Essay: Why roguelikes are better than everything else

[strongbad]

Originally wrote this for my blog and reddit but i thought it could spur some conversation here.

For all intents and purposes of this post, “roguelike” will refer to any game that is randomly generated and features perma-death. My inspiration for writing this comes from playing Nethack and Spelunky for 100s of hours, as well as dabbling with FTL, Binding of Isaac, and a handful of traditional roguelikes.

Through my own experiences, I’ve found a lot of similarities between game mechanics I enjoy and real life activities. For example, some of my favorite games are very technical (competitive SSBM, Super Meat Boy, etc) and have high skill caps, and the same could be said for the hobbies that capture my interest the most, like mountain biking and rock climbing. In fact, I believe that any desirable gaming mechanic can be related to something you enjoy outside of gaming, which is why it appeals to you in the first place.

Keeping that in mind, I used to think that I just didn’t enjoy single player games. I always felt like they were too scripted, and that the skill wasn’t “real.” Obviously there are single player games that require TONS of skill that aren’t roguelikes, but I always felt like the skill was doing something the way the developer wanted you to do it, using the tools that they provide you. In any given game there are usually many ways to handle any given situation, but there is always something that the developer had in mind when designing it. I feel like my satisfaction in these games is lessened because, instead of feeling like I used my innate skill to tackle something, I feel like I used my skills to figure out what someone wanted me to figure out. Not to say that this isn’t satisfying in it’s own right, but I think that the satisfaction is limited. However, when you conquer something in a roguelike, it feels more like you used the actual skill you developed to conquer something, not by trial-and-error, but by actual mastery. This is the primary reason that I keep coming back to roguelikes. Imagine the hardest level in any game that you eventually completed and how satisfying it felt. In a roguelike, you can (theoretically) achieve this in every run and the experience will be different every time.

By nature, roguelikes can be very luck based because they are composed of RNG. This may seem like a bad thing at times, especially when you feel like you failed due to bad RNG instead of your own skill. However, when done correctly, I think that the luck factor makes roguelikes incredibly appealing. When you start a fresh run on Nethack and find a good item early on, you feel like you actually found something. In a way, it fuels your drive to keep playing, much like how gamblers have trouble leaving a table on a win streak. It’s different from a standard game where a developer puts a secret somewhere for you to find, because then you are just finding something that somebody intended for you to find. Sure, it still feels good, but it’s like comparing finding an easter egg in an easter egg hunt to finding $20 on the ground. One is significantly more satisfying than the other, because it feels like a unique and special situation. In fact, the situation is unique, much like special experiences are in real life.

However, there is a downside to this. You’ll often have runs where you feel severely under-powered and like the game is being unfair to you. Good roguelikes will try to avoid this as much as possible, but it is hard to prevent entirely and is the obvious trade off to good RNG. Fortunately this leads to another thing that makes roguelikes special. Most of the newer roguelikes (or ‘roguelites’ if you want to nitpick) can be completed in under and hour. One could easily beat Spelunky on their lunch break if they were a skilled player, and this makes “unlucky” runs less consequential. Of course, you’ll have to have hundreds of hours of gameplay under your belt to get to this point, but the idea remains intact.

This “pick-up-and-play” mentality is part of what makes the genre so great. Even with longer, more traditional roguelikes, you will likely need to play for hours on end before you can finish a single run. There is however a crucial difference between a game like Nethack and a traditional RPG. In Nethack, there is no plot or sequence of actions to have to remember, unlike an RPG where you will start up after some time of inactivity and have no idea what’s going on. In nethack, you just boot up, check your inventory and look at your stats/dungeon level, and you are ready to press on. For this very reason, I enjoy playing Nethack almost exclusively while I’m on the toilet. I’ve had some of my most memorable gaming experiences on the shitter looking at tiles (sorry ASCII master race).

These are just few of the many reasons that I can’t seem to stay away from randomly generated, perma-death games. At first I thought that Spelunky was just a great game by itself. Well, it is a great game, but then I tried Nethack, and a few hundred hours of gameplay (and no ascensions, sadly) later, I started FTL and Binding of Isaac and I realized something. Yes, these are all amazing games, but it is the core roguelike fundamentals that keep me coming back. Imagine if something like Megaman, or even Halo was made with these fundamentals in mind. I believe that you could even create story driven experiences (I am pretty sure some smaller games have done it already) with a roguelike formula, and I think that it would be amazing. Skyrim as a roguelike, anyone?

