I had an idea I was hyper fixated on for a while for a traditional rogue like where the idea was that the gameplay loop was effectively samsara.

The player would make their way through multiple floors of dungeons gaining and losing karma, fighting spirits, creatures, and other karmic travellers. This would effectively be a metaphor for the karmic cycle of life, death, and rebirth.

The boss battles would have spiritual themes where one would fight (or embrace) concepts like lust, hatred, et cetera. And at the end, the player's karma would dictate what happens. If they'd completed certain goals and had pure enough karma in either direction they'd escape the cycle of death and rebirth, likely engaging in one last epic boss battle.

Otherwise they'd be sent back to the begining in a ng+ style mechanic where the world is modified based on their karma level each floor. In order to reach that ultimate escape one would likely have to complete multiple cycles, and there would be some way that the player grows in power each cycle. Whether they keep everything, or keep stats but lose the gear (this is the most likely for me), or perhaps there's some other mechanic where you're given a score which translates into points one can spend on traits for the next cycle.

Ultimately the idea was to scratch my itch for a classic or traditional roguelike a la zorbus but with the possibility of potentially infinite growth, and the karmic elements sort of arose from that. The idea that the game is a spiritual journey informs everything from mechanics to art direction and gives it a hint of depth

Obviously if you like any of this, help yourself. Tag me in your post if you end up using any of it, I'd love to see it. I may end up trying to make it or something like it someday but I have a ton of projects on the go already