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[Roguelikes] ASCII, Permadeath, Turn-based and Oh My...

Rhan9Rhan9 Registered User regular
edited August 2015 in Games and Technology
Heya folks! I see that it has been years since the previous Roguelike thread. I figured that I'd slap one together for any Roguelike aficionados out there. To talk about Roguelikes, playing them making them, cool stories, upcoming Roguelike news, etc.

What is a Roguelike?

Generally Roguelikes have the following features:

-Top-down view
-Permadeath
-Turn Based
-Grid Based
-Randomly generated content

Or as Wikipedia puts it:
Roguelike is a subgenre of role-playing video games, characterized by procedural level generation, turn-based gameplay, tile-based graphics, permanent death of the player-character, and typically based on a high fantasy
narrative setting. Roguelikes descend from the 1980 game Rogue, particularly mirroring Rogue's character- or sprite-based graphics. From 2000 onwards, 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.

As there is no other place currently to discuss the genre, this thread is primarily about Roguelikes. Not Roguelites, Roguelikelikes, games inspired/influenced by Roguelikes, or games with Roguelike elements.
Roguelikes tend to have all the previously mentioned features, as well as being easily distinguishable from games of other genres. An FPS game with Roguelike elements? Not a Roguelike. A platformer with Roguelike elements? Not a Roguelike. Usually, if you need to explain why a game is a Roguelike, it's probably not a Roguelike. It's very much a case of being self-evident. "Roguelike" is nowadays very much a marketing buzzword for indie games, and is more often than not used to describe games that may be just permadeath, perhaps containing randomized content. These tend to be more accurately covered by PDL (Procedural Death Labyrinth) as a term, since they do not share enough features to be generally similar to Roguelikes, or even other games similarly inspired by Roguelikes.

Family Tree

So where did all these games come from? Starting with Rogue back in 1980, combining features from a variety of previous attempts at computer RPGs. The big three styles are Rogue, Hack (and its descendant Nethack), and Moria (and its descendant Angband). These days, most games in the genre tend to implement different ideas and features, straying from the traditional formula.
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Roguelike classics:

Rogue
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The great grand-daddy. The game from which all roguelikes more or less trace their descent. There were some attempts prior to Rogue, but it was Rogue which established the genre and many of its staples. Find the Amulet of Yendor and escape. The classic objective.

http://rogue.rogueforge.net/

Larn
The first roguelike to include multiple dungeons and a surface world sort of thing (a hub town of sorts) connecting them. I don't actually know much about this, having never played it. These days the latest versions can be tough to find as well.

Hack & Nethack
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Probably the second most well known Roguelikes, directly inspired by Rogue and grown over the decades to contain an absurd degree of complexity. Known for its randomness, brutality, and replayability. As with Rogue, the objective is to find the Amulet of Yendor. You don't plan to escape however, and instead want to offer it to your god as a sacrifice to ascend to immortality.

Still worth playing, a true milestone of gaming. Nethack at least.

http://homepages.cwi.nl/~aeb/games/hack/hack.html
http://www.nethack.org/

Moria & Angband
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Roguelikes heavily influenced by Tolkien, the objective is to kill a Balrog within the Mines of Moria. Or defeat Morgoth, if you're playing Angband. They are extremely tactics and combat focused, and Angband especially can be blisteringly difficult. Many people have never gotten far, despite years of playing.

Worth trying for the theme, and solid gameplay refined over decades.

http://www.remarque.org/~grabiner/moria.html
http://rephial.org/

Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup
dhzarKX.jpg
A continuously developed Roguelike, tracing its descent from Crawl, and Linley's Dungeon Crawl. It is one of the most popular Roguelikes these days, and has a wide variety of races and classes (some of them very different from what you're probably used to) to choose from. It's a dungeon crawler, and a very good one at that.

Play it!

https://crawl.develz.org/

You can also play/watch games online!

ADOM
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Ancient Domains of Mystery features an overworld, a plot, and randomized dungeons. An all-around solid Roguelike, it is due to receive an updated version (https://i.imgur.com/xKxBFkj.png) on Steam in the upcoming months.

A classic worth playing!

http://www.adom.de/

Modern Roguelikes:

Dwarf Fortress
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Dwarf Fortress is basically the originator of its own genre. It's included in this list due to the adventurer mode, which is a wacky Roguelike mode featuring much of the insane mechanics of DF as a whole. The wrestling system itself is hilariously comprehensive, allowing you to suplex an enemy, and systematically break every bone in their body if the fancy strikes you. As the game is under development, many mechanics can be unexpectedly unbalanced, such as capturing butterflies to use as shuriken, decapitating ogres.

