Roguelike Review
By Misterebony
I hope you did not click this looking for a story. It isn't one. WHat this is, however, is a look at one of my favorite game types. Most people know I am a hardcore gamer, but my favorite kind of games are roguelikes.
And what is a roguelike?
Well, it has to meet certain conditions:
1.) The game must focus on delving into a randomly constructed dungeon or series of randomly constructed dungeons.
2.) The main character has to develop overtime (New abilities and skills, etc.) and can accquire various items within the dungeons to help him.
3.) The goal of the game has to be to defeat a creature or accquire a key item.
4.) The game can be saved, but death means you must start over fromn the beginning.
All of these things are part of the roguelike area. other things, such as a wide variety of items, status ailaments, choices in character type, and so forth, are all optional. But the above four rules in my opinion, are the most key elements. Roguelikes are, in general, randomized RPGs of a sort, with plenty of replay value but a HIGH difficulty. I love them for another reason as well: 99% of them are FREE.
So, what are the good ones to play? Well, that is just too broad a qestion. That is like asking are games good. but I know of a few that I love to play.
The first one, of course, is Nethack. THis is, in my opinion, the quinessential Roguelike game, with lots of options for characters and plenty of replay value. it also is friggin hard (shown by my Nethack tales). I highly recommend it to anyone into roguelikes. My favorite class in the game is the archeologist, who can disarm enemies with his whip, and dig new passages using a pickaxe. I HATE KNIGHTS.
if you don't mind just text based graphics, which I am sure is no problem, then consider Ancient Domains of Mystery, or ADOM, as a game to play. It is a HUGE game, taking over 100 hours to beat really, and having a lot of quests, dungeons, and places to explore. There is a lot of options for this game too, with a wide range of races and classes to play as. Fun times, and very hard.
Not into a large amount of buttons that you have to use? No problem! Try the DOOM Roguelike, a game that combines the best of both worlds, including the music and sounds from the DOOM game. Originally a 7 day rougelike project, it has evolved into an awesome title. Moreover, unlike other games of its type, the manual is very short and easy to understand. It is a good starting point for first time rouge players.
Perhaps you like games that are cyberpunk style, or more hacker style. Decker has you covered. It is easy to play with a mouse driven interface, but is truly a roguelike, given its high difficulty and high death rate in the game. That being said, it is a LOT easier than most roguelikes, and is very fun for the hacker in you. Decker is highly recommended.
Finally, if you are wondering about how the game got started, consider getting Rogue. This is the game that started it all. It is very small and not very complex compared to other games. But it is also a good peice of history. Play it once if you are curious on how it started.
But that is just the tip of the iceberg. There are HUNDREDS of Roguelikes out there, covering everything from fangames based on popular titles, to fantasy, to zombie horror, to even a chess game! check out roguewiki (I think it is called that...) for a listing of current projects. Also a good site is temple of the roguelike. But for my favorite ones, I found them all at www.reloaded.org. Check them out.
In closing, I have a few Nethack challenges for people to try. Maybe they can succeed where I have failed. Here they are:
1.) As an Orc, find and kill a gnome lord. leave the dngeon alive after doing so.
2.) As a barbarian, kill at least 60 monsters.
3.) As a ranger, kill 10-20 goblins and/or orcs.
4.)Find and kill a shopkjeeper, looting his goods. GOOD LUCK!!!
5.) Finally, locate a jewel that is anything BUT a worthless peice of glass. it is not as easy as it sounds.
GOod luck, and happy adventuring!
By Misterebony
I hope you did not click this looking for a story. It isn't one. WHat this is, however, is a look at one of my favorite game types. Most people know I am a hardcore gamer, but my favorite kind of games are roguelikes.
And what is a roguelike?
Well, it has to meet certain conditions:
1.) The game must focus on delving into a randomly constructed dungeon or series of randomly constructed dungeons.
2.) The main character has to develop overtime (New abilities and skills, etc.) and can accquire various items within the dungeons to help him.
3.) The goal of the game has to be to defeat a creature or accquire a key item.
4.) The game can be saved, but death means you must start over fromn the beginning.
All of these things are part of the roguelike area. other things, such as a wide variety of items, status ailaments, choices in character type, and so forth, are all optional. But the above four rules in my opinion, are the most key elements. Roguelikes are, in general, randomized RPGs of a sort, with plenty of replay value but a HIGH difficulty. I love them for another reason as well: 99% of them are FREE.
