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The Roguelike/lite Thread. A Serious Case of Deja-vu.

F

Ferrio

Banned
What is a Roguelike?

Canned Wikipedia Entry said:
Roguelike is a subgenre of role-playing video games, characterized by procedural level generation, turn-based gameplay, tile-based graphics, permanent death, and typically based on a high fantasy narrative setting. In more recent years, new variations of roguelikes incorporating other gameplay genres, thematic elements and graphical styles have become popular, and are sometimes called "roguelike-like", "rogue-lite" or "procedural death labyrinths" to reflect the variation from titles which mimic the gameplay of traditional roguelikes more faithfully.
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Though the definition is contested among gamers, for the sake of this thread any game that fulfills those above definitions is suitable. Basically if it has random dungeons and permadeath, it probably fits.

Why does this thread exist?

There's been a huge surge of roguelike games for awhile now, but there's no where really on GAF to talk about them except maybe the indie thread. A few titles do get their own threads, but most are indie titles and can easily fly under the radar. I figured we could use an all encompassing thread for people to suggest and talk about them. I'm not going to type up a huge OT as much as I'd love to because there's simply just too many games out there for me to cover by myself adequately. Instead I'm just going to try and post information on games I've had personal experiences with, and I'm hoping others do the same to fill this thread up. Hopefully we can build the thread up with a lot of game recommendations and discussions about them.

So in short. Recommend Roguelike/lite games that haven't been covered in this thread yet and discuss the ones that already have.
 
F

Ferrio

Banned
Ziggurat
ordhhk4.jpg


Price: $14.99.
Genre: FPS/Roguelite
Released: October 23 2014
Platforms: PC/Mac/Linux.
Steam Page: http://store.steampowered.com/app/308420/

So I recently picked this up due to a suggestion from a random person in Twitch chat. It has been out for awhile, and partly the reason I created this thread. It's such a good game, and I didn't even know it existed and figured it and games like it need some more representation on this board.

The premise is simple, you're a wizard and you must navigate all the levels of the Ziggurat in order to be promoted to the highest class of wizard. Each level you're given a random dungeon layout that you must navigate room by room, defeating all the monsters along the way. Once you've obtained a portal key for the level, you can unlock the boss fight which will allow you to continue to the next level if you're victorious. Along the way you'll gain experience to level up and gain new random perks that modify your character. The gameplay itself is an FPS and has a very Unreal feeling to it. There are 4 weapon types in the game, wand, spellbook, staff, and alchemy weapon and each have a primary and secondary fire mode. You can only have one of each weapon type at a time, meaning you can have up to 4 weapons at any one time. Each weapon type uses it's own mana pool (ammo) that you must manage else you might wind up in a room with just your crappy default weapon. There's also amulets that you can pick up that do triggered abilities, as well as temporary powerups/powerdowns you can gain from praying/sacrificing to the gods. There's also special rooms like trap rooms, or platforming rooms that can give you more items if you navigate them without dying.

The game feels like it takes some cues from Binding of Isaac, due to the champion enemies, random curses, requirement to clear rooms, and hidden secret rooms. Of course it plays completely different, like if Harry Potter decided to play some Unreal. There's also tons of unlocks, that include characters, items, and perks. After each run you'll usually get prompted with the new things you've unlocked, and based on the item list in the gallery...there's a lot of them.

So far the farthest I've got down to was level 5 where I met a pretty humiliating defeat to the boss there. Think I knew what I did wrong there, so hopefully I can get past it next time if he happens to show up.

Frost Spellbook weapon.
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Damn carrot monsters like to rush your ass.
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Level up perks.
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Boss Time
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Eolz

Eolz

Member
Bookmarking this thread to post a bit later (I'm more of a roguelike than roguelite guy).

Heard of Ziggurat but never tried it, thanks for the recommendation.
 
R

rybrad

Member
Dungeonmans is a very awesome rogue-like that can be great for newcomers to the genre and veterans alike. While it doesn't have insane depth, it is a ton of fun to play and I highly recommend it. The game also features constant progression even if you die but you can eschew those benefits and start a fresh run each time.