DF also features the better known Fortress mode, where you build a fortress with idiotic dwarves that follow your orders to their best ability (i.e. not well), and mostly you'll be finding new and interesting ways to have your fortress implode on itself, usually in tragicomedic ways.

Dwarf fortress is under constant development, and has been for a long time. Features get added, things break, new things appear. It's a living, monstrous thing, that keeps getting more and more complex. It'll probably eventually end up being the most comprehensive fantasy world life simulator ever made. Well, it already is.Oh, and it has a difficulty wall a mile high. Use wikis, online tutorials, and any aid and tips and tricks you can muster. It's a doozy to learn, but incredibly rewarding once you do.

Also, never trust the elves. Strike the earth!

http://www.bay12games.com/dwarves/

Cataclysm DDA
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Cataclysm: Dark Days Ahead. A game about surviving after the apocalypse. Basically anything and everything apocalyptic has been jammed into one game. Zombies? Got it. Skynet? Got it. Dangerous survivors? Got it. Mutant experiments run amok? Got it. Fungaloids from space? Got it. You get the idea.

Featuring a robust character generation system, crafting mechanics, and the ability to significantly evolve your character as the game progresses (provided you manage to survive) lends a huge amount of replayability to this. You can aim to be a survivalist, cyborg, mutate yourself with dodgy canisters of mutagens into a velociraptor, the possibilities are numerous indeed!

Can be a bit tough to get started with, but very rewarding.

http://en.cataclysmdda.com/

UnReal World
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Essentially a unique game, there's really nothing quite like it. A survival Roguelike set in a fictionalized version of Iron Age Finland. You create a character, and try to live your life. Battle malnutrition, weather, hypothermia, wild animals, evil eastern tribes (who could that possibly be?), etc.

Features a very comprehensive and realistic crafting system, simulates life in villages, cultures, and simulates the aspects of life in the Iron Age to a degree that no other game does. It even has a graphical interface and tiles, and is being continuously improved and developed. As it has been for over 20 years. This is not a game abandoned by its developer.

URW has been Greenlit, and will probably show up on Steam soon-ish. Regardless, the latest versions are available on the developer's website.

Don't forget to check the Mods linked there, including a graphical overhaul, increased recipes, and more. How many games allow you to track and hunt animals, skin them, cook the meat and tan the skins. Sew clothes for yourself, fell trees, build a cottage, fish, grow plants, domesticate animals, adventure, become a cannibal, and more? The developer is working on setting up an entire family system as well. It's the game for you, if you want to play a legit survival game, and the historical setting has any allure.

http://www.unrealworld.fi/

Tales of Maj'Eyal
3ZuSCzZ.jpg
Originally Tales of Middle Earth, which in turn were based on Angband, the developer of ToME veered into a separate setting and theme. Features a customizable graphical interface, some MMOish ability cooldowns, a bunch of unlockable classes a whole bunch of other things. Also available on Steam. While the versions are free on the developer's website, the Steam version includes the donor bonuses. Which are apparently some extra features and items, or thereabouts. Still, it's nice to support Roguelike development.

A solid game to play, good to lure people into Roguelikes due to a graphical interface, and easier adoption of mechanics, at least if the person in question has some familiarity with MMOs or RPGs.

http://te4.org/

Brogue
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Essentially a modernized, prettier and overall smoother and better Rogue.

'nuff said. Play this instead of Rogue.

https://sites.google.com/site/broguegame/

IVAN
pWo41zW.png
Iter Vehemens ad Necem (violent way to death). A game about a hapless banana plantation slave (you) tasked with delivering a letter, which leads to a monster hunt and/or clericide (I guess that's what killing a high priest would be?).

Features an extensive system for dismemberment, but not to worry! Losing a few limbs is okay if you keep your life. You can always try to get them back through piety and the blessings of the gods, or maybe just steal the missing parts from an unlucky passerby. Limb reattachment for everybody!

http://ivan.sourceforge.net/

Caves of Qud
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A Roguelike set in a post-apocalyptic future, with plenty of scifi archeotech, vault-dwelling True Men, filthy mutants (mutants are fun!), camel-men, severe lack of water (it is both required for sustenance as well as used as currency), and plenty of world and caves to explore.

