What is Roguelike? Exploring the Features and History of This Popular Game Genre
Welcome! In this article, we’ll discuss a genre particularly favored by independent game developers in recent years, even attracting attention from Sony at one point: Roguelike. What is Roguelike? What are the key features of these games? If you’re curious about the answers, you’ve come to the right place. Let’s start with the genre’s history and then explore its defining characteristics.
# Roguelike Explained
The Roguelike genre blends RPG (Role-Playing Game) and dungeon crawler elements. In simple terms, it’s a highly replayable genre where players lose all progress upon defeat. The blueprint for this genre was established in 2008 during the “International Roguelike Development Conference,” and it was named the “Berlin Interpretation.”
The Berlin Interpretation (2008 International Roguelike Development Conference)
According to the Berlin Interpretation, Roguelike games should possess the following features:
* Random Environment Generation: The game environment is randomly generated each playthrough.
* Permadeath: Players lose all progress upon death, encouraging careful play and risk assessment.
* Turn-Based: Each player command corresponds to an action. The game isn’t time-sensitive, allowing time to plan actions.
* Grid-Based: The game is built on a grid of uniform tiles. Each unit, regardless of size, occupies one tile.
* Non-Modal: Movement, combat, and other actions occur in the same mode. There are no separate battle screens or menus.
* Complexity: The game should be complex enough that specific goals can be achieved through various means. Item properties and interactions with enemies are significant.
* Resource Management: Players must manage limited resources and consider the uses for newly acquired resources.
* Hack’n Slash: Roguelike games involve a considerable amount of monster slaying. The game embraces a “player versus world” structure. Enemies typically don’t interact with each other (no diplomacy or alliances).
* Exploration: Players must carefully explore dungeons. Each restart should offer a new discovery experience.
The 2008 conference also stated that roguelike games should be based on games like ADOM (Ancient Domains of Mystery, 1994), Angband (1993), Crawl (Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup, 2006), Nethack (1987), and Rogue (1980).
This interpretation, debated extensively among players, is now somewhat outdated. In a time where it’s difficult to sharply define game genres, modern roguelike games still manage to incorporate some of these features.
Who is the “Father” of Roguelike Games?
The Roguelike genre takes its name from Rogue, a 1980 text-based RPG and dungeon crawler. This ASCII-based game could be played on computer terminals at the time. It later appeared on platforms like Amiga, Amstrad CPC, Atari 8-bit, Atari ST, Commodore 64, and even Nintendo Switch. According to the Berlin Interpretation, this game forms one of the foundations of the genre. While the term “Rogue-like” is often used, it doesn’t simply denote similarity to Rogue; it’s the specific name of the genre. The original game is still available on Steam.
# The Rise of Roguelite
Although disagreements and ambiguities surround the genre, Roguelike games generally adhere to their core formula. This led to the emergence of a subgenre known as “rogue-lite.” An excellent example of a Roguelite game is Hades, developed by Supergiant Games, and its sequel, Hades 2.
Roguelite vs. Roguelike: What’s the Difference?
While genres are often intertwined today, subtle differences exist between Roguelike and Roguelite. Essentially, roguelike games that don’t fully comply with the Berlin Interpretation fall into the Roguelite category. As you’ve noticed, the conference-defined template has strict rules. Roguelite is a role-playing game genre that expands the scope, placing less emphasis on those hard lines.
Spelunky is regarded as one of the pioneers of the roguelite genre.
Because Spelunky was released shortly after the Berlin Interpretation, it is cited as a major contribution to the rise of the roguelite genre. It was followed by The Binding of Isaac (2011), Rogue Legacy (2012), and FTL: Faster Than Light (2012). Unlike the turn-based, grid-based constraints of Roguelike games, these are platformer games with core genre features.
While all roguelike and roguelite games are, at some level, role-playing games, they don’t all completely fit that definition. The RPG genre has its rules, and Rogue-like games often don’t fully meet those requirements.
# Modern Roguelike and Roguelite Games
Perhaps only a few have played the original Rogue or pre-PC & console era games. Looking at the general visitor profile of our site, we think you’re more interested in modern games than older ones. Therefore, we have compiled a list of modern roguelike and roguelite games (which are now intertwined). If you are interested in the genre, you can check out the productions below.
* Returnal, 2021, Housemarque Games
* Dead Cells, 2017, Motion Twin
* Hades, 2018, Supergiant Games
* Vampire Survivors, 2021, Poncle
* Balatro, 2024, LocalThunk
* Darkest Dungeon 2, 2021, Red Hook Studios
* FTL: Faster Than Light, 2012, Subset Games
* Caves of Qud, 2015, Freehold Games
* Risk of Rain 2, 2020, Hopoo Games
* Slay The Spire, 2019, Mega Crit
* Inscryption, 2021, Daniel Mullins Games
* Noita, 2019, Nolla Games
* Loop Hero, 2021, Four Quarters
* Enter the Gungeon, 2016, Dodge Roll
* The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth, 2014, Edmund McMillen & Nicalis Inc.
* Hades 2, 2024, Supergiant Games
Of course, the roguelike game library is vast. We should note that we have included the games that are considered the best, which you can try if you are new to the genre. You can also read our Hades 2 Early Access review before starting the game.
We have answered all the questions such as what is Roguelike, what kind of genre it is and which are the outstanding games. If you still have questions, you can share them with us in the comments section. We wish everyone good games in advance!