On top of all that, the dev is a really awesome guy that streams while working on updates to the game a couple times a week.

I can write up some more details later if people are interested.

Dungeonmans $14.99 (Steam)
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Edit: What I said back in the Indie thread several months ago:
rybrad said:
It is definitely not as deep as something like Tales of Maj'Eyal but has enough complexity to be interesting for players experienced with the genre while being (somewhat) welcoming for new players. It has all the staples you would expect like unidentified potions/scrolls, varied classes/skills, lots of death, plenty of loot to find and turn-based combat. The UI is shaping up to be MUCH better than other roguelikes though which is always a big gripe for me; I think bad UI adds faux complexity in a lot of cases.

The comparison to Rogue Legacy I mentioned before is one of the things that really sets the game apart. You find various objects throughout the world from tough monsters that allow you to upgrade your Academy. Upgrading your Academy let's you do things like have all Tier 1 potions identified when you find them, provide extra stat points, and so on. All of these upgrades can be accessed immediately on a new character so you keep making progress or you can eschew them and just head out into the world.

The game also features an overworld where you travel between dungeons and towns. It adds variety to the game and makes the game feel more interesting rather than just jumping straight into the dungeon every run.

As for it feeling like a complete game, it still has a couple months to go I would say. There is still a ton of balancing/polishing happening, features being implemented, art being created and so on. You can check out the current bug list and roadmap with the status of everything here. The dev has been really good about updates and progress so I have no worries about this one getting done and being an even better game post-Early Access.
Click to expand...
 
J

JumpJeff84

Member
I kinda dig 'Sword of the Stars: The Pit' on Steam.

It's a typical rogue-like, but it's kinda sci-fi in nature. It's got little spacemen and guns instead of swords and shields. It's got a very cartoony artstyle. It'd work very well on a portable, too bad there's no Vita version.

I'm on my phone, otherwise I'd post pics.
 
C

Corto

Member
For almost 2 years now that these kind of games are my favorites. They press just the right buttons on my brain. The randomness, the usual quick death/restart cycle and varied characters special abilities/powers with many items to alter the way you play are what make them so. And I can't get enough of them. Try Nuclear Throne if you haven't already. Absolutely fantastic game, even in its current early access state.

I have Ziggurat and played it for a few minutes and liked it. I'll need though to invest more time on it to unlock different characters and get good at it.

Tales of Maj'eyal is also a great roguelike, I only played 5-6 hours of it and only scratched the surface of it though.
 
SerTapTap

SerTapTap

Member
One Way Heroics $3.50 (Steam)
Somewhat standard roguelike gameplay-wise except instead of dungeons it's set on a JRPG style world map that slowly scrolls to the right (with or without you). You have to get strong while traveling to beat the final boss, meanwhile managing "time" so the screen scrolling doesn't kill you. Has good modes/features for beginning players. Has lots of unlocks for player class/perks, and a limited space to save items for your next run.

ss_6aa6d6c492d7be18146c73fb87f37a76380915f7.600x338.jpg
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F

Ferrio

Banned
Although I've made Necrodancer OT, it kinda died out with not much if any discussion really so it's probably a better fit for this thread. The game has also received a ton of updates since then, and they've reclassified the game as being in Beta at this time.

VBhcGof.jpg


Price: $14.99
Genre: Rhythm Roguelike
Platform: Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X, Linux
Steam Page http://store.steampowered.com/app/247080/

Early Access Warning: Necrodancer is currently being released under Early Access, This means the game is considered incomplete by the developers, and may contain bugs and unimplemented features. That being said, the game is way more feature complete that lots of early access games.

Crypt of the NecroDancer is a top-down 2D dungeon crawler in which the player controls the heroine, Cadence, to explore several levels of an underground dungeon. Players can manipulate Cadence by using either a Dance Dance Revolution pad, a mouse and keyboard, or a gamepad. Moving and fighting are both only possible if keys are pressed in accordance with the beat of the currently playing game music, and players will have the capability to play the game using their own music.

