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Roguelike

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https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/adom_6451.png
Typical graphics of early roguelikes. Typical gameplay of all roguelikes.
"The RNG giveth, and the RNG taketh away..."
— Common saying in roguelike circles

Roguelikes are a broad genre of video games in which the gameplay is built around two main features:

The main hallmark of a roguelike is that it is designed to be replayed frequently and to give a new and different experience every time, by using random generation to create unpredictable level arrangements. A single playthrough of a roguelike is typically referred to as a "run", which ends either when the game is completed or (more likely) when the player loses.

Because a roguelike's challenges are randomly-generated, there is no way to create a definitive Walkthrough to get a player through them - one can only advise the player on which decisions are generally best to take. This gives roguelikes a greater replay value than games in which levels are hand-designed. However, the trade-off is that level designs tend to be more generic and less creative than a hand-crafted experience, as the algorithm which designs the levels can only follow a limited set of rules.

The Trope Maker for the genre is the 1980 video game Rogue, a terminal-based Dungeon Crawling game which popularized the gameplay combination of random level generation and permadeath. Rogue's design inspired a huge family of dungeon crawlers over the next few decades, which became known as "roguelikes"; since the 2000s, many other games adopted the design philosophy of procedural generation and permadeath, and the term "roguelikes" came to be used on those games as well.

Due to the gradual evolution of term "roguelike", the term nowadays has two different definitions; the definition and usage of the term "roguelike" has also become a highly contentious issue among internet gaming communities, and using the incorrect definition in incorrect contexts can lead to intense arguments.

  • "Roguelike" (older definition): A subgenre of turn-based Role Playing Games that uses random generation, permadeath, dungeon crawling, and high-complexity designs in the same pattern as Rogue.
    • This is the original definition of the term, and most "Roguelike Communities" specifically about "Roguelikes" only use this definition. For differentiation, it is sometimes called traditional roguelike.
  • "Roguelike" (newer definition): A genre of video games that uses random generation and permadeath designs similar to Rogue.
    • This is the modern definition of the term, used by most of the video game community outside of "Roguelike Communities", including this website. For differentiation, games that only qualify under the new definition (and not the old one) are called roguelites.

More information on the term's history can be found on the Analysis page.

Common tropes and mechanics in roguelikes include:

  • Macrogame: Some aspect of the game carries over from one playthrough to the next, even when the player gets defeated and has to start over. Examples could be a currency that persists beyond death, or items that become available in future playthroughs once unlocked in-game. This was less common in early roguelikes, which fully expected you to restart from the very beginning. In modern roguelikes, it is common for your in-game actions to have at least some indirect effect on how the game will play out next time.
  • No Save Scumming: Roguelikes typically do not allow or expect you to reload a save, other than to resume a game already in progress, as this would negate the purpose of Permadeath.
  • RPG Elements: The original dungeon crawlers were essentially single-character RPGs, and thus naturally had RPG mechanics such as stats, Experience Points and levelling up. However, modern roguelikes still often retain RPG-like mechanics, even if the game is not a Role-Playing Game.
  • Perks: In modern roguelikes, it's common for the player to be regularly gifted with special abilities which remain with them for the rest of the game, often as a reward for level completion. A common practice is for the game to offer a random selection of perks (usually three) and allow the player to pick one.
  • Randomly Generated Loot: Since roguelikes are designed for a random challenge, it's not too uncommon for this principle to be applied to the game's loot system too. Several of the early classic dungeon-crawlers had quite sophisticated item generation mechanics, making it possible to acquire powerful items simply by good luck.
  • Random Drops: Since roguelikes are built for randomized gameplay, accommodating a random drop mechanic is straightforward and some include this as a secondary method of obtaining items. Games may also include a Random Drop Booster to allow players to exploit this.
  • Random Events: To keep the player on their toes, roguelikes will sometimes have infrequent, unpredictable events which affect the current level, usually making it more difficult. An example would be a sudden change of weather which affects combat.
  • Dungeon Shop: Shops appear periodically during gameplay, even in places where you wouldn't expect them, and can be vital lifelines for a flagging player. Sometimes they are random and only appear if you're lucky; other times, they appear in predictable locations and may be useful as safe stopping points. Some games may even provide perks which are specifically geared toward finding shops, or getting in-store discounts. If staffed by a shopkeeper, Shoplift and Die may be in effect, especially when the shop is a physical location in the game world.
  • Resources Management Gameplay: Since roguelikes are randomly generated, the resources available to the player are not guaranteed and may be different each playthrough. For example, an item that got the player out of a tough spot before might not be available the next time around. Thus, there is an element of carefully making use of whatever resources the player has to hand. Sometimes this involves carefully rationing the resources you have, or taking risks to secure resources that you need.
  • Limited Loadout: On the flipside of resource management, some roguelikes are capable of giving the player too many resources, since random generation can provide a potentially limitless supply. To counter this, games may put a tight limit on the player's inventory and force them to choose which items are most important to them.

Roguelikes have a reputation for being infamously difficult and unforgiving, which is largely due to the influence of early dungeon-crawlers such as NetHack and Angband - these games took Permadeath very seriously indeed and did little to protect the player from fatal mistakes, instead using death as a way to teach the player what not to do next time. NetHack, in particular, originated the concept of "Yet Another Stupid Death" due to the absurd number of different ways a player can die in the game.

While modern roguelikes are somewhat friendlier, games in the genre still tend to be quite challenging - after all, there is no point in permadeath if it is easy to avoid dying. Still, some modern roguelikes have taken steps to soften the punishment, such as by limiting failures to just the current level, or by allowing the player to carry some of their efforts over to their next playthrough when they die so that they at least have a better chance on future runs.

Compare Video Game Randomizer, a type of Game Mod which adds roguelike-style randomness to a previously static game. See also Random Encounters and Randomly Generated Quests, which are types of procedural content that are often incorporated into Role Playing Games.

Roguelike games

Alternative Title(s): Roguelikes, Roguelite, Roguelike Like

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