The ASCII version of CoQ is free, while there is a version running a pretty swell tileset available on Steam. The game is still under development, but it's very solid already.

Definitely recommended!

http://freeholdgames.com/

Infra Arcana
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A Roguelike set in the early 1900s, where you investigate the Church of Starry Wisdom in search of an artifact called The Shining Trapezohedron. Which supposedly is the key to all the secrets of the universe. While avoiding
monsters and going insane.

Yeah, it's straight up Lovecraft. A solid roguelike under development.

https://sites.google.com/site/infraarcana/

DoomRL
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It's a Roguelike version of Doom. What's not to love? You run around, gunning down demons.

Until you are the demons.

http://doom.chaosforge.org/

Elona
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A silly Japanese Roguelike, with nifty graphical tiles and nutty humour. All sorts of random stuff happens, you can do and see and learn a multitude of more or less useful things, and adventure in a whimsical Roguelike setting. The game is something of a mix between a life sim, sandbox RPG and a traditional Roguelike. You can do things ranging from starting a farm to raising pets, adventuring or running a store.

Definitely worth trying just for the batshit hijinx!

Since development stopped a few years ago, the base Elona version doesn't see any more updates. Elona+, a version continued by other developers based on the released source code is still regularly updated, and features many more things to see, do and experience compared to the base version.
http://homepage3.nifty.com/rfish/index_e.html
http://wikiwiki.jp/elonaplus/

Sil
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For the Tolkien fans, Sil is something delicious as far as roguelikes go. As Drake put it:
Sil is a carefully researched use of Middle Earth as a setting, specifically Middle Earth in the First Age. The First Age was the childhood of the Elves and a time of incredible wonder and horror. A time that is the root of all conflict, when many of the first Elves lived in the West with the gods, among the light of the Trees. In these times the greatest Elf who lived captured the light in three perfect gems, called the Silmarils. The gods demanded the gems and the Elf refused, creating a schism that wasn't healed until the events of The War of the Ring. Eventually the Silmarils come to the posession of the dark lord Melkor, who wears them upon an Iron Crown as he sits on his throne, deep within his fortress of Angband, the Iron Hell. Your goal is to descend to the depths, knock the crown from Morgoth's head, pry loose a Silmaril and escape. A deed worthy of the greatest songs and legends. A deed that forged the eventual salvation of Middle Earth in the Third Age.

If you've ever read the Silmarillion you should play this. Because not only is all the lore correct, but the game's systems are fantastically in tune with the setting. You won't find scrolls of Magic Missile or Identify. Instead you learn Songs of Power. Song is a very powerful force in Tolkien. Probably the most powerful since it was used to create the universe. Song can drive your enemies to fear and panic, drive you to incredible fierceness in battle, light your surroundings, and even bring quiet in a wonderfully useful paradox that feels more like magic than any Magic Missile spell I've ever cast. The game is all about light and darkness, song and silence. The combat system is totally redone too, creating a tactical system of risk and reward, running battles and desperate last stands. Gear you find is all lore inspired, appropriately named and imbued with subtle powers that enhance your skills. Your character can learn to forge much of this gear for themselves. Round this out with a fantastic stealth system and you get the greatest implementation of Tolkien's Middle Earth in a game I have ever seen. It's far more than just using the right words for things, all of the elements come together to recreate the dark tone and desperation of late First Age Middle Earth. Carry a light into the darkness with a song in your heart and a blade in your hand.
It's pretty awesome!
amirrorclear.net/flowers/game/sil/

Rhan9 on
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Posts

  • Rhan9Rhan9 Registered User regular
    Incidentally, the inspiration for this thread came from the Steam release of Caves of Qud, and the upcoming releases for the new version of ADOM and UnReal World, both on Steam. Something to keep an eye out for, folks!

  • NbspNbsp she laughs, like God her mind's like a diamondRegistered User regular
    Caves of Qud. So good.

  • DrakeDrake Edgelord Trash Below the ecliptic plane.Registered User regular
    I have been playing the bejeezus out of Caves of Qud lately. It is so much fun and the setting is just fantastic. And it's super great that they are getting it on Steam and active development has cranked back up on it. It's been in stasis for a little while. I'm pretty excited to see what new features Freehold cooks up.

    Also pretty hype about ADOM and URW coming to Steam soon as they are both favorites too.