Navigate Cadence through the Dungeon by clicking movement keys/buttons/pads in accordance with the music's rhythm. Normally only one action can be performed per beat, though there are items that can modify this behavior. As with moving, you can only attack a monster to the music's beat. Every monster killed without missing a single beat adds to the "groove chain" and acts as multiplier to any gold you pick up while the chain is active. Monsters differ in hits needed to kill, the damage they cause and their movement and attack behavior. Adapting to each monster's patterns while keeping your groove chain active is the key to staying victorious throughout the game.

0pyEV9w.gif


Overall even though this is early access this is a *great* game with an amazing soundtrack by Danny Baranowsky (He did the original Binding of Isaac soundtrack)

Wo9fqud.jpg
zkvpQOv.jpg

lA6g9iS.jpg
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S

sssstententen

Member
I'm a huge roguelike fan, my all time favorites would definitely be IVAN and Dungen Crawl Stone Soup. Thousands of hours dumped into them.

Not 100% rogue but I've been playing hardcore Bloodlines Path of Exile, probably the closest I'll get to a multiplayer roguelike. Its really fantastic for anyone who wants to scratch the itch but play with friends.
 
F

Ferrio

Banned
Whoompthereitis said:
I kinda dig 'Sword of the Stars: The Pit' on Steam.

It's a typical rogue-like, but it's kinda sci-fi in nature. It's got little spacemen and guns instead of swords and shields. It's got a very cartoony artstyle. It'd work very well on a portable, too bad there's no Vita version.

I'm on my phone, otherwise I'd post pics.
Click to expand...

I've watched Lethalfrag play it, it intimidates the shit outta me.
 
F

Flunkie

Banned
The first post is so perfect. I picked up Ziggurat when it was on sale last week and the game is a gem. Perfect podcast game.
 
S

Stoze

Member
Definitely gonna pick up Ziggurat sometime this year, looks like a combination of Issac and Tower of Guns.
 
C

Corto

Member
Ferrio said:
I've watched Lethalfrag play it, it intimidates the shit outta me.
Click to expand...

No need to, really. Just like every other game of this genre you really see a very notable positive feedback from the time you invest in the game. Throw time in, get better at the game or get better equipment/characters/abilities that make the game easier or less challenging. Rinse and repeat. hehehe
 
R

rockmanjoe

Member
Shiren the Wanderer (DS or SFC) is one of my favorite games ever. Amazing game and it's also perfect for beginners to the genre.

Also second the TOME recommendation.
 
F

flowsnake

Member
I just picked up Dungeon of the Endless and I have no idea what I'm doing. I only just realized that picking up the crystal is a thing you can do after playing 3 or 4 games...
 
F

Ferrio

Banned
flowsnake said:
I just picked up Dungeon of the Endless and I have no idea what I'm doing. I only just realized that picking up the crystal is a thing you can do after playing 3 or 4 games...
Click to expand...

Ya interesting looking game. Watched Dick Hammer play it. He likes to describes it as if FTL made sweet loving to a tower defense game.
 
C

Corto

Member
flowsnake said:
I just picked up Dungeon of the Endless and I have no idea what I'm doing. I only just realized that picking up the crystal is a thing you can do after playing 3 or 4 games...
Click to expand...

YES. Forgot about it. Wonderful game too. Use that spacebar to pause at will and take a breather now and then to rethink and regroup.
 
Facism

Facism

Member
dungeon of the endless is brilliant. I backed it from the start and have spunked 89 hours into it since :eek:
 
F

Fragamemnon

Member
jaHZW6S.jpg


I love me The Pit. It's a game about resource management more than anything else-it's you versus scarcity at all times. Everything revolves around making efficient use of your items, food, weapons, armor, and equipment. Punishment comes at the expense of these resources more so than outright death, and the game is good at "cornering" the player , with the best failed runs ending in a blaze of starvation, empty bullet chambers, and shredded armor, and some successful runs being brought back from the brink in spectacular fashion due to the player doing what it takes to survive.

It's come a very long way since it was released and now there are 10 classes with very diverse play styles, tons of recipes (use the wiki, don't grind out the messages!), and an easy mode that is forgiving, a normal mode that is harsh yet very fair, and a hard/insane mode for people that really love to hate themselves.

