Autumn 2025 is shaping up to be the season of the rogue-likes and rogue-lites. There have been numerous releases in these genres over the last couple of months, including the highly anticipated Hades 2 and Mortal Sin – with still more to come. The only thing stopping a complete oversaturation on the market was the postponement of the widely anticipated Slay the Spire 2 early access, which was originally scheduled to start this autumn. It is on a loaded playing field that Lethal Honor: Order of the Apocalypse enters the fray. While it seems to have the odds stacked against it, it is actually managing to carve out its own space in this competitive field. Read on as Cubed3 explains why this is one of the games hardcore fans of the genre should put in their digital shopping cart this October!
It becomes extremely clear right after starting up Lethal Honor: Order of the Apocalypse that this is a game that is not afraid to stand out. The comic book-inspired graphical style hits right from the start and is not something the game is hiding; it even incorporates many comic book elements into the transitions. It also immediately makes clear that this is not a cheerful, light game (in case anyone was in doubt after reading the title), with a story monologue about how this is not a story with a happy ending.
The true nature of the game is also quickly shown in the tutorial. While most of the tutorial is relatively easy and grants access to quite a powerful character and power-ups, it ultimately reveals its true nature. At the end of this tutorial, there is a seemingly unwinnable boss fight. Following the inevitable loss, the game also highlights the severe consequences of such a loss. The demon that was just being fought literally ends up killing the character being controlled, who players have gotten to know throughout narrative flashbacks and snappy dialogues: a man who went from the top of the world to becoming a criminal and losing his family and friends, leaving him alone with nothing left to lose.
How do the other characters react to the death of this man? Basically, ”It’s a real shame, he was the most well-developed agent” – treating the man as a mere weapon. It is crude, it is brutal, and it fits the tone of the rest of the game oh so well. Future agents are not even given what Aaron, the aforementioned man, was. There are no backstories, and they do not even get their own names. They are simply referred to as ”Nameless agents”, causing the player to become increasingly indifferent to their fates as well – and that is probably for the best because they will die like flies in this brutally difficult rogue-lite.
It is so ingenious as it makes the world feel alive and as if everything has consequences, while still early on making the player completely indifferent to the actual stakes at hand. It is really rare to see a video game dare to actually kill characters permanently when they die, a move that brings back memories of Rogue Legacy. While the setting is extremely clever, Lethal Honor: Order of the Apocalypse also manages to have some of the most solid hack and slash combat that has been seen in a while, and it manages to do so in quite ingenious ways.
One of the best aspects of this gameplay is that it recognises that the art style may not be the clearest in the world, so most attacks are clearly telegraphed by a yellow mark, removing the issues that the busy graphical style normally could have given to the combat, and also putting the player in a state of alert. The movement is also buttery smooth, and the attacks weave together beautifully for a fast, action-packed experience.
The only slight problem experienced from a hack and slash perspective is the fact that the game is slightly too dark at the standard setting, making things hard to make out at times, a problem that is easily fixed from the settings menu, where a lot of other things can be tinkered with for a better experience for every player.
The game is also, as mentioned before, brutally difficult. While the tutorial is relatively easy, the player is immediately dropped straight into the deep end of the pool after that point. This might make Lethal Honor: Order of the Apocalypse a game that is maybe not the best choice for more casual hack and slash or rogue-like fans, and it really is not ashamed of that.
In a way, it is really refreshing to see a game being unapologetically difficult from the very start. The fact that the player also unlocks bonuses over time, making future runs easier as they continue playing and collecting materials to improve the base, makes the difficulty slightly easier with each passing run. There are also numerous other risk-versus-reward options that can be chosen throughout a run. In reality, it is quite easy to skip any challenge besides the bosses of each ”floor” if one wants to, leaving them slightly weaker for said boss fights, but this means it takes less time to get there, and perhaps with far more health to play around with.
