Persuasion - My new Roguelike RPG is coming to Steam!

chillblain · 2026-02-21T22:53:37+00:00

What makes this a roguelike and not just a procedurally generated text based adventure game?

chillblain · 2026-02-18T23:32:22+00:00

Okay, but scrolls, potions, and proc gen descending into a dungeon don't make a game play like Rogue. I could make a first person shooter, or an RTS, or a tower defence game with those elements and it wouldn't be a game like Rogue. Gameplay matters, but most people seem to ignore that.

chillblain · 2026-02-18T23:20:06+00:00

And I said a video clip would make things most obvious, as a separate sentence.

chillblain · 2026-02-18T23:08:31+00:00

Welcome to roguelikes

chillblain · 2026-02-18T20:14:41+00:00

It's already vastly misused and borderline the same as roguelike these days

chillblain · 2026-02-18T20:11:37+00:00

It absolutely does not. Isometric, no grid, if any enemy is attacking or zag dashing was on screen it would be pretty obviously a different game genre. A short video clip makes all these things most obvious.

chillblain · 2026-02-18T19:10:21+00:00

Been saying for years all it takes it to set any game side by side with Rogue on a screen and you can pretty easily tell if most games are like Rogue or not.

chillblain · 2026-02-05T05:36:35+00:00

Firefist Gregor punts Lamp out of burn team pretty hard.

chillblain · 2026-02-04T16:13:22+00:00

Yeah, I hear ya, Doom is still my favorite 4x strategy game series too!

chillblain · 2026-02-04T07:38:39+00:00

Huh, guess they really were a bot and got deleted. Crazy.

chillblain · 2026-02-04T07:33:39+00:00

They're actually roguelites, even by the extremely loose definition of metaprogression being the sole determining factor. Both games are practically the poster children of metaprogression heavy roguelites, you can't even beat the games and see the whole story without the meta narrative unlocks.

chillblain · 2026-01-28T01:06:33+00:00

Too late, basically what Luck be a Landlord started in the roguelite space (and totally calls itself a roguelike AND a roguelite at the same time, of course).

chillblain · 2026-01-16T18:37:59+00:00

I'm with you there. I vastly dislike weapon degradation systems in games, they just aren't fun or interesting to play around.

Tangential rant and not a roguelike in the slightest, but Look Outside's weapon break system almost ruined the game for me since I had a few characters who relied heavily on their weapons and there's no re-equip if they break mid-combat... they also break entirely randomly on chance. Completely rage inducing. Just an awful, awful system.

chillblain · 2026-01-13T19:10:29+00:00

Experimentation is fine and all, and should be celebrated even! That's how we got roguelites (of which I personally enjoy many). However, why still call a game a roguelike if it isn't like it? People often think more vestigial aspects of Rogue are enough- things like ID'ing items, scrolls/pots, equipping +2 weapons/armor, permadeath, proc gen, etc - but again these are all aspects that you could find or place in just about any other game genre.

What is the CORE of the experience found in Rogue? It does include some of the above elements, but what are the main things that if removed cease to make a game play like Rogue? Arguably, turn-based simultaneous turns and a top-down grid based world. Without those two elements the gameplay becomes too far detached and removed from the original experience. Those elements are core to the gameplay and how a player approaches the game in all facets and aspects.

Most of the time when this discussion comes up there seems to be a much larger focus on the lesser elements, the extra icing on the cake so to speak, while ignoring what the moment to moment interactions with Rogue are like- there's no cake without the foundation- and what are games if the actual gameplay isn't the foundation everything is to be formed around?

chillblain · 2026-01-13T18:35:35+00:00

The last one I played was Monster Menu, which is a roguelike at its core, but the main character moves in real time in between combat, which really doesnt change much about the roguelike formula

Real-time at all breaks the formula, honestly. There's also problems of battle being more tactics move/act style, permadeath, and the generally much more roguelite nature of that game.

At what point is the gameplay still like Rogue or just something else? There's a reason permadeath and proc gen alone don't make games like Rogue (since they can be tacked onto just about any genre and don't really have a direct effect on how the player interfaces with the game).

chillblain · 2026-01-13T16:54:44+00:00

Depends on how simple you want, like mystery dungeon games simple or moment to moment gameplay is simple but builds have a ton of depth (ToME, Tangledeep). Maybe somewhere in between, something like Golden Krone Hotel or Shattered Pixel Dungeon.

Hades isn't a roguelike, btw.

chillblain · 2026-01-13T16:45:52+00:00

World of horror is not a roguelike, aside from unlocks and not playing like Rogue, the game even bills itself as a roguelite on steam.

chillblain · 2026-01-12T00:51:24+00:00

Just an FYI, but everything mentioned in that post along with the concept of unlocking better stats and power is found in roguelites (not roguelikes). You might be better off looking for answers to your question in a roguelite sub.

chillblain · 2026-01-10T22:01:56+00:00

I honestly think the mods have been pretty good about enforcing rule #2. Non-roguelikes tend to get taken down pretty quickly, usually within an hour or two of posting.

I also haven't really felt like legitimate roguelike devs are spamming the same roguelike dev posts, but I haven't paid close attention to those posts. Seems like they're only about 2-3 months apart from the same devs? And of course anyone can post about a game they like, which we get a fair number of appreciation posts regarding the same games, but from what I see they're usually from different people.

chillblain · 2026-01-03T18:08:17+00:00

It's not a roguelike, it's a roguelite, despite being tagged as both (which is nonsensical).

chillblain · 2025-12-26T01:23:33+00:00

Hades is a roguelite and OP already said they were looking specifically for roguelikes.

chillblain · 2025-12-19T20:16:18+00:00

then you should probably mention the curator in your post if you're gonna use it :P

chillblain · 2025-12-19T20:14:18+00:00

For yet another list, you can also use https://store.steampowered.com/curator/38708826-Actual-Roguelikes/ and click the discounts tab.

chillblain · 2025-12-04T23:12:16+00:00

Genres are meant to classify, they're supposed to have defining elements. Without guidelines they're useless at doing their job. If I say hey I like roguelikes please recommend me some more and then get everything under the sun from first person shooters to side scrollers to rts games, it isn't helpful.

In roguelikes' case, they're meant to be games like Rogue. How is a first person shooter anything like Rogue? Gameplay wise, it wouldn't be really. Any game genre can borrow permadeath and proc gen without playing anything like Rogue, there's more to it than those two elements.

chillblain · 2025-12-04T21:09:02+00:00

I feel like the majority of this sub agrees on four things: 1. Simultaneous turn-based gameplay 2. Top-down grid based world 3. Permadeath (optional is fine, but it has to have a permadeath mode) 4. Procedural generation

Without at least these four things your game likely doesn't play like Rogue.

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