Sorry for the sensationalist title, but this is a genre(?) that I have only delved into over the last few years. I never just thought that after ~15 years of gaming I would find something that recaptured my interest in video games so much. It makes me sad to see people brush off these amazing ideas because they are scared of perma-death, or don’t think that randomly generated levels can stack up to those designed by a level designer. If you are one of these people, I urge you to give at least one of these games mentioned a college try. Now if I could only ascend in Nethack and move onto Brogue, ADOM, TOME, or another modern roguelike that is continuing to push the genre further and further.

[TooB]

spelunky is pretty damn sweet

[strongbad]

Yeah prob one of my favorite games to date
So tempted to get a PS vita just for it

[Snowy]

please do not buy a vita

[strongbad]

please do not buy a vita

would be worth it just for BoI:R and Spelunky imo

[silvertone]

this thread inspired me to play nethack
it was cool but 2 ancient for me.

[silvertone]

also is their any high fantasy/more modern ones that are a bit more intuitive to play? that isn't rogue-lite.  or is part of the obscure control screen the main feature of roguelikes

[strongbad]

Nethack is really good once you get over the awful interface and learn all the commands.
If you want any help or guidance I'd be happy to help you
I've tried DCSS but it is sluggish on my chromebook
Brogue looks really cool too
ADOM is good and huge
But the only one I've played extensively is nethack

[silvertone]

what's the difference between the classes?  i;ve been hitting random because i am unsure.
and why cant i bring my pet down other levels.


the main thing that really gets me is when i use item and i get random letters and im unsure what they mean.

[silvertone]

also checking out yr recommendations thx

[strongbad]

what's the difference between the classes?  i;ve been hitting random because i am unsure.
and why cant i bring my pet down other levels.


the main thing that really gets me is when i use item and i get random letters and im unsure what they mean.

oop totally thought i replied to this
different classes have different stat combinations (i.e. wizards better at spellcasting, valkries stronger with more strength)
each attribute does different things but the two most important ones are probably strength and intelligence. strength lets you carry more items (otherwise you get burdened which has bad outcomes eventually) and makes your attacks hit for more. intelligence gives you a better chance at reading spellbooks and casting those spells, which is good.

your pet has to be on a square adjacent to you in order for it to go down with you. kind of annoying just waiting for it to get next to you (you can wait by pressing '.') but it is pretty useful esp if youre a weaker class like a wizard.

and yeah the ascii is tough. im a wimp and use a tileset that makes things slightly easier. i have a friend who started at the same time as me with ascii and seemed to grasp things as quickly as i did so i dont think he was hindered at all.

or do you mean the letters in your inventory? each item just has a letter assigned to it as a hotkey of sorts.

HOWEVER
i finally got DCSS working on my chromebook through telnet and i'd like to get more into it. jump on it with me so we can be beginners together <3

[silvertone]

i played some dcss but didn't get too far into but i liked it more than nethack. it feels more intuitive.


also i idnt know about the hotkey, that makes sense.

[Samus Aran]

i'm interested in that Galak-Z shmup roguelike i've been hearing about lately

[strongbad]

i'm interested in that Galak-Z shmup roguelike i've been hearing about lately

i started designing a shmup roguelike (mostly just the theory behind how it should work) a while ago it is kind of a tricky genre merger. im curious how this game pulls it off

[strongbad]

i played some dcss but didn't get too far into but i liked it more than nethack. it feels more intuitive.


also i idnt know about the hotkey, that makes sense.

that was my first impression as well lol. esp the auto pickup of items that you had previously used (if no monsters are nearby) and the auto quiver of projectiles. wish nethack had these features
i still haven't really started having fun with DCSS to the point of obsession (like with nethack) but im sure ill get there.
i've been playing a troll berserker since that's what the noob guides seem to recommend and it is significantly easier than the spellcasters ive tried
the religion system seems to be pretty complex too