are immune to friendly fire)
Modern Warfarer + (HP regen up to 40)
Slippery Target (Enemy guns less accurate)
Friend of the Family (Mobsters are aligned with you)
Ammo Scavenger (Enemies drop more ammo)
On the House (50% chance of purchased item being free)
Big Bullets (Bullets are twice as large)
Disturbing Facial Expressions (Enemies more likely to flee in battle)

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

My third Streets of Rogue No Disasters win was with the Cop.  This class starts with 2 in Endurance, Melee, and Speed, and 3 in Firearms.  In combat, the Cop functions much like a weaker Soldier. 


The twist comes from the class's active ability:  arresting criminals.  When examining NPCs on the map, you'll see that some of them are Guilty.  Arresting takes a few seconds, but nonlethally knocks out enemies and gets you whatever items you would have gotten by killing them.  The catch is that you lose experience toward the next level if you kill the innocent.  The Big Quest is tied to the law mechanic, and is completed if you get enough points from arresting or killing the Guilty.


Cops also are Aligned towards their own class, so you won't feel the need to pay them expensive bribes like you would with some other classes.  Supercops in Uptown are also Friendly.


My Cop spent some of the time peacefully arresting the Guilty, but often had to get into shootouts in hideouts.  The game was going smoothly until Industrial, when one ill-timed explosion from a "Destroy the Generator" mission took out some civilians near the outside wall.  That contributed to my character's drinking habit. 


Fights were common in the Park where there were many Cannibals who always started as Hostile.  Some hid in the bushes to make matters worse.  If I remember correctly, there was a pond outside a hideout in one Park stage that gave temporary Invincibility status to anyone who hopped in it.  That made one part annoying when a criminal benefited from it.


By Uptown, it was too difficult to arrest many criminals since they would immediately start shooting if they saw one of their partners being handcuffed in the large, crowded buildings.  The point requirement for the Big Quest was so generous that I easily passed and became a Supercop with better stats for Mayor's Village.  Although there was a firefight in one building, the final "confrontation" with the Mayor was to ask him for the hat, then passing a 50% Threaten check to make him give up his hat in a bloodless coup.



Loneliness Killer was a useful perk when it appeared because it created an AI Cop ally with a Pistol after reaching a new stage.  These Cops tended to get themselves killed quickly, but they made for good distractions at least.  A Taser that my Cop found stunned enemies long enough for them to be arrested.  The Taser was pointless for large gunfights, though.  My Cop had plenty of money to spare for healing items large parts of the game due to getting so much ammo from perks and enemy drops.  Uptown was a pain because of robots confiscating the Cop's alcohol supplies, and Doctor visits.  Overall, the difficulty was about on par with the Soldier.




Perks:


Big Bullets (Bullets are twice as large)
Bullet Breaker (Your bullets destroy enemy bullets)
Disturbing Facial Expressions + (Enemies more likely to flee in battle)
Loneliness Killer (Get an AI ally of your class at the beginning of a new stage)
Ammo Scavenger (Enemies drop more ammo)
Blaster Survivor (Not harmed by your own explosions)
Slippery Target (Enemy guns less accurate)
Lock and Load (Ammo is partially refilled at the beginning of each stage)

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

Another Streets of Rogue post, and this time it's about the Doctor.  This class has underwhelming stats, with 2 in Endurance, Speed, and Firearms, and the minimum 1 in Melee.  They also can't use most weapons, except for a few throwing items like Rocks and Dizzy Grenades.


But the Doctor is much better than it seems at first.  They can KO anyone except for the rare gas mask NPCs in Industrial with a chloroform rag, so long as they can get behind their target.  Chloroform has a few seconds of cooldown after being used.  Doctors also start with a Tranquilizer Gun that KOs enemies from a distance after 10 seconds.  Speed is the main weakness for Doctors, as they sometimes fail to outrun Tranquilized opponents without taking damage.  First aid kits that restore 40 HP per use come with the Doctor loadout.


The Doctor's Big Quest is simple, and doesn't require players to go out of their way to achieve it.  Doctors are pacifists in accordance with the Hippocratic Oath.  Streets of Rogue's city is so harsh, however, that they are given the leeway of "kill fewer than 30 people".  Without any lethal weapons, the Big Goal is practically free.  The game also ignores kills caused by enemies fighting each other.