For masochists, this sort of optional yet well rewarded, brutal difficulty is really appealing. While it is true that those looking for a challenge will love the game, it is easy to see how it is not for everyone, and often due to design choices that do not even benefit hardcore players. The biggest issue is that the game experiences a significant difficulty spike after the mandatory tutorial. Lethal Honor: Order of the Apocalypse is a story-based title; it could have benefited from additional content to ease people into the experience more smoothly. Right now, it feels like suddenly ending up in the special world after finishing 1-1. While really appealing to its crowd, it would not hurt to have some optional, easier story content to make the player feel a sense of progress if they so desired.
The other big problem is with the boss design. They are not actually that difficult once the player has learned how their attacks work, with the optional mini bosses mostly being tougher. However, up until that point, players can expect to die to most moves at least once. In a game where each death sends the player back to the beginning and requires playing for another 20-30 minutes to get another shot, it takes quite a while to defeat each boss. Once done, though, it is far too easy to beat them without taking any damage.
It feels like cheap difficulty meant to pad out the game. Thankfully the gameplay being padded is extremely fun and addictive due to the great hack and slash mechanics, meaning it is a grind the right people will eagerly get into, but it is yet another hurdle that makes the game slightly less enjoyable for the greater masses without really adding anything of value for hardcore players. Cheap ‘gotchas’ are very few people’s definition of fun.
There is one aspect where Lethal Honor: Order of the Apocalypse falls flat, though, and that is how the rogue-lite elements play into the runs. The focus here should really be on the word “lite”. As mentioned earlier, with the way the character dies and a new one is generated from a machine, each run feels very similar to Rogue Legacy; a part of that mechanical equation is missing here. While every character is unique in Rogue Legacy, they are all basically identical clones of one another in this game, which feels a little bit distressing.
Earlier, it was established that Aaron was a person with a past that shaped him, his approach to things, and likely his abilities to a certain degree as well. Future characters are more like stormtroopers than actual characters, though. Every single one of them is nearly identical, not just from the start, which in itself isn’t bad, but they will also be this way at the end of a run.
The biggest issue with Lethal Honor: Order of the Apocalypse is how painfully safe it plays it with the rogue-like elements in themselves. There is no single ability that significantly changes the way the player approaches their playstyle. Sure, certain abilities will be favoured by those of a certain playstyle. This loot-goblin of a reviewer, for example, opted for things that improved the luck elements and provided more loot, and preferred offensive abilities over defensive ones, being someone who loves all-or-nothing builds in single-player games, pushing the skill barrier to the limit. However, nothing really even pushed towards any other direction.
Most rogue-likes and rogue-lites have some power-ups that fundamentally change core aspects of the character, such as how the weapons work or giving other cool secondary gameplay mechanics. There is nothing like that here. Most rewards are just pure number upgrades, and maybe there is a reward or two given as an option in a run that will reward the player very slightly for pushing enemies into walls.
It makes each run meld into one another. While it might serve the narrative purpose of making each agent feel expendable, it does make the risk of losing feel negligible. The largest adrenaline rush of most rogue-likes is that feeling when one has gotten the build of their dreams. They are truly enjoying themselves with a lot of wonderfully fun tools. Maybe not the best, but the ones they have the most fun with. The fear and risk of losing those pushes the player to the edge of their seat. That feeling is missing from Lethal Honor: Order of the Apocalypse, as every single build feels like a carbon copy of one another from a gameplay perspective. Sure, the power ranges widely from run to run, but the way the game is played? It will always be the same.
With that said, Lethal Honor: Order of the Apocalypse is still one of the most fun hack and slash style rogue-lites on the market. The gameplay feels extremely smooth and addictive in a way that makes it easy to enter a meditative state of mind while playing. It is also easy to fall in love with the unique comic book style that flows throughout the entire game in beautiful and atmospheric ways, making this stand out in a genre that is currently quite heavily contested with great releases. For hardcore fans, Lethal Honor: Order of the Apocalypse is definitely one of the strongest titles to put into the shopping cart this season!
