Update [Thu 1st Aug, 2024 13:10 BST]: We've received the following response from Pixel Games UK, indicating that, yes, there is a patch in the works:
We are aware of this issue and are working to address it in a future update, which we hope to release soon. We’d like to thank the community for alerting us to the issue and ask them to please keep an eye on our social media channels for any news.
So, if you've bought the game and have hit a wall, looks like you'll have to sit tight for now - but a fix is coming.

Original Story [Tue 30th Jul, 2024 16:30 BST]: Epyx Rogue, the game that effectively helped coin the term 'roguelike', is now available on the Nintendo Switch eShop for a paltry £7.99 / $7.99, and while this would normally be cause for celebration, it seems as though some players have noticed a severe bug that effectively soft-locks the game.
To start with the positive, however, Rogue is a remarkable game that, if the opening paragraph didn't give it away, had a massive influence on the medium after its launch in the '80s. An Amiga port launched in 1986 and this version of the Switch seems to be a direct port of that specific release.
Here's a look at the official description:
"In the 1980s a computer game emerged that changed the world of fantasy gaming forever. Randomly generated rooms meant that each journey into the infamous Dungeons of Doom was unique. The potent combination of random generation with perma-death proved to be intoxicating, and the game was so influential it spawned an entire genre: 'Rogue-likes'.
"Now you too can experience the thrill of dungeon crawling for the fabled Amulet of Yendor in this pioneering game. Delve deep into this recreation of the original graphical port of Rogue by strategy game giants Epyx, that replaced the earlier text-based interface with pixel-art for the first time."
However, players have noted that an item within the game - the Scroll of Wild Magic - soft-locks the experience due to an inability from the player to actually interact with it. You're presented with two options with the scroll: either read it or leave it alone, but you can't choose either of them.
The theory here is that because the original Amiga version required the use of a mouse, Publisher Pixel Games UK neglected to offer any feasible way of interacting with the dialog box on the Switch, thus creating a game-breaking bug.
We've reached out to Pixel Games UK to determine whether the issue is known and if a fix is in the works, but we have yet to receive a response at the time of writing. We'll let you know of any updates as and when we hear more.
Have you tried Epyx Rogue on Switch? Did you encounter the aforementioned bug? Let us know with a comment in the ususal place.
Comments 26
What if you remove the Switch from the dock and touch the option? Sure it would be inelegant, but it might work.
I hope they get this fixed. I quite like what Pixel Games seem to be trying to do and they have put a few C64 games on the Switch. I miss the VC C64 days - great trips diwn memory lane, many of which held up surprisingly well (oh, abd Mad Doctor if you can please)
I haven't encountered this yet, but I've enjoyed the port so far.
'because the original Amiga version required the use of a mouse, Publisher Pixel Games UK neglected to offer any feasible way of interacting with the dialog box on the Switch, thus creating a game-breaking bug'
modern problems require modern solutions

As a pretty recent convert to roguelikes as a genre, I've always wanted to give the one that basically started it all a go at some point so seeing such an obvious issue get through testing is a damn shame. Hopefully it'll get fixed sooner rather than later but yeah: super bizarre oversight for sure.
Wow, this brings me back. Played a DOS version where the rogue was an yellow smiling face and monsters were just letters of the alphabet. I played it on one of the computers at the place my mom worked at back then in the 80s. Some good early gaming memories there.
So much for quality testing
Interesting what's seemingly the cause of this softlock but anyway, hope it will be fixed sooner rather than later in general and also personally as I might be interested in eventually getting this to give Rogue a try myself and even more so considering its low starting price!
I've got about $10 worth of gold points sitting around from digital code deals (400 points from Hyrule Warriors Age of Calamity + Expansion Pass from Gamestop for $13 price glitch alone) and was heavily considering dumping them on this but now I'm glad I waited.
I think I would've preferred the ascii version... more room for imagination. But thar said, I did always install a graphics pack for Dwarf Fortress... I know, terrible...
@Daniel36I played some text based combat game back in the DOS days. I cannot remember the name, maybe Empire? IDK. It really did let you strict your imagination of what all the text characters represented. But, there was something a little more magical about the crude graphics that push my imagination a little of what it was like in that dungeon (or whatever location). Guess it would have been asking too much to have a toggle between text and pixel graphics.
I bought this game shortly after it was released , fell in love with it very quickly, and then this bug brought total ruin to my enjoyment. I only like playing in Iron Rogue mode, so i haven’t touched the game after the Scroll of Wild Magic brought my most successful run to its knees.
I messaged Pixel Games UK via email and on X last week.
So happy Nintendo Life ran this article and contacted the devs as well! Thank you, NL and Ollie!!
Wait, doesn't the Switch support USB mice? Has anyone tried that?
I was hyped to add this to my wish list so I can experience the game that launched the subgenre to see if I could learn to like Rogue-likes more, but this doesn't help. I hope they patch it up.
EDIT: OK, so a fix is inbound. Good. By the time I get it, it should be addressed.
This is cool, but while we’re on the subject of Epyx, could we get a Switch port of Jumpman?
(I’m still bummed the North American Wii Virtual Console never got Commodore 64 games.)
Oh wow, now there's a port I did not see coming.
Interesting that they went with the Amiga port, rather than the Atari ST one.
Never played this before and was excited to check out the trailer. I kind liked the voice overs, but the trailer just didn't tell me much or get me hyped.
it's unbelievable this is a game, this is could be released on Odyssey 2 and sure could be running smooth there.
This scummy practise is getting all too common in the gaming industry.
They know it doesn't work so stop selling it, it's really simple.
Good news! Thanks for the update!
@Divide_and_Wander
That's awesome. I also have fond memories of games like that (football that was X's and O's and text only, RPG's that were text and still pictures. Had to use the ol' imagination to go along with it. Good stuff!
I didn't know there was a version of Rogue on Switch
I might just get it for the fun of it.
Hmmm...I wonder if there is any chance of seeing NetHack?
...I know it's an open-source "fangame" of sorts based on Rogue, but it was always my favourite of these old-style Roguelike games.
What? 😊 I’ve heard people talk about this game nearly forever (Roguelike, Roguelite) and now it’s available on Switch? That’s super good.
What's Rogue like? I've never heard of it despite its "legendary" status. Perhaps a legend of fake creation.
@HalBailman What delightful word play.
Rogue is turnbased in a sense that when you move 1 square, everyone else moves 1 square. So you have time to think about what to do next.
It has randomized everything. So you never know what you will find while delving. And dead is dead. Start over.
Very old style gaming. An acquired taste these days. If you want to know if you like this type of game, try Pixel Dungeon on mobile. Free, and you can see if you like that. It's very close to Rogue in terms of gameplay.
So this is where Roguelike came from! Now I know
@Olliemar28 Just noticed the game got an update, and i had a save file of my last run where the bug appeared, and it is now fixed. The dev has added an option to select to use or not use the scroll via the A and B buttons respectively.
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