It still blows my mind that a game genre I thought was the most niche of niches, that I played routinely in the early 2000s, has become one of the major influences in modern gaming today.
Shoutout to ADOM, a game I spent countless hours playing.
Shoutout to ADOM, a game I spent countless hours playing.
It's not just "permadeath", there's also the seeding and randomness of each game . (No-one would argue that Super Mario is a rogue-like).
Additionally, and while this is stretched to some degree in games like Hades, there's the discrete-time based nature of the games compared to a game like Isaac for instance.
Then with rogue-lites there's also a layering of meta-progression on top of the game loop progression.
Saying that roguelikes are "just" permadeath is misrepresenting the genre entirely.
And the nature of words is that you might conclude that rogue isn't necessarily the quintessential rogue-like game, but that's okay.
- Random generation
- Resource management
- Exploration
- Single ruleset for players and enemies
- Combat focused
- Multiple viable strategies
- Meta-progression where (most of) the unlocked ships are strictly worse than the starter ship
To elaborate on this, most games tend to have unlocks or game modes that are overpowered, giving you a "victory lap" on subsequent playthroughs. Roguelikes tend to give you interesting unlocks that can still be powerful, but tend to be a lot harder to play than the original. (This is not a hard and fast rule, more of a rough idea.)
That said, I think most players will find it interesting that the weapon they started out with is generally considered to be strongest in the game. One can argue details about Flak I or beams, but the humble Burst Laser II is right up there.
Regarding Engi, they are not particularly difficult. For me, the most problematic were Rock ships which are based on using rockets, and, of course, stealth cruiser without shields.
- Abstract/symbolic representation over realistic/literal graphics
- Systems (without documentation) as a primary aspect of play
- Procedural content generation
- Permadeath
Permadeath is the least novel of the concepts, but it is key to the effectiveness of the others. Permadeath adds drama and stakes to the player's experiments with the game's systems, and adds importance to the results of the procedural content.
So many games are called "roguelike" from so many different genres that the word has lost all meaning.
Near as I can tell, the only thing actually meant by it is "when you lose you start over". By that definition, checkers is a roguelike.
Roguelikes almost always involve building up a character or deck or cards or whatever by acquiring more stuff that changes the gameplay, and it's the loss of this unique thing that you've built that is relevant to "when you lose you start over."
Additionally, roguelikes are almost always heavily randomzied, when you start over you get brand new decisions to make.
"When you lose you start over" certainly is a roguelike characteristic, but what losing means and what starting over means is strongly similar among roguelikes and not similar to losing or starting over in checkers.
The term is self-descriptive. It means "a game like Rogue".
Lately, the term has been latched on to by people who don't know what it means. They latched on to it probably because they thought it sounded cool, or saw a game on Steam with the "roguelike" tag that was fun. Let's examine just how many genres the term encompasses:
Isle of Arrows (https://store.steampowered.com/app/1946970/Isle_of_Arrows/) is a tower defense game. It's tagged as a roguelike.
PlateUp! (https://store.steampowered.com/app/1599600/PlateUp/) is a game about managing a restaurant. It's tagged as a roguelike.
Nimbatus (https://store.steampowered.com/app/383840/Nimbatus__The_Spac...) is a game about building space drones. You can compete against other players or play in sandbox mode. It, SOMEHOW, is tagged as a roguelike.
Brotato (https://store.steampowered.com/app/1942280/Brotato/) is an arena bullet-hell game where the only randomness is what items and upgrades you're offered. It is tagged as a roguelike.
Vampire Survivors (https://store.steampowered.com/app/1794680/Vampire_Survivors...) is another arena bullet-hell game and there is almost no impactful randomness. You have a very high degree of control over what your build looks like. It's tagged as a roguelike.
Slay the Spire (https://store.steampowered.com/app/646570/Slay_the_Spire/) is a deckbuilding game. It's tagged as a roguelike.
Dome Keeper (https://store.steampowered.com/app/1637320/Dome_Keeper/) is a base building game. It's tagged as a roguelike.
The Van Game (https://store.steampowered.com/app/2081860/The_Van_Game/) is a game about traveling to national parks. It's self-described as being inspired by the Oregon Trail. Was the Oregon Trail a roguelike? The Van Game is sure tagged as one.
Another Farm Roguelike (https://store.steampowered.com/app/2116850/Another_Farm_Rogu...) is a farming sim. It even has "roguelike" in the name.
Risk of Rain 2 (https://store.steampowered.com/app/632360/Risk_of_Rain_2/) is a third person shooter without procedural generation. The randomness is in the equipment you find. It is tagged as an action roguelike.
Darkest Dungeon (https://store.steampowered.com/app/262060/Darkest_Dungeon/) is a game with a long progression arc. There is randomness but no main character. In fact, your characters can die and you don't game over. Your entire PARTY can die and THAT isn't game over (https://steamcommunity.com/app/262060/discussions/0/61282346...). It, too, is tagged as a roguelike.
Caves of Qud (https://store.steampowered.com/app/333640/Caves_of_Qud/) is a roguelike. Like, an actual one. It's tagged as roguelike AND it's also tagged as "traditional roguelike". Which is yet another indicator that the term simply doesn't mean anything of significance anymore.
Why does nobody describe action RPGs played in hardcore mode (e.g. Diablo and Path of Exile) as roguelikes? They fit both of your criteria.
How come roguelike is not associated with games like Fortnite or PUBG? Again, both games provide a good deal of randomness and character building.
We have games from nearly a dozen genres that are described as being "like Rogue". Some games have a lot of randomness, some don't. Some games described as roguelike _don't even feature permadeath_. And some very popular games with impactful randomness and character building ARE NOT described as roguelikes.
The term means literally nothing.