Decidedly, the time loops (hello confinement) have inspired many captivating creations lately: after the delicious Palm Springs for cinema and the now unmissable Hades, it is the turn of the Four Quarters studio to create its hyper addictive time loop with Loop Hero. A tribute game to the classics of the 80s and 90s, which stands out for its modernity and captivating gameplay. An apocalypse that plunges the world into darkness and a whole universe to rebuild : this is the starting point of the new game produced by Devolver, to whom we owe Hotline Miami, Gods Will Be Watching or Enter the Gungeon. As its name suggests, Loop Hero takes up the principles of rogue-likes, this genre where death is no longer inevitable but a way to progress loop after loop, to adapt it to its sauce and make it one of the most exciting and time-consuming indie games of this beginning of the year.
The circle is closed to infinity
While an empty path where a few slimes wander is taking shape before our eyes, we meet during a brief tutorial our playground of the coming days: this road surrounded by darkness will soon be prey to many enemy villages, vampire castles and other swamps and evil cemeteries filled with enemies whose creator will be none other than… We, the all-powerful player shaping the world and its memories in our own way. Because the principle of Loop Hero is quite simple, and very easy to handle : our hero constantly travels23 this loop at the beginning empty, on which the exercise is to add tiles (some bringing monsters, others benefits for our character and resources) in order to acquire better equipment to be able to continue to advance. But with each turn, the enemies get more powerful, and things get tougher very quickly. It is then up to us to decide when to leave the loop, to better prepare and face this diabolical road again the next day. 
If so far the principle resembles all the usual rogue-lite, Loop Hero has this particularity that differentiates it from the others: as a player, we do not control our hero, but the world around him. The fights and the progress of our character will be done automatically, without us being able to have any control over them; The only thing we control is this road that we fill little by little thanks to the tiles that form our deck (these can be assembled, giving bonus or malus, often both times, for an incredible diversity of combinations). We quickly take ourselves for a God architect of the path of our hero, setting up in front of him the obstacles that will serve to improve it. 
In Loop Hero, everything is about the strategy of knowing how to place the right elements in the right places, to make enough monsters appear with each passing day to loot the best equipment, but not too much so as not to be overwhelmed and have to leave in the middle of a loop leaving behind the precious resources. It's all about balance in this title, which is as exciting as it is very well dosed in its difficulty, with some bosses that will certainly give you a hard time. We alternate strategies to find the best: place in his deck the most advantageous tiles by dodging the fiercest enemies to preserve all his health for the boss, or on the contrary send our hero to the coal to equip himself at best , and now already four hours have passed without us having had time to realize it… 
As the runs, different buildings, maps, classes for our hero are unlocked: in this world plunged into darkness and oblivion, memories are rebuilt little by little, giving full meaning to the rogue-lite genre, which has made a comeback in recent years with a selection of indie games as innovative and modern as each other.
Remembering to Progress: The Basics of Rogue-Lite
Dead Cells, Rogue Legacy, Hades or Loop Hero that we talk about here: these titles look like rogue-likes and yet are called rogue-lites: so what major differences are there between these genres and why is memory, a central element of Loop Hero, essential in the narrative of the game? Unlike a rogue-like where the difficulty is constant and where it is up to the player to improve, a rogue-lite sees its difficulty decrease as the runs progress : at each passage in the loop, our hero acquires equipment and bonuses that will facilitate the next expeditions. In Loop Hero, these perks materialize in the form of memories, which help characters remember their pre-apocalypse world. 
It is by remembering its mistakes, associations and advantages, but especially by bringing these memories back to our camp after each expedition, that the world is rebuilt. Like Noah assembling his ark, our hero faces the wrath of the deities through the power of learning. Thanks to its narrative at the heart of the gameplay, Loop Hero goes back to the very essence of the genre, both in its form and in its scenario: like our character who witnesses the destruction and reconstruction of his universe, we players, helpless during the fights, watch the created world interact and abuse our hero without us being able to do anything about it. 
On the form side, Loop Hero adopts this retro aspect already well skimmed by indie games: a pixel-art hyper mastered foggy and dirty, with these mobs designed like those of an Atari 2600, reinforced by the scan lines (optional from the game settings) that give this very retro cathodic effect worthy of an old TV of the 90s. Add to that a broken 4th wall, and you have the recipe for a gripping game that will remain in your memories for a very long time. 
Loop Hero already accumulated 500,000 copies sold in its first week of sales, and we wish him another success for the future, with why some DLC that would enrich the experience. A very nice discovery, which assures us a few tens of hours to persist on this road where everything remains to be built.
