The developer of Rogue Legacy has officially released its source code 'in the pursuit of sharing knowledge'

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Legacy secured.

A knight battling a giant eye boss in Rogue Legacy.
(Image credit: Cellar Door Games)

More than 10 years after its release, Rogue Legacy has proven itself one of the most aptly named games of all time. With its incremental progress across countless generations of dyslexic, incontinent knight-children, the 2D roguelite metroidvania was such a frontrunner of the modern indie roguelite boom that our coverage of its 2013 release had to define "rogue-lite" in its first paragraph. Now, Rogue Legacy developer Cellar Door Games is securing its legacy all over again by officially releasing the game's source code.

Cellar Door announced the source code release yesterday on X. "It's been over 10 years since we released Rogue Legacy 1," Cellar door said, causing a small jolt of existential panic for any readers who were forced to acknowledge the dire, dauntless march of time. "And in the pursuit of sharing knowledge, we are officially releasing the source code to the public."

The Rogue Legacy 1 source code repository on github is being managed and maintained by Linux porter and FNA developer Ethan Lee, who's previously contributed to the source code releases for VVVVVV and Flotilla. Released under a custom license, the code is free to download and compile for any personal and non-commercial use.

Releasing a game's source code is one of the more admirable things an indie developer can do with their software. Game development is at times described as a black box; at others, it's compared to a kind of witchcraft. When it's a miracle that any game is ever made, unveiling the arcane practices involved in making them playable is a gift for fellow practitioners and hopeful neophytes alike.

Likewise, a public source code release is a huge benefit for game archivists. By making Rogue Legacy's code freely available, Cellar Door helps to ensure that the game remains accessible regardless of what digital storefronts might close or how its IP might change hands in the future.

Of course, the source code release only includes code; it doesn't include any of Rogue Legacy's art or music assets, so you'll still have to buy a copy to play it. If we're lucky, maybe we'll see a Rogue Legacy 2 source code release once another decade passes.

Lincoln Carpenter
Lincoln Carpenter
News Writer

Lincoln has been writing about games for 12 years—unless you include the essays about procedural storytelling in Dwarf Fortress he convinced his college professors to accept. Leveraging the brainworms from a youth spent in World of Warcraft to write for sites like Waypoint, Polygon, and Fanbyte, Lincoln spent three years freelancing for PC Gamer before joining on as a full-time News Writer in 2024, bringing an expertise in Caves of Qud bird diplomacy, getting sons killed in Crusader Kings, and hitting dinosaurs with hammers in Monster Hunter.