Don't get me wrong, I love me some TOME and DCSS. Darkgod's work in TOME is stunningly progressive for the genre and he's leading the path in a lot of ways for playability and accessibility of traditional roguelikes. DCSS is the ne plus ultra of the traditional formula. I play both and enjoy them quite a bit.

The Pit on hard is my favorite roguelike experience, though. Bar none. Smooth interface, challenging gameplay, brutal RNG trolling, and scarcity-driven play have kept me coming back time and time again.

edit: Kerberos has heavily hinted a mobile version sometime this year. There should be new DLC dropping sometime this week with a 11th (not including the secret character!) new character, The Lich.
 
D

Damaniel

Banned
While not everyone's cup of tea, I've always been a huge fan of the original, vanilla Angband (and NPPAngband, when it was still being maintained). I even managed to finish it once, which is probably my proudest achievement in gaming.

I bought Ziggurat during the last Steam sale and I've had a bit of fun with it (only a couple hours of play so far, but that's more than I normally play just about any game these days). Dungeonmans looks like plenty of fun too; I'm going to grab that one when I get home.

(I can also get into some heated debate as to roguelikes that I find highly overrated. The biggest, by far, is Nethack. I don't understand the love for that game at all. I'm not a fan of ToME either. That one I can't explain so much. It's very nice looking and the gameplay is decent, but I just can't get into it.)
 
J

jblank83

Member
Damaniel said:
While not everyone's cup of tea, I've always been a huge fan of the original, vanilla Angband (and NPPAngband, when it was still being maintained). I even managed to finish it once, which is probably my proudest achievement in gaming.
Click to expand...

Angband is fantastic, and extraordinarily frustrating. It's the original "Roguelike". One of the more complex, satisfying Rogue clones.
 
Z

Zanosuke

Member
Ferrio said:
Crypt of the Necrodancer
Click to expand...

.

I bought this game a few weeks ago because of your thread and man, it's really amazing. Just arrived to zone 2 : - )


  • Easy controls
  • Superb music
  • Really good mix of rhythm and roguelike-lite
  • Got that "one more try" feel to it
  • Love those shopkeepers
  • Deeper than I originally thought (hidden secrets, shrines ect)

Early access trailer from last summer (currently in beta and as far as I can tell, really polished):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Al8TlAtLu2Y
.
 
F

Faabulous

Member
Damaniel said:
While not everyone's cup of tea, I've always been a huge fan of the original, vanilla Angband (and NPPAngband, when it was still being maintained). I even managed to finish it once, which is probably my proudest achievement in gaming.
Click to expand...

Gosh, I hate Angband so hard. I really wanted to love that game, but it life ADOM is SO spoiler dependant that I get burned out everytime I try. It's exactly the opposite of my favorites (TOME and DCSS) where you don't need spoilers at all to complete them.
IMO Angband is kind of an old thing that's now made irrelevant by it's more modern counterparts.
 
F

FlyingSaucer

Banned
Suscribed.

I have this weird fascination of an idea for a rogue-like which instead of dungeons, would procedurally generate characters, plot, mysteries, puzzles, and intrigues for the player to resolve as some kind of infinite storytelling machine, but so far, I've just succeded at integrating an artemis entity system in java slick and render crude maps with the Dwarf Fortress tileset for the player avatar to walk in.

One day.
 
K

Knurek

Member
FlyingSaucer said:
Suscribed.

I have this weird fascination of an idea for a rogue-like which instead of dungeons, would procedurally generate characters, plot, mysteries, puzzles, and intrigues for the player to resolve as some kind of infinite storytelling machine, but so far, I've just succeded at integrating an artemis entity system in java slick and render crude maps with the Dwarf Fortress tileset for the player avatar to walk in.

One day.
Click to expand...

You mean something like The Inquisitor?
 
V

Volodja

Member
Just like in the last roguelike thread I'm just gonna echo the "PLAY TALES OF MAJ'EYAL, DAMNIT!"
I've taken a bit of a break right now maybe waiting for 1.3.

I'm also waiting for the Steam version of ADOM to get back to it, been a long while since I last played it and all the stuff I knew I have forgotten by now.
 
