After getting a taste of the criminal life in Turnip Boy Commits Tax Evasion, the cheeky root vegetable returns in Turnip Boy Robs A Bank to, uh, rob a bank—multiple times. While the original game was a charming action-adventure title, the sequel takes inspiration from the likes of Enter the Gungeon and The Binding of Isaac to present an addictive roguelike experience with quick, simplistic gameplay loops and generous rewards to keep you coming back for more, despite some pretty severe performance issues on the Switch at launch.
For those who enjoyed Turnip Boy Commits Tax Evasion specifically for its jaunty spin on the classic Zelda formula, the shift over to a roguelike setup might feel a bit odd and offputting at first (and if you’re completely against the genre as a whole, then this isn’t for you). That said, its cute aesthetic and absurd cast of characters allows Turnip Boy Robs A Bank to make the transition relatively seamlessly.
The general gist is that you must navigate a bank filled with quirky characters, various enemy types, and deadly traps to locate cash and treasure before hightailing it out before the timer runs out. The bank itself contains elevators that lead to procedurally generated rooms that might contain precious loot or an entirely new set of characters just waiting to unload a side quest or two.
You’ll start the game with a simple melee weapon, but as you gain more and more money through repeat runs, you can start to increase your loadout with permanent items and weaponry back at base. Weapons found on the go can be recycled via a pair of gun launderers to unlock new additions to your arsenal; it won’t be long before you head into the bank packing assault rifles and grenade launchers, and it makes for some delightfully chaotic encounters.
Boss enemies show up, too, and defeating these will unlock keycards with which you can progress even further into the bank. As you gain more cash, you can purchase handy perks such as increased health, a bigger money bag, and longer timers, while orders via the dodgy ‘greggslist’ online site net you items like a laser pointer, pickaxe, and C4; tools that will prove essential if you’re to bag the most amount of cash possible during your heists.
Unfortunately, while Turnip Boy Robs A Bank is an easy recommendation based on its gameplay and visuals, the Switch version currently struggles significantly under the weight of its fast-paced mechanics and busy encounters. If there are multiple enemies on screen or there happens to be a bunch of trip lasers blocking your path, the frame rate will drop to unacceptable levels for lengthy periods, making large chunks of your heists feel like you’re moving underwater. We were told this would be fixed via a day-one patch, but it's still MIA at launch. If these performance issues were eliminated, we'd have no qualms in telling you to don your best balaclava and get ready to bag some cash.
Comments 17
Can't this frame rate go any faster? The coppers are gainin on us!
6/10 just because of frame rate issues? Doesn't that seem a bit harsh?
You know, unless the game is literally unplayable.
Edit: it isn't, and the game is really fun. I see how people might be a bit mixed on the direction, but cmon, we all know the best part of the first game was the Sunset Express. This game is the best of both worlds! It's an action-adventure game in the skin of a rougelite! Though I will admit, it is a bit strange that a game that boiled down to "Zelda parody with Yoshi commits Tax Fraud inspired plot" has become... Turnip Boy Robs a Bank. Though you COULD say it's a parody of Into the Gungeon.
And now to hope I didn't offend anyone.
Thanks for the review. I liked the action adventure first game so this is an interesting and odd shift of genre. I don't think I'll consider this until patched. In theory that could be on the way soon? Also this genre is a hit and miss one for my likings. I only buy a certain, small select number of games that grab me. Relatively small that is. Cheers for the review as always.
How many crimes is this bloody vegetable going to cause. these titles are getting more ridiculous. lol
The first game also had some frame rate issues. I just played it over the holidays. Since this is a rogue like I’ll be passing on it anyway, but I hope they can fix the frame rate.
I am very disappointed in the gameplay shift. It might be enough for me to skip it :/
Love roguelikes. I will probably get this if they patch the frame rates
This game is NOT a rougelike, its a roguelite. The difference is significant. Hell, this game barely qualifies as a roguelite let alone a roguelike. It's more of an action adventure game with a couple roguelite elements.
The gameplay shift isn't a problem. It's that they didn't shift enough.
The end result is that you never really feel like you are playing the fast paced action roguelite it's trying to be because you are constantly pulled out of the action by TEXT. There are dozens of people to talk to in the first few rooms alone. In your first hour of gameplay you will encounter more quest givers then enemies. And because it's an action roguelite at it's gameplay core, the quests are completely remedial "do this thing you were going to do anywhere, kill the monster you were going to kill anyways, and loot this item you were going to loot anyways" nonsense that add little to the experience.
If they completely removed the adventure game elements, the core gun play is actually good enough that it would make a game I would recommend. In the current state though ... I mean, it's not a "hard pass", but there are much better entries in the genre.
@JackieCMarlow
While you're absolute correct, even at it's peak the number of people following IRDC was in the 1,000s or low 10,000s and even they don't agree on a actual definition. The Berlin interpretation in the most common, but nowhere near universally accepted.
As such, the distention between roguelike and roguelite is, from a language standpoint, jargon AT BEST. I personally use it because I'm aware of it and like to be as accurate as possible, but it's just not reasonable to expect media written for general audiences to do so.
Roguelike means procedural generation levels and some form of run over run progression in common usage. A word literally means what most people think it means, not what it "should" mean or did mean to a group at some point in time.
See what I did there?
By all means, keep fighting the good fight! I call people out on terms like "beg the question" and "confirmation bias", but in those cases it's an academic term understood by 100s of millions of people to have a clearly defined definition that's been unchanged for 100s of years being misused by a small percentage of English speakers. Trying to get 10s of millions of people who already have decided what roguelike means to change that to what a small (now largely defunct) group defines it as and was only in usage for a decade? Not the hill I would want to die on.
Can't wait for the sequel, "Turnip Boy Uses Cryptocurrency to Traffick Humans".
@Samalik is this what happens when veggie tales has a mid-life crisis and goes on a crime spree?
I actually really love rogue design as a whole, but this game specifically feels like the type where it's added to cut down on design work.
Love to hear here in the comments that this is actually a roguelite and even then only partially so, will eventually get it then and fingers crossed they'll improve the performance through patches (even though apparently it's still playable even as is)!
Do y'all really like the number 6 or something? Of the last 3 previous reviews I've read (with games totally unrelated to each other), the magic rating number seems to be 6. Weird coincidence.
It's all fun and games until Turnip Boy Performs an Act of Terrorism.
It's had some updates, have they fixed the performance issues?
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