My Doctor started off by providing anesthetic to much of the city's population.  This not only accomplished the random missions, but also allowed me to swipe their stuff and sell it.  Weapons like Baseball Bats and Pistols were free money.  Bribing the Cops wasn't necessary, but my Doctor had to pay protection money to the Mobsters in Downtown to avoid wearing cement shoes.  Friends of the Family came far too late for it to be useful.  That's the problem with random perks.  Speed + more than made up for it when the Doctor needed to run away after tranquilizing an enemy.  This was useful for surprise Cannibals attacks in particular.


The Doctor survived some unfortunate encounters in Downtown and Uptown by placing a Hologram Bigfoot decoy.  These both distracted the enemies and made them fight one other once they accidentally hit each other.  Several Uptown missions were simple "Neutralize the target" with the power of chloroform.


Mayor's Village was much more difficult than in the direct combat playthroughs.  The Doctor started by bribing the gate guards since they had no weapons that could destroy the metal bars.  The Mayor spawned inside a small building surrounded by many Supercops.  The only way I won was by gradually luring the Supercops into a narrow hallway, sedating them, and then using medkits to heal.  Good thing that the ammo vending machine in Mayor's Village gave Tranquilizer Gun shots for free!  The Doctor's speech asked how many people the average resident had murdered in the last half hour, and demanded that they cut that out.


Not all of the Perks are accounted for in this list, unfortunately.  I knew it was incomplete when I took a screenshot in the Mayor's Village and didn't see Speed +.  Perhaps all of them are displayed on the Minus button menu or something.  If there's a menu option to see character logs for victories, please tell me.  As usual, it was a No Disasters playthrough.


EDIT:  I forgot to mention a funny incident.  The Doctor had a "turn off all the switches" mission in a large building, and used an unidentified syringe in the ventilation to make the NPCs flee.  It turned out to be Invisibility, perfect for the Doctor to breathe and complete the mission without attracting attention.



Perks:


Friend of the Family (Mobsters are aligned with you)
Subduing Spree (No cooldown for chloroform)
Shrewd Negotiator (Shop prices reduced by 35%)
On the House (50% chance of purchased item being free)
Blaster Survivor (Not harmed by your own explosions)
Slippery Target (Enemy guns less accurate)
Shop Drops (Merchants drop one item they offered for sale after being KOd)
Speed + (Increase Speed)

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

Shopkeeper was another simple class for a No Disasters playthrough.  Not easy, though.  I'm not good enough to get "win streaks" like the best players of permadeath games.


The name Shopkeeper implies a non-combat class, but they're excellent fighters.  They start with average 2s in Endurance, Speed, and Melee, and a maxed out 4 in Firearms.  Shopkeepers don't even need to worry about finding a weapon when their loadout has a Shotgun.


However, the Shopkeeper isn't a clone of the Soldier even if they function the same in battle.  Shopkeepers can buy items from NPCs that wouldn't ordinarily sell them, so you can convince some potential enemies to part with their weapons.  Some "Retrieve Item" missions can be resolved by peacefully purchasing the key and safe combination.  The Big Quest is also much less violent than the Soldier's "Destroy All Generators" version.  Shopkeepers have a random item that they need to sell for each stage, usually a common weapon, food, or drink.


My Shopkeeper went through most of the game as a typical ranged combat character.  The Big Quest was trivial when the random items were "Baseball Bat", "Beer", or "Pistol".  Selling Bananas in Uptown was annoying because I didn't want to get rid of any non-alcohol healing for the endgame.  One Thief in Downtown stole my Bananas when they jumped out of a manhole, and I had to chase the enemy down.  Firefights sometimes ensued in Downtown whenever a Thief or Cannibal popped out of a manhole at the wrong time.


Perhaps my least favorite zone is Park (the 3rd zone), mostly because it's biased towards combat characters.  Cannibals are always Hostile unless you're a Cannibal too, or have the Cool with Cannibals perk if you're lucky enough to get it before Park.  Some random missions take place in Gorilla caves too, where there aren't any tricks you can use like polluting the ventilation or hacking computers.  Park was good for the Shopkeeper, though.


My Shopkeeper's financial abilities ensured that they always had enough cash to buy ammo or discounted healing items after battle.  Mayor's Village was a massacre with a combination of a Hologram Bigfoot decoy, the Machine Gun, and later the Shotgun.  Citizens were skeptical when they heard the Shopkeeper's victory speech, saying that it might be a conflict of interest if my character continued to run the store while holding political office.  An increased discount swayed the electorate to the Shopkeeper's side. . .