T

tariniel

Member
I've been wanting to play something like Binding of Isaac but with 3rd person combat, like Dark Souls or Devil May Cry, etc. Does such a thing exist?

The thing I really like of BoI is finding the random items and upgrades etc, but I don't much care for its gameplay/combat.
 
K

kinaesthete

Member
Good timing with this thread considering 868-HACK just released on Steam. It came out on iOS a couple years ago and got a criminal lack of attention because of that. It's a fantastic game that eschews a lot of common tropes that can drag other roguelikes down (grinding, RPG elements, large numbers, etc) in favor of a minimalist set of rules and abilities. It has a deep scoring game with leaderboards if you're into that kind of thing too.

tariniel said:
I've been wanting to play something like Binding of Isaac but with 3rd person combat, like Dark Souls or Devil May Cry, etc. Does such a thing exist?

The thing I really like of BoI is finding the random items and upgrades etc, but I don't much care for its gameplay/combat.
Click to expand...

It isn't done yet but you might want to check out Heart & Slash. The extremely early demo build I played (not the Early Access version) was pretty rough but hopefully that won't be an indicator of the final quality. Pretty much the exact genre you're looking for though.
 
T

TheSpoonyBard

Neo Member
Any iOS rougelikes out there (besides FTL)?

Honestly, I think rougelikes are far better suited for mobile devices because of how they play.
 
F

Faabulous

Member
TheSpoonyBard said:
Any iOS rougelikes out there (besides FTL)?

Honestly, I think rougelikes are far better suited for mobile devices because of how they play.
Click to expand...

Hoplite, 868-HACK, 100 Rogues and Pixel Dungeon are the traditional roguelikes worth your time on iOS, do check them out, mainly Pixel Dungeon and Hoplite, those 2 rock. For games with roguelike elements, but not stritcly roguelikes someone else can help you.

About them beign suited for mobile, I strongly disagree. The best roguelikes in my opinion have a complexity that would make them very clumsy to play on touch-screen only mobile devices, even with controllers they are hella awkward. IMO the only true way to play something like DCSS is with a keyboard.

tariniel said:
I've been wanting to play something like Binding of Isaac but with 3rd person combat, like Dark Souls or Devil May Cry, etc. Does such a thing exist?

The thing I really like of BoI is finding the random items and upgrades etc, but I don't much care for its gameplay/combat.
Click to expand...

Try Hand of Fate. It's on early acess on steam, and its kind of what you're looking for. Hope you like card games.
 
G

Ghizz

Member
One of my favorite genre of games. I'd personally recommend Dwarf Fortress for base-building type of game. The controls are said to be confusing, but stick with it and learn the ropes and I promise countless of hours will fly by. http://www.bay12games.com/dwarves/


If you're more into survival in the wild, I'd recommend Unreal World, where you can build your own shelter, fish for food, passive/active hunting, combat vs. robbers/tribes/main enemy faction called the Njerpez. http://unrealworld.fi/


and if you're into modern-day dystopian setting with zombies...i'd recommend Cataclysm: Dark Days Ahead. where you can build your own shelter or stay in someone's abandoned house. Melee weapons from baseball bats to katana/fire axe, range weapons from throwing to guns. You can also build your own vehicle and customize it with spikes/generator/ have a portable kitchen/bed etc.... http://en.cataclysmdda.com/
 
autoduelist

autoduelist

Member
So... I've ascended in Nethack, beat ToME, played a ton of Stone Soup... and even like some lites like Binding of Isaac and whatever you'd want to call Dungeon of the Endless.

But there's one thing I haven't found. Does anyone know of a good 'party' based roguelike? All the ones I've played have been a single adventurer (well, I suppose you can 'recruit' in ToME, sort of) but I mean... create a party like in M&M or Bard's Tale or Wizardy, then go into endless dungeon.

Thanks in advance!
 
F

Ferrio

Banned
Well tried out ToME.

RIP Stabby Face McDeadPants.

Didn't seem like there was much to do. Was outside, just kept going and finding more and more shit I couldn't use. Then something called a guardian fought me, and I was handling my own until some cobras decided to join in.

FAsO54s.png

4fEdvVb.png
 
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