  • Rhan9Rhan9 Registered User regular
    Ever tried Cataclysm DDA? It's pretty insane what you can get up to. Turning into a horrible mutant who breaks into labs to guzzle down the delicious mutagens, or essentially a terminator cyborg thing is fantastic.
    Or more likely, die to one of the first 5-10 enemies you ever meet, and achieve nothing.

    My current Caves of Qud run consists of a weak psyker type, who proselytizes to random NPCs in order to convince them that working for free as my meatshield is the best thing ever.

  • The EnderThe Ender Registered User regular
    I feel that SotS: The Pit is worthy of mention.


    Dungeons of Dreadmoor would be too, if it wasn't Goddamn unstable.

    With Love and Courage
  • NbspNbsp she laughs, like God her mind's like a diamondRegistered User regular
    Are there any decent multiplayer roguelikes other than Mangband?

  • DrakeDrake Edgelord Trash Below the ecliptic plane.Registered User regular
    I've tried CDDA a few times but I've never made anything you could call progress playing it. Still, it's in my big ass pile of roguelikes. I'll dig into it again one day soon.

    I like SotS: The Pit too but I haven't really sunk a lot of time into it yet.

    I don't know of any multiplayer roguelikes, but that's something I could get behind.

  • The EnderThe Ender Registered User regular
    Nbsp wrote: »
    Are there any decent multiplayer roguelikes other than Mangband?

    ...I am wracking my brain trying to think of one, and nothing. There are multiplayer games with some rogue elements (Don't Starve Together, Minecraft), but none I can think of that are the whole grid & turn-based package.

    With Love and Courage
  • NbspNbsp she laughs, like God her mind's like a diamondRegistered User regular
    Would be great if there was a multiplayer rogue like that was realtime but switched into turn based mode if someone engaged in combat

  • DrakeDrake Edgelord Trash Below the ecliptic plane.Registered User regular
    While not strictly a roguelike, it is real time and the action is pretty arcadey, I'd like to mention Transcendence has released on Steam. Other than those two differences you'll find the rest of the roguelike features such as permadeath, heavy use of procedural generation, including the levels, enemies, missions and loot. You'll start off in a basic ship and as you progress on your quest to find Domina you'll become epically powerful. The game plays a bit like asteroids, with ship customization. Fuel is necessary, if you run out you are dead. Don't worry, it's only one of the many different ways you'll find death. You can trade, fight, mine, explore, run missions for various stations, fight pirates, be a pirate etc.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GOCMW9yUSm0

    And yes, this game is totally free as well. Why should you buy the Steam version? It comes with all of the paid expansions (and some free ones too) and of course it's swell to support rad games like this. And if you hate Steam you can get stuff straight from that website I just linked.

  • BasilBasil Registered User regular
    edited July 2015
    Stop having fake fun you guys. You're just imagining all this fun you're having.

    Basil on
    9KmX8eN.jpg
  • SteevLSteevL What can I do for you? Registered User regular
    I still remember playing a version of Rogue on friends' PCs in the late 80s. Good times! Never did beat it. Since I had a Mac back then, the only roguelike I could play was something called The Dungeon of Doom, which turns out was just the shareware version of a game called The Dungeon Revealed.

    I've had a hard time going back to the classic roguelike style. Stuff like Spelunky and The Binding of Isaac is more my thing these days. My brother plays the hell out of Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup though. I really should give that one another shot.

  • DrakeDrake Edgelord Trash Below the ecliptic plane.Registered User regular
    edited July 2015
    Yeah I like a lot of roguelites or roguelikelike(liketylikelikelikes) or whatever. See Transcendence back a couple of posts for example. I don't like those names but I do think the distinction is worth making if not exactly important. Stuff like Eldritch, Teleglitch and Legend of Dungeon eat a fair chunk of my time. Nuclear Throne rules too.

    But I'm a pretty big fan of the classic turn based tactical grid movement roguelike too. ASCII or tiles it doesn't matter much to me. I admit to a preference for ASCII. I just love staring into the matrix so games like Brogue are really magical for me. Caves of Qud has some really well done ASCII too. And I'm a huge fan of the ASCII in DCSS. I'm constantly amazed by how creative developers can get with some colors and simple characters. Simple little tweaks for the imagination to latch on to that say so much.

