Roguelikes

[Gold Leaf]

I like roguelikes. Do you like roguelikes? From the light-hearted to the outright nightmare-inducing (I'm not kidding, I had at least one nightmare related to The Binding of Isaac when I was a kid), this is your place to discuss them!

[noob]

I do like doom roguelike arsenal which is a zdoom mod that adds lots of randomly lootable weapons to doom II and an option to randomise monsters, if combined with oblige to make random maps it is technically a rogue like.

[MinimanMidget]

I've played a decent number of roguelikes, and had a good time with them, but I've sworn off them, at least for the time being, for a few reasons:

- There are a lot of them, with more coming out all the time. It's a very popular genre among indie developers, and even if you only play the games that the internet largely agrees are good, it's still going to take up a huge chunk of time.

- Especially since roguelikes, by their nature, are designed to be timesinks. If I roll credits on a game after 20-30 hours, I'm generally going to be happier if that's "completion" than if it's "you beat the tutorial".

- Thirdly, there's a certain sameness to many of them. I stopped playing Skul the Hero Slayer when I realised that if I wanted to get better at Dead Cells, I'd just play more Dead Cells. Yeah, the roguelike elements work differently, but the gameplay is still basically the same. You can make a similar argument about Binding of Isaac and Enter the Gungeon, Gunfire Reborn and Roboquest, Slay the Spire and Across the Obelisk, and so on.

All of which is not to say that I dislike them, or am never going to play one again. I still go back to a few of them every now and then, and if something as highly recommended as Hades (for example) comes out, I'll almost certainly play it. But trying to keep up with the genre as a whole is just not feasible, at least as far as I'm concerned.

[Imbalance]

I've enjoyed a handful of them, but it's not my favorite genre. I really, really, really hate the term, though, even more than I hated "Doomclone" back in the day.

[Beelzebub1111]

I have been playing Backpack Hero these past couple of weeks on itch.io and it's been the best. Can't wait for the full release.

[Anteros]

I enjoy them, but the market is so saturated with garbage these days that it's hard to find decent ones, and the term has lost most of its meaning.

[NeoVid]

There's a couple that have grabbed me, but honestly, I've put the most playtime into the roguelike mode that was added to Vermintide 2.

[Corlindale]

I love roguelikes, my favourite genre by far. Dungeons of Dredmor was my gateway game, although I find the inventory system a bit too much of a hassle to return to it now.

My absolute favourite is Tales of Maj'Eyal, which I consider amazing in pretty much every way. Especially the variety of classes, so many cool ones that the game has absurd levels of replayability. But it also streamlines a lot of stuff that tends to be a hassle in other roguelikes, such as inventory management, controls and consumables. Judt a joy to play, really.

Slay the Spire is also a favourite, my go-to in the genre when I play on the Switch. Still working on reaching A20 with all characters, very addictive.

[Anteros]

There's a couple that have grabbed me, but honestly, I've put the most playtime into the roguelike mode that was added to Vermintide 2.

Similarly, I've probably spent more hours on the hardcore mode of Subnautica than I have on any true roguelike.

Not something I'd recommend until you're somewhat familiar with the game though as there's a few potentially run ending bugs you can encounter if you're not ready for them.

[KillianHawkeye]

I played the heck out of ROGUE, as well as a few of the knock-offs.

Modern Rogue-likes need to have something extra to hold my attention for long. Slay the Spire kept it the longest for the excellent deck-building mechanics and general quality of the game.

[ClericofPhwarrr]

Dungeon Crawl: Stone Soup used to be my roguelike of choice until a continual stream of misguided updates ripped out most of the fun interesting content, standardized everything, and streamlined it to make it smoother for speedrunners and twitch streamers. I wasn't a fan of them doing a huge shift from classic fantasy to going all-in on gonzo races either. It's much easier and there's less chance to find yourself dying from something like starvation or racing around the abyss trying to find a portal back before demons tear you apart... which I guess appeals to some people.

Felt to me like all the heart and soul and fun quirkiness was lost from the game though.

[Kazuo]

I like roguelikes because they're single player games that are hard. It takes years or even decades to get that first victory. They give you the strategic depth of a multiplayer game, and require just as much skill. But not only that, they respect you as a player.

This is not a game that holds your hand. You live with the consequences of your decisions. When you make a mistake, the game doesn't fudge the rolls and let you try again. You can't restore from a previous save. And when you die, you don't suddenly respawn back at the last checkpoint, you really die. Everything you've worked on is gone. And it makes you a better player.

[Psyren]

I love them (and please note I'm not at all interested in dissecting roguelike vs. roguelite etc.)

Some of my favorites lately have been Hades, Returnal, Slay The Spire, Enter The Gungeon, Inscryption, Hand of Fate, Darkest Dungeon, and Crypt of the Necrodancer.

[viberslavko]

I used to play them when I had more time.

Now with two kids in the house, all I can do is short gaming sessions, free of stress. :)

So roguelite and sports games are no-no for now.