You’ve probably seen the term “roguelike” thrown around a lot, and you might be confused. That’s because it’s a confusing term, one that’s become muddled over time. But you can try to learn what it is, and enjoy a genre of games you may not have understood before.
Roguelikes, persistence and progression
That’s a good question, and one with a complicated answer because its definition has become very murky. However, the core of what a roguelike is supposed to be is that the game features levels that are procedurally generated. Your character suffers from “permadeath” – meaning they have to start over from a predetermined starting point. In essence, a roguelike should force you to learn its systems, but the cost of failure is high.
The name itself comes from Rogue, one of the genre’s defining classics, which inspired later games like NetHack. NetHack has been around for decades and is still in active development. Thanks to its open-source nature, ports exist for numerous computing platforms, including Android.
There is no set definition, but some roguelike enthusiasts have set out to create some guidelines. The Berlin interpretation of a roguelike was defined at the International Roguelike Development Conference in 2008. This defines a number of high-value and low-value factors that go into a roguelike game. Namely, the permadeath aspects and random environment generation are two of the main factors that define what a roguelike is. But you’ll also find features such as games that are turn-based and grid-based, or even worlds that are represented using ASCII characters.