    Drake on
  • BasilBasil Registered User regular
    edited July 2015
    Qud is loads of fun, but Cataclysm wins the prize for most staggeringly awesome enemy ever.

    Triffids are nasties you may encounter in forests and what have you. They're basically fungal trees and zombies.

    A Triffid queen is a sand worm, Dune style, made of that shit. And it will chase you, uprooting and destroying everything in its way.

    Basil on
    9KmX8eN.jpg
  • Rhan9Rhan9 Registered User regular
    Cataclysm is balls out insane. Kinda tough, but incredible.

  • DrakeDrake Edgelord Trash Below the ecliptic plane.Registered User regular
    Also, the most terrifying enemy I've encountered in a roguelike?
    mIFuMLD.jpg

  • StericaSterica Yes Registered User, Moderator mod
    If I could make a request, it'd be nice to keep this thread to roguelikes and not the popular roguelites or whatever we're calling them.

    Don't get me wrong, Rogue Legacy and Binding of Isaac are a blast but they can support their own threads and I'd like to see traditional titles get some love.

    YL9WnCY.png
  • Rhan9Rhan9 Registered User regular
    edited July 2015
    If I could make a request, it'd be nice to keep this thread to roguelikes and not the popular roguelites or whatever we're calling them.

    Don't get me wrong, Rogue Legacy and Binding of Isaac are a blast but they can support their own threads and I'd like to see traditional titles get some love.

    That was kind of the original intention for the thread. I even had a bit about it in the draft of the OP, but it sounded kind of snappy and passive-aggressive, so I took it out.

    EDIT: OP has been changed to encourage focus on proper Roguelikes.

    Rhan9 on
  • The EnderThe Ender Registered User regular
    Rhan9 wrote: »
    If I could make a request, it'd be nice to keep this thread to roguelikes and not the popular roguelites or whatever we're calling them.

    Don't get me wrong, Rogue Legacy and Binding of Isaac are a blast but they can support their own threads and I'd like to see traditional titles get some love.

    That was kind of the original intention for the thread. I even had a bit about it in the draft of the OP, but it sounded kind of snappy and passive-aggressive, so I took it out.

    Even if it does sound a little passive aggressive or whatever, I'd suggest putting something in the OP that sets a definition for Roguelike vs Rogue-Lite. People can get the terms confused, and that way we're all on the same page about which specific games the thread is for.


    Thread inspired me to fire-up The Pit again, and now I'm left wondering something:

    Rogue was one the first PC games that featured chests that were actually monsters, right? Because that was a brilliant thing that not enough other games have copied.

    With Love and Courage
  • SteevLSteevL What can I do for you? Registered User regular
    Drake wrote: »
    Yeah I like a lot of roguelites or roguelikelike(liketylikelikelikes) or whatever. See Transcendence back a couple of posts for example. I don't like those names but I do think the distinction is worth making if not exactly important. Stuff like Eldritch, Teleglitch and Legend of Dungeon eat a fair chunk of my time. Nuclear Throne rules too.

    But I'm a pretty big fan of the classic turn based tactical grid movement roguelike too. ASCII or tiles it doesn't matter much to me. I admit to a preference for ASCII. I just love staring into the matrix so games like Brogue are really magical for me. Caves of Qud has some really well done ASCII too. And I'm a huge fan of the ASCII in DCSS. I'm constantly amazed by how creative developers can get with some colors and simple characters. Simple little tweaks for the imagination to latch on to that say so much.

    Yeah, I always loved ASCII. I remember thinking that Rogue seemed very creative at using it as art. Of course, back then I had no idea what "ASCII" meant.

  • FremFrem Registered User regular
    Brogue has spoiled me with it's fantastic UI and pacing. I tried to Qud, but an enemy murdered me on the second screen.

  • DrakeDrake Edgelord Trash Below the ecliptic plane.Registered User regular
    edited July 2015
    I think Brogue is my favorite distillation of roguelike mechanics. It's so approachable and easy to play with fantastic reactivity that sometimes feels like stuff straight out of an Indiana Jones movie. And the way it uses ASCII is a perfect gateway into understanding what is so great about its less flashy peers.

    Drake on
  • Red or AliveRed or Alive Registered User regular
    edited July 2015
    If I can recommend the original Shiren the Wanderer, specifically the Nintendo DS port from a few years back: I think it's the most faithful console-only roguelike at the time of writing. So faithful that the guys over at Roguelike Radio have sung its praises.

