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⚠️ Disclaimer: This discussion may contain spoilers for some Roguelike games. These spoilers are necessary for purposes of example and study. While I will flag particularly significant spoilers, the ultimate responsibility lies with readers who wish to avoid them. Having said that I encourage readers to proceed, as no major aspects of any game will be spoiled in detail. In the context of game design and analysis, spoilers are often unavoidable since a full understanding of a game is necessary to create and critique it effectively.
I have played many Roguelikes but certainly not all of them. If a specific game is not mentioned, it is likely because I have not played it extensively enough to discuss. This does not make me an expert, and my words should not be taken as definitive. The games I analyze are those I know well and have played the most.
There are many videogame genres, what distinguishes the Roguelike genre from the others? This paper will try to give a definition to the genre and explore how each Roguelike game put its spin on it. Design examples will be taken from Returnal, Slay the Spire and The Binding of Isaac and others to help us analyze and interiorize some core aspects of the genre. They are clearly distinct in gameplay and visuals yet they share the same core mechanics, how different are they actually? how can different design approaches on many aspects like time, randomness, map, enemies, themes, progression and more give the player similar experience? And how can player experience be shared in procedurally generated worlds?
As to any other genre there is no precise definition of what a Roguelike game is, but we can evince it by what the term is coined from and how it has evolved. Rogue is a 80’s turn-based game, with procedurally generated dungeon, permadeath and other aspects. The two core mechanic that caught players interests are in fact procedurality and permadeath. Procedurality meaning the use of an algorithm to generate parts of the game, and permadeath as the loss of all progress achieved. These two aspects are great building blocks for a videogame genre, the rest is built on top of them.
These aspects are also undividable, if a game had permadeath but not procedurality the experience would get repetitive and boring having to repeat the initial part of the game many times before gaining any new actual progress. Restarting and getting back to the point you last reached would feel like a chore and a waste of time, and that is why in every non-procedural game there is the ability to save progress. If there was no permadeath there would be little to no incentive to replay the game you have just finished. Some games are exception to this, like arcade games, which have permadeath and use this aspect as the key mechanic to keep the interest in the challenge: and also to make money.
This type of games also rely on a strong sense of resource deprivation forcing players to choose wisely when and where to use their Resources.
The game is usually played in “runs”; every run start with nothing and ends at the end of the game or until the player dies. Often games are designed to last multiple runs at minimum not letting the player finish the game in a single run even if they are really good at it. This topic is analyzed in the Acts chapter.
There’s a lot of debate on this. Purists argue that a Roguelike must mirror Rogue’s turn-based, dungeon crawler RPG approach to qualify. Another school of thought is that a Roguelike can refer to any game with procedural elements that will reset your progress completely after each playthrough, whereas a Rogue-lite retains some elements of character progression, such as up graded stats or unlocked weapons and abilities. Because of this, some consider that a Roguelike is about the journey, whereas a Rogue-lite is about the destination.
Neo-rogue and the essence of roguelikeness (2013), Maria B. Garda
The genre started with Rogue so it is called Roguelike, but genres evolve and with time a couple other terms were coined for games that have similarities to Rogue but differ in some aspects. Roguelite and Neo-Rogue are terms used almost synonymously to indicate that they differ from the defining aspects of Rogue, they are an evolution which eases the tension of permadeath and makes progress feel a little bit more real. Roguelite and Neo-Rogue games have many different way to “save” progress. Unlockables, Acts and Achievements define the progress made in a Roguelike.
With the passing of time it seems that the market, developers and players reached a consensus on the genre possibly because progress reduces the punishment of permadeath and rewards the player with something they can be proud of and share.
Although there are some substantial differences between Roguelike, Roguelite and Neo-Rogue they are not in my opinion enough to make a distinction between them. From now I will refer to them all as Roguelike, and the differences will be listed game by game.
Death is the foundation of this genre, in most of games of this genre it is necessary to reach the true ending. Death does not represent the end nor a loss, death represent the moment the player gets a chance to change strategy and unlock new objects . Death is not always rewarded, only at specific checkpoints or for achieving specific deeds reward the player.
