Is it just me or does this game have horrible delay on the controls. If I press left it means I want to go left now, not in half a second. This game is nigh on unplayable in this state. Does anybody else have this problem, or know how to fix it?

No problem here. Controls are extremly smooth for me. Maybe you should give us more information. What are the specs of your computer and do you play with gamepad or using the keyboard?

I'm playing on a not particularly high spec laptop, but if a 2d sidescrolling platformer causes performance issues then that's because the game is horrendously optimised, not because of my computer. I can run Half Life 2 with no performance issues on this PC, and could also run Skyrim perfectly at launch (graphical updates have since considerably lowered my framerate).

I also had massive performance issues on a laptop hich have been entirely eradicated leavng the power cable plugged in when I play this game. Maybe this will help you too?

I have this issue as well. My laptop has a GTX 670M with the Intel 5000 HD onboard (i7 processor) but when I run off of battery it seems to cap the FPS at 40 (when running on the Nvidia card). No it doesn't just slow down to 40 - it straight caps it at 40 it is really weird. This occurs while running most games on my laptop while on battery though.

Anyway this causes noticeable input lag. Its bearable but definitely makes the game more difficult so I generally keep it plugged in.

Unfortunately, this does not help. My specs are below.

-Windows 7 x64 SP1
-Intel Core i7 2630qm @ 2.0GHz
-8.00 GB RAM
-nVidia GeForce GTX 460M @ 1535MB RAM

In both moving and attacking there is a noticeable delay of slightly less than .25 secs, making it possible to attack while moving backward because the game doesn't seem to register the input in a timely fashion. Related to this is the issue of dead enemies still doing contact damage, viz. if a player jumps and attacks at the same time, then connects with the enemy and kills the enemy, the player will take damage from the enemy if they are close enough for the jump to allow them to make contact with the dead enemy before it disappears.

The first issue can speak to an issue with the input device, something that is minimal enough to only be noticed by people that are paying close attention. Alternatively, there can be something in the code for the PC version of the game that links the first issue to the second issue, where the game doesn't recognise the change in state, for a lack of a better word, in a timely fashion.

The game isn't unplayable -this is more along the lines of a game error/bad mechanic that the player simply has to work with and can work with- but the game is definitely hamstrung by this set of issues.

Addendum
After doing some quick Google searches it seems that the delay is relegated to the PC version of the game and also affects players using a gamepad, whether official XBox controller of not and wired or wireless or not. At this point it seems to me that, much like with Dark Souls and Dark Souls II, the delay is firmly a software-side issue that can but will not necessarily be affected by the integrity of the input device.

Addendum #2
Changing to Windowed Mode itself was not enough to mitigate the input lag, but lowering the resolution and changing to Windowed Mode did much to mitigate it. Instead of playing in native 1920x1080 I am playing in 1600x900. Issues with the character attacking in the opposite direction as described above still occur with frustrating regularity, however much of the input lag is gone. That this bit remains means that I either need to play with an even lower resolution (which is just...well, fucked) or there is a more meaningful issue with the code that doesn't allow for a workaround.

Laptops often have dynamic power usage settings on by default. They clock down when not under heavy stress, then clock up when it appears necessary.

The problem with this is that some games do not anticipate these ever changing computer specs and start acting weird. Sluggish control input seems like it very well could happen.

I can't by memory direct you how to disable these kind of functions, but you could always try googling your laptop's model or serial combined with the words "dynamic power usage", "cpu throttling" or "power management".

EDIT: On Intel CPUs you can disable "SpeedStep" in your BIOS settings. This one can REALLY mess up your games.

This wasn't an issue that I experienced until I played Skyrim and Shadow Warrior (2013) for the first time last year. These games are both GPU/CPU intensive when it comes to graphics and most-to-all of the slowdown was solved by changing the Power Settings to High Performance. When I look at just how graphically intensive those games are I can see how the things can get a bit bogged down by other, defauly PC settings. I don't doubt that those settings can be causing a problem, but this is something that doesn't make sense to me with Rogue Legacy.

From offline console games as remote in time as Final Fantasy Anthology: Final Fantasy VI (the port destroys playability by introducing lag, including input lag during combat) to Dark Souls/Dark Souls II to, now, Rogue Legacy: when I see an issue like this my first thought is that there is something that was missed during QA, something wrong with the coding.

Given the general state of 'good enough gaming' I don't think that anyone holding the notion of 'game/company issue first, user issue second' can really be blamed for it. Disgusting state-of-affairs is disgusting. That said, the input lag in Rogue Legacy is something that seems to me able to be worked with and can be seen as similar to a game with controls that are too touchy, viz. the lag is certainly noticable and an issue but it is not game-breaking.

Addendum
As I progress in the game the input delay is more and more frustrating. It is a startlingly common occurance to move to the left, tap right and attack only to see my character continue to face left and attack left while moving quickly to the right. It is more and more frustrating to find that my failures in this game are less and less about my skill and recognising how enemie behave than the input delay that makes meaningful interactivity with the game so damnably difficult.

No more perfect example of this is the unavoidable, long down-strike spiked hallway with enemies.

Add this in to the way gold functions and playing this game is needlessly difficult. Having cost-to-upgrade increase is totally fine, but the genuinely random encountering of gold is anything but fine. Yet even this disagreeable bit of design would not be an issue of the input delay didn't exist -then one could come back with 'git gud, brah' and there'd really be nothing to say about it.