Roguelike
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Roguelike is a term used to describe randomly generated dungeon crawler type video game RPGs, which often use simplified ASCII-like graphics. The name was coined from the eponymous 1980 computer game Rogue. Neckbeards have an inveterate fondness for this genre, and they are one of the few types of vidya one can mention on /tg/ without triggering massive nerd rage.
Typical definitions for Roguelikes
Roguelikes generally have minimalistic graphics, most often just using ASCII and colors to represent everything with a surprising amount of detail once you get used to it. Although the games differ greatly in scope and approach they generally have a few things in common. Levels and items are procedurally generated, usually starting unidentified so the player is forced to expend valuable resources IDing them or risk drinking poison like a retard. Combat is turn based, tactical and brutal. Death is swift and irrevocable, and just to add insult to injury the game may even delete your save file for good measure.
Diablo was inspired by Rogue and is a borderline Roguelike, but most noobs misuse Roguelike as a synonym for "Diablo-clone", not knowing what they are missing.
Notable Roguelikes
- The great gran'pappy of all roguelikes. Looks like chewed-over ass and plays about as well but you'd better have some motherfucking respect, this thing basically created the modern gaming industry.
- Arguably the most balanced traditional roguelike. Doesn't take itself too seriously. It's known for creating a subgenre called "hacklikes", which put a greater focus on resource management, improvisation, secret knowledge and spectacular, brilliantly bullshit zany schemes.
- Massively expanded roguelike. The quintessential randomized D&D solo adventure in a Tolkienesque world. Brutal, though.
- Severely fun roguelike, occasionally quite imbalanced, with an insane set of classes, races, and gods. Also has one of the most diverse dungeon environments. The Stone Soup version has a kickass tileset, an improved mouse-optional interface, more classes, more races, more gods, and more of generally everything. /tg/'s preferred roguelike. Sadly, in recent years it has been on the decline, gutting itself with each successive update.
- It's Doom, as a roguelike. /tg/'s current second favorite behind Stone Soup. Wickedly difficult, prepare to have your anus ripped and torn.
- A German roguelike set in a large mountain chain with many dark caverns where the forces of law and chaos do battle for the fate of the universe. A gazillion different skills to upgrade and feats to take. The biggest flaw of the game is that many elements are not randomized, requiring you to trudge through them over and over every time you die.
- Old-skool roguelike made in the glory days of Windows 3.1 shareware. Has a tileset.
- In the words of the author "Incursion is a traditional roguelike", and it is very influenced by D&D. You have to descend through multiple floors of caverns to reach the Goblin King and slay him. Plans include an outside world but that's for future releases.
- A solid, graphical roguelike (with a side option for ASCII players), with relatively deep lore and a heavy "quest" focus (in other words, multiple dungeons and a few puzzles). A heavily tactical focus, with lots of class skills limited by cooldowns. Available in a free version, and a purchasable Steam version; the latter is only required if you want to play the expansions, of which there are two so far: A mini-expansion that brings a lot more Demons, and some demon-related classes, and a full new campaign about attacking what you achieved in the original campaign.
- Cataclysm: DDA is what happens when you take people from the Bay12 forums with a sizable knowlege of C++, and have them create a sci-fi equivalent of Dwarf Fortress' Adventure Mode. This game starts you off at Day-0 of every apocalypse imaginable happening at the same time. Its key features include a crafting system with literally thousands of unique items, a highly robust combat system reminiscent of Dwarf Fortress, and a vehicle creation system so meticulous you can make a life-sized LAND RAIDER in it. (Don't believe me about the Land Raider? Here it is!) Oh, and tilesets are also available with a menu-option to enable or disable the graphics if you still prefer the feel of ASCII.
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- Caves of Qud is set in a place not unlike most of the human death worlds during the Age of Strife in Warhammer 40k, such as pre-explosion Caliban. It looks like a straight-up fantasy roguelike at first, but then you realize that it's more of a post-apocalyptic sci-fi world when you find a bunch of artifacts around like modern-day guns, lasers, grenades, anti-matter power cells, handheld nukes and some weird crap that crushes you with the force of 10,000 suns if you drop it on the ground. Similarly, you'll find ancient ruins full of said artifacts, as well as murderous robots, some of which are huge, flying, teleporting pyramids covered in shields and missile launchers. Player characters may choose to start as either mutants or pure humans. Mutants have access to a variety of powerful mutations such as flamethrower hands, wings, a scorpion stinger, four arms (and/or legs), teleportation, mind control, shooting lasers with your mind and a mutation that allows you to screw with the space-time continuum (essentially resulting in lore-sanctioned savescumming). Pure humans get none of the above, but instead have much higher stats.
Realtime Roguelikes
If it's not turn based, and it's not more of a strategy game (see below), it goes here.
- Action roguelike written in Flash, intended as a sequel to the original Rogue. The flash file is small and you can save it locally to play without a net connection. Open-source, and dude writes articles about his design decisions.
- Babby's first roguelite. Currently popular due to regularly being on special offer on Steam, this multiple award winning game describes itself as "a real time roguelike-like IN SPESS". A good way to ease into the genre.
- A roguelite shooter available on Steam. You play a naked toddler who escapes into the basement beneath his home to escape his murderous mother. What it lacks in any fantasy or sci-fi ambience, it more than makes up for in sheer biblical WTFery.
- Indiana Jones, the roguelite. A platformer where you take the role of an explorer braving the depths of a mysterious and deadly temple looking for ancient treasures to
donate to a museumhawk at a pawn shop.
- A post-apocalyptic shooter roguelite, where humanity is extinct and Earth is a toxic wasteland infested with irradiated mutants. As a mutant, you can mutate further as you get more radiation, and by using each character's unique mutations, and whatever weapons you find along the way, you must fight your way to the fabled Nuclear Throne.
- A bullet hell shooter roguelite where you play an adventurer infiltrating the remains of a fortress-monastery belonging to a cult of firearms enthusiasts so zealous it would make the NRA cringe. There you hope to find a gun so powerful that it can kill the past.
- A quirky roguelite rhythm game. You play a meddling girl who was cursed by the NecroDancer, a fabulous necromancer with a flair for the performing arts. Burdened by the curse, you must dance your way through the NecroDancer's symphonic labyrinth matching the tempo of the game's awesome soundtrack and slaying his musical-themed bestiary.
- A maritime roguelite available on Steam. Should appeal to fans of the works of H.P. Lovecraft.
"Roguelites"
Roguelikes that have the player playing more than one "character" (a single ship is allowed to count as a "character" here), or are fundamentally strategy games rather than RPGs (but are still procedural death labyrinths) go here.
- If you don't know what this is how did you even get here? Its got motherfucking dwarves, mining, goblin sieges, every other goddamn thing you could imagine, and a bunch you couldn't. Not strictly speaking a roguelike as much as a strategy sim but we can't stay mad at it.
- What would happen to the people who went into a dungeon, fought monsters and (if they were lucky) came back? The answer: bad things. A solid game with an incredible visual design and audio, you have to manage a platoon of "heroes" by sending them into dungeons, where they can become sickened and scarred, physically and mentally, in order to get loot to build your family's dilapidated (and also horribly cursed) estate up. In its own way it's more grimdark than 40k is. As a bonus it also contains a healthy amount of Lovecraftian abominations.