I found out while talking to the Mayor before the final battle that it's possible to buy his hat to win the game, but it costs $1476, far more than most players would have.  The Perk list is complete this time because the full stat screen does show all of them.  The Shopkeeper was at a lower level than other winning characters due to failing a few "save the NPC" missions.


EDIT:  Friend of the Family showed up early enough to be useful this time.  Not having to bribe the Mobsters in Downtown saves a lot of money!


Perks
 
Ammo Scavenger (Enemies drop more ammo)
Loneliness Killer (AI companion of your class appears at start of each stage)
Trust Funder (Get money at the beginning of each stage)
Teleport-Happy (Can teleport while indoors)
Friend of the Family (Mobsters are Aligned with you)
Slippery Target (Enemies have more trouble shooting you
Shrewd Negotiator + (Prices in shops reduced by 70%)
No In-Fighting (No friendly fire)

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

For a while, I experimented with some of the other Mutator options.  Mixed-Up Environments can provide for some interesting situations, like bushes with Cannibals hiding in them in Downtown, or status condition lakes outside of the Park.  Disasters Every Level quickly reminded me why I play with No Disasters most of the time:  it's more consistent and relies on skill rather than gimmicks.


The next victory was with the Slum Dweller, the closest class to a traditional RPG character.  Slum Dwellers start with a mediocre 2 in Endurance, Firearms, and Speed, and the minimum 1 in Melee.  However, they gain +1 to a random stat every even numbered level, and can select 1 of 5 perks instead of the usual 3 upon leveling and clearing a stage.  Other classes start stronger, but can't gain stats unless they draw a perk for it.


A Slum Dweller's Big Quest reflects the "rags to riches" nature of the class.  When they pay a total of $750 to ATMs or tellers in $50 payments, they enter the Mayor's Village as an Upper-Cruster.  Their Mayor inauguration speech debates whether the murder and theft was worth it, but they have a clear conscience because they never snooped on anyone's emails.  (Player characters refusing to "Read Email" is a recurring joke in Streets of Rogue.)


My Slum Dweller had a rough start, as you'd expect from a character with only Whiskey in their loadout.  Punching enemies until they dropped Melee weapons was the strategy in the Slums.  Until the Firearms stat grew and the Slum Dweller found a Pistol, that is.  Then they became a typical ranged attacker, and easily made enough money to cover the Upper-Cruster payments.  Sometimes 2 payments per floor, allowing me to save money for later stages.


Traps in the Industrial factories cost more HP than I'm willing to admit.  The flames, crushers, and buzzsaws are easy to dodge if you're a good player.  


In Downtown, my Slum Dweller did NOT take the Friend of the Family perk, and instead shot the Mobsters trying to shake them down.  They were easy to kill if I lured them into a narrow area. 


Mayor's Village was another shootout, even though the Supercops were nominally Loyal due to Upper-Cruster status.  The Mayor was asleep until I tried to talk to him.  He refused to acknowledge me unless I got a badge from one of his assistance  At the end of the game, my character had 3 Endurance, 3 Speed, a useless 3 Melee, and 4 Firearms. 



Yes, there are other ways to win Streets of Rogue besides shooting everyone, but so far it seems to be optimal for many characters.  You might be in for an entertaining post if I manage to win with something like Hacker, Werewolf, or Shapeshifter.


Perks
 
On the House (Items bought in shops are sometimes free)
Bullet Breaker (Your bullets destroy enemy bullets)
Trust Funder (Receive money at beginning of every stage)
Shrewd Negotiator (Items cost less in shops)
Loneliness Killer (One AI ally of your class joins at start of stage)
Blaster Survivor (Immune to your own explosions)
Slippery Target (Enemies are less accurate with guns)
Lock and Load (Some ammo given at beginning of each floor)
Disturbing Facial Expressions (Enemies more likely to flee)
Butterfinger-er (Sometimes knock weapon away from enemies)

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

My latest No Disasters win in Streets of Rogue was with the Wrestler, though unfortunately I didn't complete the Big Quest of challenging random NPC classes to pure Melee battles.  I was low on healing items by the end of Uptown due to the densely packed and heavily armed NPCs.  A Giantizer let my Wrestler grow to Godzilla size and crush the final battle in Mayor's Village.



