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What makes roguelike games special?
If we want to talk about the difficulty of games, there is one type of game that cannot be ignored, which is roguelike .
In this topic, God willing, we will talk about what distinguishes these games from others, and let us start first with the origin of the word Rogue .
The first Rogue game was released in 1980 , called Rogue Explore the Dungeons of Doom , and it featured a gameplay that was different from other games, which inspired many developers to take all the necessary elements that distinguished this game and make it the basis for their games.
Roguelike games are mainly based on five points:
The first point is a type of game called role-playing , and this type of game is undoubtedly different, but it is always related to the type of roguelike games.
The second point is the random stages and abilities .
The third point is eternal death .
The fourth point is the development of the story's events every time you die .
The fifth and final point is the great diversity in the atmosphere of the stages and types of weapons .
Let's now go through each of these points in depth, step by step:
On the one hand, role-playing games (RPGs) are mostly based on a genre called role-playing . Being a role-playing game means that every decision you make in this type of game will have a major impact on the story, and even the simplest decision you make will unlock a new weapon or open up multiple endings. I'll delve into this further in point 4 , "How the story develops every time you die ." As for combat in roguelikes, it's usually either a shooting game (Gunfire Reborn & Neon Abyss) or a hack-and-slash game (Hades & The Cult of the Lamb). Because Hades is the best roguelike I've played, most of the points and examples I'll discuss will likely be taken from Hades. If we look at most roguelike games, we'll notice that most of them share two types of attacks and two types of defense. Attacks will usually be either a slow, powerful attack or a fast, light one, while defenses will mostly be dodging or perfect parries. Yes, it may seem simple to you, but the real fun begins when you acquire new abilities and items as you progress through the game. Now let's talk about random levels and abilities .
We'll notice that in the levels we play, we always start from square one, with a random or weak weapon, and without any abilities. As you progress through the game, and in every room you enter, you'll discover that it generates randomly in terms of enemies and interior design. However, the difficulty of the room varies depending on the type of room you enter, and you'll know this either through the map or through its exterior design. The greater the reward you get in a room, the greater the risks. The reason for this is that every ability you acquire, even if it's simple in the game, may play a major role in your progress. You, my dear, bear the responsibility, because the ability system in roguelike games varies. If you take, for example, a new ability, it may require you to replace it with the ability you acquired previously. Sacrifice is the foundation of the game. As for the point of eternal death , this means that every time you die, you start from scratch. As if every time you die, you will start a new game from the starting point, but don't worry, my dear, your effort in the game will not be wasted. When you die, you will move to a quiet place away from killing and blood. In this place, you will be able to talk to all the characters you met on your journey, interact with them more, get to know them, and discover the story more from their dialogues that are constantly evolving, and buy abilities that will greatly help you in your career. In most roguelike games, there are two types of currencies:
1- Currencies that you can use in the Quiet Place I mentioned earlier, and with them you can purchase abilities or weapons that will help you on your journey from scratch. 2- Currencies that you can use to purchase consumables . These currencies are permanently lost after death, unlike the Quiet Place currencies. The real difficulty in roguelike games lies only in the beginning, and as you progress, they become much easier. The problem with roguelike games is that they will take you approximately an hour or an hour and a half to complete, and this is a major problem that will eliminate their most important distinguishing feature, which is the difficulty of these games. The solution exists, and that is by imposing harsher penalties during the game. You can see this in the game Hades, with something called "The Covenant of Punishment." This will not be unlocked until you finish the game, and it will let you choose conditions that make the game more difficult for you, either by reducing your character's health bar, for example, or increasing the health of enemies. However, in return, you will be offered rewards worth your effort. Now let's move on to the story's progression each time you die . This is the core feature of Hades . We can see this in the fact that you can give each person you meet a gift, and in return, your luck will increase thanks to the abilities you gain from each one. Each time, you build a stronger relationship with them and solve more of their challenges. The more rewards they offer you, the more they may reveal secrets that could reveal a radical change in the story, something unexpected, or open up multiple endings.
The last point is the diversity of environments and types of weapons , we will see that Unlike most games, roguelikes focus on gameplay rather than cinematic scenes. Therefore, they will provide you with an optimal gaming experience in all aspects. This is because the levels are randomized, and your experience will be different from others'. The variety of weapons in roguelike games is unnatural. Imagine that you have 186 weapons in Deadcells . In Hades , you have six weapons, each with four different forms, each with a different gameplay. The environments are imaginative, arranged in a specific order, and each environment has its own difficulty. In Returnal , for example, you have an underwater environment in a cold desert. Similarly, in Hades, there is a volcano environment and a prison environment. There is an unnatural variety in these games.
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