RE: We chat about videogames and videogame accessories.
11-21-2017, 04:02 PM
(This post was last modified: 11-21-2017, 04:04 PM by Mirdini.)
I mostly deal in semi-roguelikes but the one actual roguelike I've heard a ton of good things about (and have in my steam inventory and haven't gotten around to) is Tales of Maj'Eyal. It's open-source, so you can actually get it for free, but if you donate on their site or buy it on Steam/GoG you get some bonus features.
Another thing I'd really qualify as closer to a solid roguelike than semi-roguelike is Dungeons of Dredmor, which is jam-packed with flavor and goofy spells and a great time. Pick it up with all the expansions if you can, they're all real good.
Coming around to semi-roguelikes:
I'll let Schaz talk further about Crypt of the Necrodancer because I'm sure they can wax lyrical about it far better than I, but yeah, it's Great and Continues To Be Great. Top Tier.
(Schaz could probably also talk more in detail about TOME which iirc they've actually played).
Enter the Gungeon is really great fun if you want a super slick semi-shmup semi-roguelike that's still getting constant updates and filled with neat things. I've sunk a ton of hours in and as soon as the next update drops I'll sink a ton more.
Sunless Sea is a roguelikelike from the Fallen London browser game devs in which you must sail the unterzee and trade various goods around it in order to upgrade your ship so you can see more of it and solve long story questlines. Really good writing and story beats (as you might expect from the people behind Fallen London), and the game looks and feels great. The gameplay is a your mileage may vary sort of deal - if you enjoy sitting down with a game to decompress and waste some time the long sea trips are great, if you want constant action you might be a bit let down. There's also a Zubmariner expansion which adds a submersible you can launch from your ship, and coming soon is SUNLESS SKIES in which you'll be crewing a SPACE TRAIN.
I haven't played CRAWL but I've heard good things about its unique take on making an asymmetric adversarial multiplayer (!) roguelite.
Dungeon of the Endless is a top-tier (preferably) co-operative roguelite. Loads of fun, and with slick design decisions courtesy of the same folks who made Endless Legend and Endless Space.
Risk of Rain is an oldie and may have a bit less content than some of the above games but it's still one of my favorite action-roguelites of all time. Due to the ever-escalating enemy strength over time co-op is a riot, but you can definitely have a good time solo as well.
Darkest Dungeon is kind of different, and honestly one of the more -like of the roguelites I'm discussing here, but certainly at least deserves an honorable mention for its incredible aesthetics/tone and pretty neat party-based combat system.
Teleglitch is weird. In the best kind of way. Oppressive, minimally helpful, and a top-down real-time combat that forces you to exhibit almost superhuman reflexes at times. Which sounds bad, and definitely if you're not in for that kind of punishment it's perfectly fine to dislike the game for it. But that combined with a neat find debris/craft it system and a discovery-based story system makes me want to recommend, even though I've never gotten past the halfway point in it.
Another thing I'd really qualify as closer to a solid roguelike than semi-roguelike is Dungeons of Dredmor, which is jam-packed with flavor and goofy spells and a great time. Pick it up with all the expansions if you can, they're all real good.
Coming around to semi-roguelikes:
I'll let Schaz talk further about Crypt of the Necrodancer because I'm sure they can wax lyrical about it far better than I, but yeah, it's Great and Continues To Be Great. Top Tier.
(Schaz could probably also talk more in detail about TOME which iirc they've actually played).
Enter the Gungeon is really great fun if you want a super slick semi-shmup semi-roguelike that's still getting constant updates and filled with neat things. I've sunk a ton of hours in and as soon as the next update drops I'll sink a ton more.
Sunless Sea is a roguelikelike from the Fallen London browser game devs in which you must sail the unterzee and trade various goods around it in order to upgrade your ship so you can see more of it and solve long story questlines. Really good writing and story beats (as you might expect from the people behind Fallen London), and the game looks and feels great. The gameplay is a your mileage may vary sort of deal - if you enjoy sitting down with a game to decompress and waste some time the long sea trips are great, if you want constant action you might be a bit let down. There's also a Zubmariner expansion which adds a submersible you can launch from your ship, and coming soon is SUNLESS SKIES in which you'll be crewing a SPACE TRAIN.
I haven't played CRAWL but I've heard good things about its unique take on making an asymmetric adversarial multiplayer (!) roguelite.
Dungeon of the Endless is a top-tier (preferably) co-operative roguelite. Loads of fun, and with slick design decisions courtesy of the same folks who made Endless Legend and Endless Space.
Risk of Rain is an oldie and may have a bit less content than some of the above games but it's still one of my favorite action-roguelites of all time. Due to the ever-escalating enemy strength over time co-op is a riot, but you can definitely have a good time solo as well.
Darkest Dungeon is kind of different, and honestly one of the more -like of the roguelites I'm discussing here, but certainly at least deserves an honorable mention for its incredible aesthetics/tone and pretty neat party-based combat system.
Teleglitch is weird. In the best kind of way. Oppressive, minimally helpful, and a top-down real-time combat that forces you to exhibit almost superhuman reflexes at times. Which sounds bad, and definitely if you're not in for that kind of punishment it's perfectly fine to dislike the game for it. But that combined with a neat find debris/craft it system and a discovery-based story system makes me want to recommend, even though I've never gotten past the halfway point in it.