Currently playing Hades and I don't really get the hype but I have only played for a few hours. The fact that decisions cannot be rolled back (when you go to the store and buy a gift from a God you cannot cancel if no options are interesting, when you enter in a new room you cannot go back to the previous room to try an alternative room) is removing a lot of strategy IMO, it feels like Rogue Legacy where you get more and more powerful from one run to another leading to a mandatory victory. But this might be like this just at the beginning.<p>I love The Binding of Isaac which always starts from 0 + your knowledge of the game. One thing I learned during lockdown is that this game is totally awesome when played in single-player mode with another person on PC. Using one or two keyboards, one player controls Isaac and bombs/active items while the other shoots. The tension of Isaac (going fast can lead you somewhere, choosing certain items can lead you somewhere) goes really well with playing with someone, I really recommend it.<p>Another great roguelike that can be experienced with another player is Faster Than Light. The option to pause when fighting another spaceship makes it more approachable for players with less experience.
I've been hooked on Noita these days. A pixel-based physics simulator, like Powder Toy from long ago, with spellcasting and a ton of secrets. One run, I can focus on incrementally improving a wand that shoots a simple bolt like a machine gun. The next run, I'm tunneling through the ground and popping up like the monsters from Tremors.<p>Dying repeatedly means I'm forced to cobble together different strategies. I had a run where I save-scummed, mostly to see parts of the game I couldn't reach at my skill level. But relying on the same build for boring, and I haven't save-scummed since.
If you are looking for a super-hardcore, very tough to beat roguelike, but with great lore and world-building, check out Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup (DCSS): <a href="https://crawl.develz.org/" rel="nofollow">https://crawl.develz.org/</a><p>You can play online but I play the 'tiles' version locally, the interface is better. To have any chances of beating the game, you must check out the wiki for guides and looking up monsters: <a href="http://crawl.chaosforge.org/Crawl_Wiki" rel="nofollow">http://crawl.chaosforge.org/Crawl_Wiki</a><p>Plus, it's open source.
I’m admittedly not hardcore enough for most rogue-ish games (Spelunky 2 absolutely wrecks me), but Hades hits the sweet spot for me. The progression over time is nice, but having a wide range of control — e.g. weapon choice and, essentially, god power up choice — is even more welcoming. What’s nice is that a run in which you cede control is just as fun and addicting. And the endgame mechanic of difficulty modifiers is surprisingly robust. Not just options to increase enemies/damage by n%, but a few options that drastically change enemy abilties. My biggest complaint is that the game could use more variety and randomness, but 100+ runs of entertainment is pretty solid value.<p>One thing that Hades’s success affirms for me is the importance of story and world-building for players who aren’t just looking for hardcore mechanics and challenge. Klei (makers of Don’t Starve and Mark of the Ninja) created what I think is one of the pinnacles of turn-based strategy in Invisible, Inc [0]. It’s like X-COM except with a single, small squad and no (tactical) RNG. But its fatal flaw was that it ended anti-climactically after 3 in-game days, and Klei’s reasoning was “well it’s meant to be replayed, and you shouldn’t get too attached to your team”<p>Each successful run in Hades can also feel short and anti-climactic, but Supergiant beautifully overcomes that with persistent story/dialogue state. Even when the action feels stale I was still happy to grind to move the story and subplots forward.<p>[0] <a href="https://www.klei.com/games/invisible-inc" rel="nofollow">https://www.klei.com/games/invisible-inc</a>
For a trip down memory lane—-for some of us old farts—-or just to play a “new” retro game, check out Nox Archaist [1].<p>What is Nox Archaist?
Nox Archaist is a new RPG for the classic Apple II platform, playable on Apple II hardware, Windows, and MacOS. It is an evolution of the classic fantasy games of the 1980s like Ultima, Bards Tale, and Wizardry.<p>[1] <a href="https://www.6502workshop.com/p/nox-archaist.html" rel="nofollow">https://www.6502workshop.com/p/nox-archaist.html</a>
I hope the trend ends soon. I know the games are great, eg Hades looks and plays fantastic. But the mechanic just isn't doing it for me. And it's increasingly difficult to find indie games in genres like platforming and light RPG that <i>aren't</i> roguelite. If Diablo 1 had been made today, hardcore mode would be mandatory...
For some additional, solid Roguelites, I present:<p>Risk of Rain 2<p>Gunfire Reborn<p>Both games last about an hour - Risk of Rain games can last a lot longer.<p>Items are unlockable and appear in later runs. Both 3d. RoR2 is 1.0, Gunfire Reborn is EA, but feels complete enough for 50+ hours, to me; but, I like the genre.
Hollow Knight isn't really a rogue on the difficulties it was designed for. That aside, I like rogues. Specifically I like starting games out. Assessing one's starting positioning and creating a long term strategy is fun. It's a lot like board games. It also asks you to learn generalized strategies that work well, vs. other games which, when there's no consequence for loss. In a rogue, you need to play in a style that is consistently effective. In a traditional game, you might as well trend towards a high variance strat instead, that's kind of dumb but might just work.<p>I'm growing weary of progression systems though. Darkest Dungeon, Enter the Gungeon, and 20XX are a few titles I've played in the past year where I got annoyed at feeling like endgame content was designed for having certain permanent upgrades and didn't really want to grind them out. A lot of these games have an inflection point at the very end where the difficulty ramps up suddenly. Playing through the first 90% of a game many times is a bit dull after a while. Especially if you feel like practicing early levels does nothing for efficacy later on.
I just recently built my first PC and the amount of games available to play was pretty overwhelming<p>It's also really hard to know which genres you like when you basically start from scratch. After about 1.5 years, I can't get enough of the narrative-driven games.<p>I'm thinking I need to try out some more roguelikes for trial and error. I have 50m logged into Hades and it's pretty good, but idk really doesn't seem like my thing. But at first I thought I wouldn't love platformers at all, then I played the first Ori and finished it, now have 9 hours in Hollow knight and just started Celeste.<p>It's been a fun journey, gonna look into the reccs posted here and see if roguelike is my thing<p><a href="https://i.imgur.com/IuLB3k5.png" rel="nofollow">https://i.imgur.com/IuLB3k5.png</a> this is my ranked list of games on a site i've been working on
I’ve been having good fun playing Minecraft Dungeons with my older kid on the switch, it’s very accessible (3 lives, teammate healing/revival, keep your items etc) but I think it still qualifies as a roguelike.
Pixel Dungeon is the most played, and best game on my phone. Wouldn't say that I <i>like</i> it, but if it was a pleasant experience, it wouldn't be a roguelike.