My takeaway is that it's only original Rogue fans that care about the delineation of the terms. Is there a modern (i.e. post 2000s game) that matches the definition of a roguelike as given in the article?

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments

[–] johannesvanderwhales@lemmy.world 8 points 9 months ago (2 children)

It's not really gatekeeping to say that not every game that features procedural generation is part of a very old and well-defined genre. Something like Rogue Legacy or Hades are pretty obviously not in the same genre as nethack, angband, or adom.

[–] fsxylo@sh.itjust.works 4 points 9 months ago

My point is that the line between the two is so blurry that I'm not convinced there's an actual distinction other than elitism. Genre doesn't mean "every game is exactly the same" having a wide variety in mechanics is a good thing. I don't think having permanent upgrades outside the dungeon, for instance, is enough to make a game a different genre.

[–] pennomi@lemmy.world 1 points 9 months ago

I don’t really agree with that - just because the playstyle is different doesn’t mean the genre is different.

Besides, individual games have multiple genres. You can have a turn-based roguelike, platformer roguelike, action roguelike, etc. The term roguelike has come to define the common elements of procedural generation + permadeath. Anything else is a secondary genre tag.