Thank you Noodlecake for providing us with a review code!

Flick Shot Rogues opens with a cut scene of five travelers who get shipwrecked and separated on an island. When first launching the game, you’ll get to play as the captain, and after learning the battle mechanics, you’ll be reunited with your first crewmate, The Klabautermann. The other friends won’t be available until later in the game at higher doom/difficulty settings.

As you can guess by the title, the turn-based battles are fought by flicking your characters toward the enemies to cause collision damage. Other elemental and/or weapon specialties come into play here as well. The captain has a saber and comes equipped with the ability to ignite enemies after coming into contact with them. The flames and burn damage can spread amongst the foes. The Klabautermann attaches sticky bombs onto enemies he collides with, and those bombs will detonate after a turn or two.

The Froggomancer’s ability is to fling frogs at nearby enemies at the end of her turn. The only caveat is that she has to collect the frogs scattered throughout the area first. The more frogs she has collected the more attacks she can do. You can have two characters in your party and you can switch between them as often as you like. In fact, there are some upgrades that will replenish your shield each time you switch and use the other character. Both characters share the same health and shield, so when those are depleted it’s game over, unless you have purchased the ability to respawn your party with 10 health after dying!

The Huntress’ ability is to tag enemies that she passes by on her flick, and she will shoot them with her revolver after she stops moving. The last party member to acquire is The Rocketmaster. This character is POWERFUL. For every ricochet, they will fire a rocket at nearby enemies after she stops moving.

Flick Shot Rogues is harder than it appears. At first the enemies are not too challenging and there’s only one wave to deal with. It doesn’t take long for multiple waves and bosses with lots of hit points to appear. On top of enemy collisions and projectile attacks, you’ll also have to deal with environmental hazards like spikes and poisonous goo.

For me it took several attempts before I was able to successfully complete a run. Thankfully, you get experience for each try. As you level up your profile, items and abilities will become available for future runs. Once you defeat the final pirate boss, a harder doom level will unlock. On the first doom level you get to start off with a battle, but in later doom levels your first choice will be deciding on which curse you want to apply to your entire run.

In the overworld, there are typically multiple paths to choose from. Between battles you can often stop at a shop or trade with various islanders before your next fight. In the beginning of the game campsites are often available that allow you to rest up and heal half of your health. If your health is in good shape, you can opt for more experience to help your party level up faster. Upon leveling up, your party will gain more health and stronger attacks. If you have a good run going you can save your progress and leave or abandon a run if things are looking bleak.

There’s little to complain about morally with Flick Shot Rogues. The violence is cartoony and I don’t recall seeing any blood. You can bomb, ignite, electrify, and freeze your enemies to do damage to them. The final boss is in a skeletal form.

The 2D cartoony graphics are colorful, and there’s a decent amount of variety when it comes to enemies and level designs. The animations are nice, and the bosses are big and slightly more intimidating than the grunts.

There is no voice acting, but the sound effects and background music are fitting. The pirate music got stuck in my head on multiple occasions.

The $14.99 asking price is reasonable and I recommend checking out the demo if you’re curious about Flick Shot Rogues. If you enjoy rogue-likes and physics, it’s a no-brainer!