Death should feel only as a temporary hindrance, just slowing progress down and not halting it completely. Dying to the same enemy or reaching the same point in the story may feel frustrating but it should not mean not progressing at all, either you gain something for the future or you gain experience.
Darkest Dungeon gives an example of layered permadeath, the player does not embody a single character they instead represent some abstract conscience that controls the characters in the game. Every single character has permadeath, meaning that if they die they are removed from the pool of usable character of the player, but the player only loses if they get into a unsalvageable situation where all the characters are not up to the tasks. That is when the true permadeath comes, and where the player is really forced to start over.
Darkest Dungeon - Player’s characters on the left and enemies on the right
Darkest Dungeon - Town
Resources scarcity is another fundamental aspect of Roguelikes. If the player had infinite resources how could they lose, what would the strategy be other than to press buttons to use all the infinite resources they have? So resources must have some limitation, accumulation should not be possible and should be capped to a limit. This reduces the number of potential strategies but keeps the challenge balanced between runs. But then the question arises, what are resources? Resource is a vague term used to indicate anything that the player can use, actively or passively, to achieve something in a game. Resources can be finite or infinite but in the latter the other limiting resource is time. Health is the one resource that is omni present in games, especially in Roguelike since death means restarting a run; in Roguelike health must be easily readable, if it is hearts or a bar expressing it. Another common resource is currency. Games have at least one type of currency but often have more to manage different aspects; coins are usually collected and used during a run and are lost on death, they are used in the shop or events to gain items and upgrades. The other currencies are generally something the player brings between runs and can be used during a run or outside one.
Time is not only real time but in games can also be defined in turns or rhythm.
Turn define time as a split of actions, the player is limited on how many things they can do in a single turn and have to choose which resource to use and which to keep for the next turns. Since there is no real time limit on how long the player has to make their decisions every wrong one can result in a strong counterattack.
Real time games give the player the ability to input and expect a response from the game at every moment. Enemies and environment change constantly meaning that quick thinking and decision making are required. Since human reaction time is limited the game cannot make every decision too impactful because it would make the game too difficult or too punishing.
Rhythm time is a way to see time as a resource which is not contained in the two other description above. As an example for rhythm time there is Crypt of the Necrodancer; the player does not have infinite time to take an action but also cannot give as many input for action as they want, only a few action rhythmically spaced can be given. Enemies behave in the same rhythmic time, nothing can break out of this rule making the game world feel coherent and fair.
Usually the shorter the time you have to react to the situation the lighter the punishment, except for bosses and special events which are created to be challenging and for players with enough knowledge and experience.
Mana is a representation of time; mana limits the number of actions in time. Upgrades and items can increase mana production and reserve giving the player the feel of time speeding up.
this is my classification and is not mutually exclusive.
Action Based on real-time action that requires coordination, reflexes and precision. These games becomes easier the better those skill are for the player, and might become too easy if the player is too good, a technical perfect player could beat these type of games perfectly without ever dying.
All of these game are very different in perspective, theme, mechanics and much more, but they share the need for the player to react fast and adapt quickly to new and unexpected situations
Returnal - Third Person Action Shooter
Neon Abyss - Action Platform
Hades - Isometric Action Platform
Dead Cells - Action Platform
One Step From Eden - Action Deckbuilding
The Binding of Isaac
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Incryption (Deckbuilding Roguelike mixed with other genres)
Peglin
Slay the Spire
Balatro
Dicey Dungeons
Into the Breach
Some games are not designed to be played as Roguelike but their hardcore mode makes them de facto Roguelike. They both have procedurally generated worlds and the hardcore mode adds permadeath, but they are both sandbox games meaning that there is no story directly narrated in the game. This is quite unusual for Roguelike games since they need you to stay hooked and make you replay over and over the game, but when approaching this mode players already well know the game to not need to restart often.
From now on every time Minecraft and Factorio will be nominated in this paper it is implied that the focus is on their Hardcore mode.