Pocket Rogues: Ultimate

First Impression

I downloaded Pocket Rogues: Ultimate after my previous favorite roguelike, something called Pixel Dungeon, just stopped getting updates and started feeling stale. I was honestly looking for something that wouldn’t cost me a fortune—student budget, you know—and I saw this was a paid app but not crazy expensive. The first time I fired it up on my OnePlus 11, I thought the pixel art was kinda cool, not too fancy but not ugly either. The tutorial was quick, which I appreciated because I just wanted to jump into a dungeon. I remember sitting in my college library on a Tuesday afternoon between classes, trying out the warrior class, and dying within five minutes to a trap I didn’t see. But weirdly, I wasn’t mad. It felt fair, like I just needed to learn the patterns. The controls on my phone were responsive too, no weird lag or button misclicks, which mattered a lot since I hate fighting with touch controls. That first session hooked me enough to keep playing through the rest of the week.

What It Does Well

The core loop is solid. You go into a procedurally generated dungeon, fight monsters, grab loot, and either make it out or die and start over. On my OnePlus 11, the game runs smooth, no crashes or frame drops even when there’s a ton of enemies on screen. I love that there are multiple character classes—warrior, mage, rogue, a few others—and each feels different enough that replaying doesn’t get boring. The gear system is deep too: you find weapons, armor, rings, all with random stats, so every run feels unique. I’ve spent hours just trying to get a perfect sword drop. The crafting system is nice for a mobile game, letting you upgrade your favorite gear instead of just trashing it. Also, the pets you can recruit actually help in fights, not just follow you around. That day-night cycle and lighting effect they mention? Actually makes a difference in gameplay, like visibility matters when it’s dark. For a paid mobile game, it feels like there’s real effort here, not just a cash grab.

Where It Falls Short

Okay, but it’s not perfect. The difficulty spike is real. After the first few dungeons, enemies hit way harder and you need to grind a lot to level up your character’s stats outside of runs. As a student, I don’t have hours every day to dump into a mobile game, so progression feels slow sometimes. I wish there was an easier difficulty option for casual sessions, because some nights I just want to unwind, not stress over a boss that one-shots me. Another thing: the story is basically nonexistent. You get a tiny intro and then it’s just dungeon after dungeon. I’m not expecting a novel, but some context or NPCs would make it feel less empty. Also, the multiplayer mode is fine, but finding other players to team up with is hit or miss. I tried it once with a friend and we had connection issues that made it frustrating. For a game that’s been out a while, I’d expect those bugs to be fixed.

Is It Worth the Price?

It’s a paid app, so that’s a big deal for me. I think it was around $4.99 or something when I bought it. For what you get, yeah, it’s worth it if you like roguelikes. There’s no ads, no energy timers, no pay-to-win microtransactions shoving in your face. That alone makes it better than most free dungeon games. I’ve easily put over 100 hours into it over the past year across my phone and even tried it on a tablet. The replayability is high because of the random dungeons and loot. But I’d only recommend it if you’re patient with hard games and don’t mind starting over a lot. If you just want a chill RPG, this might frustrate you. Also, check if it’s on sale—I think I got it during a holiday discount, which made the price feel even better.

Developer & Support

I had an issue about four months ago where my save data got wiped after an update. I contacted EtherGaming through their email and in-app support. The response took about a week, which was annoying because I lost a decent leveled character. When they finally replied, it was a pretty generic message saying they’d look into it and that I should back up my data in future. No real apology or fix. I never got my save back, so I had to start over. That left a bad taste. I get that indie developers have limited resources, but a faster response or at least a more personal reply would’ve helped. On the bright side, the game itself hasn’t had that issue again, and they do release patches occasionally. But if you run into a bug, don’t expect immediate help.

Privacy & Safety

The app asks for standard permissions—storage for save files, maybe internet for multiplayer. Nothing creepy like access to contacts or camera. I’ve never seen any weird ads or pop-ups, because there are no ads. One thing that’s nice: the game works offline, so you don’t have to worry about your data getting sent somewhere when you’re in a library without Wi-Fi. The developer’s privacy policy is pretty basic, just stating they don’t collect personal info beyond what’s needed for leaderboards or saving progress. I’m not super privacy-conscious, but for a student who doesn’t want their phone cluttered with tracking stuff, this feels clean. Just be careful if you use cloud saves—I don’t think they encrypt your data strongly, so maybe don’t play on public devices.