Genre: Action RPG
Developer: Rocketcat Games
Publisher: Rocketcat Games

Wayward Souls' developers say that they were influenced by "Secret of Mana", and while the 3/4 overhead perspective and character sprites are similar in style, the stages are more like those in Diablo, with faux dynamic lighting and a moody ambiance. There isn't a ton of variety, although there are some nifty OpenGL effects, and impressively large sprites, such as the forge fire.

The music in this title sounds like it came from Minecraft, with its artsy, "new age progressive" style. It's not terrible to listen to, but it's so unremarkable that it's essentially just background filler noise. Sound effects are minimal, but work well enough.

The game plays like a run-of-the-mill, 3/4 perspective action roguelike, where the player selects his character class-- classes which fill the basic RPG archtypes-- then travels between randomly-generated rooms "kiting" various enemies in an attempt to make it to the next floor. The dungeon can be left at any time, at which point acquired gold can be used to level up any one of the characters' attributes.

Search for "indie snes roguelike", and laugh at the number of hits you get-- Wayward Souls is about the least ambitious, least creative game on the planet. It differentiates itself from the masses of similar titles by having very solid core movement and combat-- especially with an HID gamepad, like the Moga Pro-- and more-interesting-than-average dungeon generation. It even has some interesting writing, delivered via "Killing Time" or "The 7th Guest"-style ghosts!