With 4 Melee, 4 Endurance, and 1 Firearms, the Wrestler is clearly intended to fight with weapons like the Sword, Baseball Bat, and Sledgehammer.  1 Speed is a disadvantage against ranged opponents, which are common starting in the 4th zone Downtown.  Their active ability of picking up objects like trash cans and computers sounds fun at first, but is situational and doesn't make up for the Wrestler's weaknesses.


Like the Jock, Wrestlers can't use computers and must break them to disable security.  Another similarity with the Jock is their Loud footstep.  Wrestlers share the Tank-Like trait with the Gorilla and are not knocked back as far by enemy attacks.  In general, I would recommend other Melee classes over the Wrestler due to their higher Speed and superior active abilities.


EDIT:  Forgot to include the Perks for the Wrestler playthrough:


Firearms +
Speed +2
Durabilitacious (Higher Melee weapon durability)
Un-Crits (Enemy attacks may do 0 damage)
Slippery Target (Enemy guns are less accurate)
Long Lunge (Longer range with Melee attacks)
Floats Like Butterfly (More mobility with Melee attacks)

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

Finally managed to win with the Hacker!  It took many attempts to do so.


Hacker is supposed to be one of the "non-combat" classes, with 1 in Endurance and Melee, 2 in Firearms, and 3 Speed.  They also suffer more recoil from guns and knockback from enemy attacks.  Their mastery of technology partially makes up for these weaknesses.  Their active ability pulls out a Laptop to hack computers, TVs, refrigerators, and even satellites.  Hackers complete missions by shutting down traps, poisoning the air in buildings, and luring enemies to electronics and then making them explode.


However, Hackers can't do this with impunity.  Laptops are illegal, and Cops will attack you if they catch you trying to hack something.  Without the appropriate perk, hacking also has a high chance of alerting NPCs and forcing the player to retreat until they calm down.  The Hacker's Big Quest summons Cop Bots when you "Install Malware" on a computer.


Hacking also won't save you from charging Cannibals in Park, or Gorillas in caves if you're unlucky enough to get a mission involving them.  The Hacker will need a gun as a backup plan.


My Hacker had enough money to outlast the adventure.  Items sold for higher prices at the vending machine, ammo was cheaper, and ATMs spat out money whenever my character manipulated them with the Laptop.  Drawing both levels of the On the House perk gave the Hacker plenty of free healing items like First Aid Kit, Beer, and Whiskey.  Poisoning NPCs in hideouts with "Release Gas" didn't often kill them outright, but softened them up enough to finish them off in combat.


A Pistol carried the Hacker through the Park fights.  Hacking cloning machines created random NPC allies, though I rolled Zombies that were Hostile to otherwise peaceful characters twice.  Friend of the Family came before Downtown and prevented Mobster shakedowns.  A firefight in Downtown gave the Hacker a Machine Gun.  At some point in the game, I paid one of the augmentation machines to remove Skinny Nerdlinger from the Hacker to reduce recoil.


My Hacker had a useful loadout of Hologram Bigfoot to distract hostile robots and NPCs, and a Quick Escape Teleporter to bail them out of danger when their HP was low. Cardboard Boxes were fortunately available before Uptown, and Cop Bots couldn't see the Hacker at all when they were playing Solid Snake.  Cop Bots could be hacked, but it seemed too risky with the failure chance.  My Hacker once accessed a satellite in Uptown and made the NPCs Friendly with its brainwashing powers.  A misclick on "Install Malware" too early in one of the Uptown stages made things more difficult.


In this playthrough, the Mayor lived in a walled compound with a lawn and a pool.  More importantly, the Mayor made the mistake of installing 2 TVs!  The Hacker selected "Increase Volume" to lure the Mayor and Supercops, then "Blow Up".  Everyone died at once, but I couldn't get through the steel doors.  That was the cue to make the refrigerator literally run and break the walls.

 

Perks


On the House + (High chance of “buying” items for free in shops)
Trust Funder (Money at beginning of each stage)
Blends in Nicely (Enemies have to be closer to detect you)
Cyber Nuke (Option to make hacked electronics explode)
Friend of the Family (Mobsters are Aligned with you)
Bullet Breaker (Your bullets destroy enemy bullets)
Ammo Scavenger (Enemies drop more ammo)