So, what are the good ones to play? Well, that is just too broad a qestion. That is like asking are games good. but I know of a few that I love to play.
The first one, of course, is Nethack. THis is, in my opinion, the quinessential Roguelike game, with lots of options for characters and plenty of replay value. it also is friggin hard (shown by my Nethack tales). I highly recommend it to anyone into roguelikes. My favorite class in the game is the archeologist, who can disarm enemies with his whip, and dig new passages using a pickaxe. I HATE KNIGHTS.
if you don't mind just text based graphics, which I am sure is no problem, then consider Ancient Domains of Mystery, or ADOM, as a game to play. It is a HUGE game, taking over 100 hours to beat really, and having a lot of quests, dungeons, and places to explore. There is a lot of options for this game too, with a wide range of races and classes to play as. Fun times, and very hard.
Not into a large amount of buttons that you have to use? No problem! Try the DOOM Roguelike, a game that combines the best of both worlds, including the music and sounds from the DOOM game. Originally a 7 day rougelike project, it has evolved into an awesome title. Moreover, unlike other games of its type, the manual is very short and easy to understand. It is a good starting point for first time rouge players.
Perhaps you like games that are cyberpunk style, or more hacker style. Decker has you covered. It is easy to play with a mouse driven interface, but is truly a roguelike, given its high difficulty and high death rate in the game. That being said, it is a LOT easier than most roguelikes, and is very fun for the hacker in you. Decker is highly recommended.
Finally, if you are wondering about how the game got started, consider getting Rogue. This is the game that started it all. It is very small and not very complex compared to other games. But it is also a good peice of history. Play it once if you are curious on how it started.
But that is just the tip of the iceberg. There are HUNDREDS of Roguelikes out there, covering everything from fangames based on popular titles, to fantasy, to zombie horror, to even a chess game! check out roguewiki (I think it is called that...) for a listing of current projects. Also a good site is temple of the roguelike. But for my favorite ones, I found them all at www.reloaded.org. Check them out.
In closing, I have a few Nethack challenges for people to try. Maybe they can succeed where I have failed. Here they are:
1.) As an Orc, find and kill a gnome lord. leave the dngeon alive after doing so.
2.) As a barbarian, kill at least 60 monsters.
3.) As a ranger, kill 10-20 goblins and/or orcs.
4.)Find and kill a shopkjeeper, looting his goods. GOOD LUCK!!!
5.) Finally, locate a jewel that is anything BUT a worthless peice of glass. it is not as easy as it sounds.
GOod luck, and happy adventuring!
My paper on roguelikes
By MisterEbony -- Report
What the hell are roguelikes? Here is my opinion!
Please login to post a comment.
Posted by Bitter 17 years ago Report
In your opinion, would a game that employs a JRPG-style gameplay paradigm (with a clear separation between "world" and "combat" segments, with different engines controlling each) qualify as a roguelike, assuming it met the other criteria? From what little I know of roguelikes, most of them integrate combat and world navigation, with hostile actions simply being a subset of all possible interactions with the world.
Posted by Omega 17 years ago Report
Try out Gearhead. It is a pretty darn innovative Roguelike that I happened to have a small hand in the creation of, (Sprites for GH1 only. Doesn't look like they used my stuff much in GH2.)
Posted by Omega 17 years ago Report
I think the other core necessity for a game to be a RogueLike is that its base game must be in ASCII. Graphical ports are fine. But there must be that basis that binds all RogueLikes.
Otherwise its a Roguelike-like, of which there are many. The .HACK//Infection and .HACK//GU series of Playstation games are massive graphical Roguelike-likes at their core.
Posted by MisterEbony 17 years ago Report
That is a good point Omega, but there are some roguelikes that do not use ascii characters in them at all.
Posted by Omega 17 years ago Report
ADDENDUM:
Oh. and for sheer over-the-top over-torquing of a RogueLike to the Nth degree, have a look at Privateer: ASCII Sector. They even have a video of game play in the Screenshot page.
http://www.asciisector.net/
And of course theres the further mutation of Roguelikes. Dwarven Fortress.
Posted by MisterEbony 17 years ago Report
Heh, you should consider doing a write up on roguelikes too, as much as you know about them :-)
Posted by kura1204 17 years ago Report
what about diablo and fate you forgot some of the best ones
Posted by MisterEbony 17 years ago Report
well, I was trying to focus on the more freeware titles than anything else. But hey, if you got ones to add, Please Do!