    Other games in the same series (Mystery Dungeon) are either tied to other franchises (which I often find introduces distracting elements) and/or lock the core roguelike experience behind rote singleplayer RPG campaigns.

    I don't believe Shiren DS is too expensive on the second-market, either.

    Red or Alive on
  • FremFrem Registered User regular
    Be careful about getting Shiren secondhand. You can reset the travel journal (your cross-death saved game), but not the adventuring log (a sort of achievement list/high score table with spoilers).

    I'm not sure how I feel about Shiren. It seems like the game initially sets you up to fail; not unlocking several core mechanics until you've played a few times. And one of those core mechanics is sending equipment to perma-death-proof storage. So it's actually not optimal to try to beat the game when you start out. It's weird.

  • DrakeDrake Edgelord Trash Below the ecliptic plane.Registered User regular
    edited July 2015
    Izuna has a similar warehouse mechanic. I like it. There are several gods to defeat, each at the end of a dungeon. After you defeat that god, that dungeon becomes basically a place you farm for specific items. You can warehouse these items and spend accumulated cash on this crazy forging/upgrading system. Once you beat all the initial dungeons you can take on the huge 99 level dungeon which is where the real game begins in a lot of ways.

    See an interesting thing about Izuna is that it's not truly permadeath. You don't die, you get knocked out, lose all of your money and gear and end up back in town. You keep your experience and levels. At first this seemingly makes the game a breeze. You can just grind levels to beat the initial dungeons if it comes down to it and ignore the crazy loot upgrade mechanics. But you'll never beat that final dungeon that way. It's scaled in such a way that you can only take on the lower depths with the sweetest ninja gear ever created. And if you die and lose that gear you are looking at losing tons of effort. It becomes even more insidiously brutal than traditional permadeath because you've spent the whole game, practically every preceding run, working up to these pieces. I mean, you have to level your gear, maintain your gear, upgrade it with scrolls, and then there is a whole meta process of burning in these scrolls, boosting that gears base stats but returning it to square one in terms of special abilities and status effects and the like.

    The game's secret is that your gear becomes the real characters.

    It's another one of those Japanese roguelikes that wears a simple face at first and then builds a sense of progression with some deceivingly deep mechanics.

    If you like these sorts of roguelikes but aren't into the handhelds you usually need to play them take a look at Voyage to Farland. Funny thing is while this game is in that style, it doesn't come out of Japan. It was made by a guy who decided that the lack of this Mystery Dungeon style of roguelike on the PC should be addressed.

    Drake on
  • FremFrem Registered User regular
    So, this just happened.

    gsgZJful.jpg?1

  • Rhan9Rhan9 Registered User regular
    Well, I left the shelter in Cataclysm, and lo and behold what was waiting for me outside:
    1TiwuWH.jpg?1

    4 Manhacks. :/

  • NbspNbsp she laughs, like God her mind's like a diamondRegistered User regular
    how do you play cataclysm with those graphics

  • Rhan9Rhan9 Registered User regular
    edited July 2015
    Download the latest CDDA version, and under options->graphics-> pick MShock32 as the tileset.

    EDIT: Having checked some tilesets, I'd recommend Chesthole's tileset over this. Generally the same, but the player sprite adapts to your equipment.

    Rhan9 on
  • NbspNbsp she laughs, like God her mind's like a diamondRegistered User regular
    Looks like it's probably not supported on a Mac

  • DrakeDrake Edgelord Trash Below the ecliptic plane.Registered User regular
    edited July 2015
    Here's a little roguelike I always like to mention in these threads; Ooooorrrcs!

    It's a bit like One Way Heroics, the game continuously scrolls to the left. Basically you have stolen the Orcs greatest treasure, escaped their dungeon and are fleeing for your life. Oh yeah, you are bleeding to death too. This is the entire source code.

    orcs5.png

    Here is a review from Temple of the Roguelike. He hilariously gets the direction you run in wrong over and over. True comedy.

    This is a fun coffee break roguelike. I thought once I figured out how to escape from the orc horde I'd tire of it but I still enjoy it now as a quick time attack kind of game. It's good fun trying to beat previous best times.

    Drake on
  • NbspNbsp she laughs, like God her mind's like a diamondRegistered User regular
    For a second I thought that was a screenshot and thought things had gone too far

  • DrakeDrake Edgelord Trash Below the ecliptic plane.Registered User regular
    You can't see the orc with the battleaxe peeking around the rock?

