Indie games provide some of the most creative and unique ideas for gameplay in the entire industry, and 2022 gave roguelike fans in particular a lot of fantastic titles. It's hard to know what will make it big in the indie scene, as so many of the industry's biggest successes are almost unknown before launch. With 2022 ending on the big announcement of the unexpected sequel to Hades, 2023 is already expected to have a major contender for the roguelike crown. However, a slot machine-inspired game about paying rent is starting 2023 off strong.
Luck Be a Landlord sees players tasked with keeping up with ever-increasing rent payments through nothing but a slot machine. As players roll, they have the option to add new symbols onto the slot machine, with each symbol having a unique ability that can combo together to form massive gains. The game fits in with the number of other titles that created roguelikes around other, familiar game mechanics, such as titles like Cursed To Golf's take on golfing puzzles or Shotgun King's mix of chess and shoot-em-ups.
Luck Be a Landlord's Addictive Gameplay Fits Right at Home in a Roguelike
Since roguelikes will usually require a lot of losing to learn the mechanics, Luck Be a Landlord's fast, immediately rewarding gameplay makes failing to pay rent feel less like a loss and more like a chance to try a different strategy. The more common symbols players can add might not look like much to begin with, but as later, rarer symbols start forming combos and multipliers on the money earned, players will soon see their numbers skyrocketing, though it often is barely enough to meet the also-skyrocketing rent players need to pay after a set number of terms.
The constantly rising stakes mean that runs can very easily fail, which keeps the choices that players make on what to add and what to avoid always feel important. No one item will win a run on its own, and almost any build can succeed if the right items come along, meaning that players have a lot of opportunities to switch tactics and take advantage of what the game's random number generator provides. Like in the roguelike city builder Against the Storm, Luck Be a Landlord requires players to think about what future options are available for each symbol they choose, and if the right options are available, it can pay out big.
Luck Be a Landlord's Setting & Humor Are Cathartic in the Modern Rent Economy
Part of any good game is its art and setting, and Luck Be a Landlord provides a humorous and cathartic story surrounding a cartoonishly evil landlord, which can resonate with anyone familiar with renting. As players win more runs, they face an increasing number of complications that stand in their way of keeping up with rent, eventually culminating in a fight against the landlord that provides a fun change-up to the endgame right when players might feel that it's getting too familiar.
Every year sees talented and determined game developers releasing their titles, and several will undoubtedly make it into the end-of-year discussions about the best games released. While it's still far too early to say, Luck Be a Landlord will at least start off 2023's indie game releases with engaging gameplay and a sense of humor that a lot of people can relate to. The indie games scene is well known for having thousands of titles each year, with only a handful making it into mainstream success. With a gambling aesthetic that might remind some of last year's Vampire Survivors, it's worth trying one's luck at Luck Be a Landlord.