On Our Desk - 16

Rogue Touch

Developer: ChronoSoft
Platform: iPod Touch or iPhone
Get it from the AppStore

There are very few serious, consistently replayable games that work on the iPhone, as most of them require buttons that are separated from the screen, but turn-based games like Rogue are exempt from that requirement. Unlike an action game, there’s no need for fancy 3D graphics or lightning reflexes – you can take your time and go as slow as you like.

Rogue Touch is ideally suited to the iPhone then, as it’s one game where the last thing you ever want to do is rush into something. It doesn’t matter if you’re donning an unidentified piece of armour or just taking a step forward into the next room, unless you’ve thought it through then you could be stumbling into a bear trap or worse. As with most Rogue games too, there’s no second chances for the unwary – the threat of perma-death hangs over you like a Sword of Damocles.

Luckily though, Rogue Touch isn’t nearly as damning as the majority of Rogue-likes, despite showcasing all the benefits. There’s still randomly-generated dungeons and a gradual escalation in challenge and level complexity, but you won’t need to keep doing sneaky file-fiddles or save back-ups to improve your chances.


The fact that the feature set and difficulty has been scaled down a bit from the likes of Nethack means that Rogue Touch is a great dungeon-crawler for genre newcomers too. It’s definitely far less intimidating than the other Rogue-like on the App Store, titled Rogue.

The basic premise of the game is incredibly simple. You’re a hero, on your first mission for the Fighters Guild. Your assignment is simple; to enter the Dungeons of Doom, delve to the bottom floor, retrieve the fabled Amulet of Yendor and then return to the surface. Preferably without dying.

Running the dungeon gauntlet is a unpredictable quest however, with randomly generated level layouts, monsters and treasures. Every item you find is unidentified and can be either harmful or beneficial, meaning you’re constantly agonising over the decision of whether or not to drink the potions you carry. The purple one might give you the extra strength you’ll need to defeat the Orc ahead, but it may also teleport you to a more fearsome foe. It’s a choice compacted by the lack of save games – when you die then you’ll have to start anew.


Rogue Touch sounds a frightening prospect admittedly, but the good news is that it’s a lot more accessible than you might expect, mainly because the number of potions and effects have been trimmed away. Unlike other games in the genre, you no longer need worry about randomly falling down stairs and impaling yourself on your sword and you won’t face accidental insta-death until the later levels. There are even a handful of minor cheats you can use to give yourself a little boost!

What makes Rogue Touch so great for filling those long train journeys is the streamlined simplicity of the interface. The original ASCII art of the original game has been updated to a prettier tile-set and the controls involve easy taps in the direction you want to travel in. Hopping through menus to toss potions at baddies, swap weapons and read magic scrolls is easier than reviewing games for a living too, which is both handy and ironic.

The game does have some issues in the repetitiveness of the later levels and it’s arguably a little feature-bereft in its current state – you can collect gold, for example, but there’s no store or option to identify your belongings after death. These flaws are relatively minor though, especially considering the ‘pick up and play’ design that makes it so suitable for mobile gaming. Plus, like most iPhone games, it’s hard to really slam a game that costs less than £2.

Verdict: Rogue Touch isn't the most original or complex game out there, but it manages to compensate for that with a simple interface and regular updates, making it highly recommended for dungeon divers on the move.