  • FremFrem Registered User regular
    Ooh, I just noticed that we haven't listed any mobile Roguelikes. They're interesting in part because the form dictates that the play sessions be relatively short, and most of them have a progression metagame. These are my top three:

    Cardinal Quest 2
    This isn't the most original roguelike, but it's the one I find myself playing the most.

    The core of the game is skills. Any character can find and equip any skill. There's no mana, just an individual skill cooldown based on character stats. Did your mage just find a stealth skill? Murder from the shadows! But you can only carry around five skills at a time, and you're certainly going to find more skills than that. Your character also has a tech tree. You're going to want to spend points on it whenever they're available. But what if you later find an awesome skill that doesn't synergize with your tech tree decisions? Oh no!

    It also has a simple but extremely satisfying stealth system. Hiding in tall grass and backstabbing guards is great.

    The progression mechanic is that you get a persistent in-game currency for doing what your class is good at. Rogues earn it for stealth kills, mages get it for fireballing things, etc. This currency can be used to unlock classes and loadouts. There's also a class that you can only unlock by finding an in-game flask and getting a sample from each boss monster. Spending an entire turn getting a sample from a boss instead of attacking, healing, or retreating is a much bigger deal than it sounds!

    http://cardinalquest2.com/

    868-HACK
    Super abstract. You're a hacker muddling their way through a computer system trying to steal as much money as possible while avoiding or disabling security programs. I'm not sure how much to explain because part of the fun is this glitch aesthetic where nothing initially makes much sense. It's quite short; a single successful run can take ten minutes. But a successful run isn't necessarily a profitable run...

    This progression mechanic is twofold. The first X number of times you beat the game, a new ability becomes available in future runs. You also have a running "streak" score that increments for each subsequent successful time you beat the game without loosing.

    http://868-hack.neocities.org

    Auro
    Auro takes the movement element of the genre and runs with it. Your basic attack does no damage, it just bumps an enemy back a space. To defeat enemies, you have to push them off the edge of the level. Except that every enemy has their own special movement-based ability. Slimes flatten when attacked, creating a trampoline. Jesters teleport and switch places with the player. Bats fly, so they need to be frozen before they'll fall off the level. Etc.

    All of your abilities revolve around setting up chain reactions and using enemies movement-based abilities against them. The closest analogy I can think of is Super Smash Bros. Perhaps Sokoban with malicious boulders.

    The game's progression mechanic is that it adjusts dungeon difficulty and a target high score based on how well you do. In theory, the game stays challenging without getting frustrating.

    http://www.auro-game.com/

  • DrakeDrake Edgelord Trash Below the ecliptic plane.Registered User regular
  • DrakeDrake Edgelord Trash Below the ecliptic plane.Registered User regular
    edited July 2015
    Nbsp wrote: »
    Would be great if there was a multiplayer rogue like that was realtime but switched into turn based mode if someone engaged in combat

    @Nbsp hey check out WazHack. I was just playing it and noticed the multiplayer button. Interesting...

    And it may appear to be a roguelite but if you ask me it's all there. Procedurally generated levels, enemies and loot. Permadeath, stats, classes and character progression, turn based, the whole lot. It's pretty serious about the Hack part of its name. For example food is a big deal. Item identification is another thing it has in common with Hack. It's pretty neat.

    Drake on
  • NbspNbsp she laughs, like God her mind's like a diamondRegistered User regular
    Interesting, but it's so side-scrollery

  • FremFrem Registered User regular
    I played Tales of Middle Earth multiplayer like, a decade ago. It's still around!

    I remember this being the weirdest implementation of multiplayer in a turn-based game ever, though. You're not just getting a co-op game. This is like, a massively multiplayer roguelike. Turns happen on ticks, one or twice a second or so. This was exactly as janky as it sounds; sometimes the tick is frustratingly slow, sometimes it's way too fast.

  • NbspNbsp she laughs, like God her mind's like a diamondRegistered User regular
    Time is relative

  • DrakeDrake Edgelord Trash Below the ecliptic plane.Registered User regular
    Here is a cool article from Mark Johnson, developer of Ultima Ratio Regum. He talks about the ASCII heritage of roguelikes, progression, and other ideas that have led to the current crop of roguelikes and games-with-roguelike-features. He also talks about what makes them so different from classic roguelikes.

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