The Modern Traditional Roguelike: Three Games That Switch It Up
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- čas přidán 13. 12. 2022
- I thought I'd do something a bit different. I'm a big fan of video essays. Turns out they're a lot harder than you'd think, especially to edit for. Though I'd say a ~12 hour turnaround on my idea isn't too bad.
- Hry
My favorite rogue-like, which I have been playing since the mid 90's and which is still actively maintained, is Angband. I think vanilla Angband is the best, most refined and faithful rogue-like you can play.
I've never actually played Angband. I'm more of a Nethack guy myself, though I've been meaning to try Brogue at some point too. I was trying to make a very traditional style Roguelike for a while but kinda threw in the towel because I'd have had to rewrite the whole engine to do something specific, and that was a lot of tedium.
@@SolemnSunday Right on, I only dabbled in Nethack. The other really popular one I only dabbled in was ADOM. Both are clearly truly excellent. But Angband became my favorite likely because it came first and I memorized the controls to second nature ability lol. I also played many of the Angband variants, Zangband was a particular standout. I also remember when ToME was first developed it was ASCII and came from the direct lineage of rogue-likes. I have it on Steam now. But good old vanilla Angband remains my preferred rogue-like to this day...
I have ToME and debated using footage of it in the video actually. I haven't played it as much as I like but I love the Diablo style weapon drops. Definitely a unique mechanic to explore if I make a follow-up video!
ADOM is amazing
It's still my favorite although TOME and Zorbus are great modern RL's as well.
I recommend Caves of Qud.
The game would undoubtably be hailed more often by the rogue community if the devs didn't continue to alienate fans and shoot their own publicity in the foot by being sociopolitical egoists. But if you don't go down that rabbit hole, the game itself is quite mindblowing. If you like traditional Roguelikes, you will enjoy Qud.
I don't get political here, because I don't think it's appropriate to force my views into a space they don't belong (gaming entertainment. And of course this changes if some dummy is going to provoke me in a stream!)
With all that said, I agree with CoQ politically on many fronts and yet I've never felt more alienated by a game based on factors about myself I can't control.
My favorite roguelike is actually a series. Shiren the Wanderer is made by Chunsoft, the guys who made Pokemon Mystery Dungeon. Mystery Dungeons are basically traditional roguelikes designed for consoles. It's probably the best series in its niche.
Absolutely agree. I haven't played Shiren before, but I've played some of the PMD games and they're great. In terms of keeping things very traditional in design while changing up the formula in a fun way, I'd say they're really up there.
Great video. The original Rogue is from the 70s with the PC version I played as a kid released in 85.
My favorite roguelike has been DoomRL, so one day I gotta dive into Jupiter Hell. (I purchased it, but haven't looked into it yet)
However, Rift Wizard really surprised me. I haven't dived super hard into this either, but the magic system being so open makes it honestly one of the most fun roguelikes I've ever played. Use lightning to chain attack enemies? Of course.... Fill the map with bears? yes Half the fun of roguelikes is what wacky stuff you can do, Rift Wizard made it the full game.
Yeah it has just the right amount of "intentionally broken" to it!
these games looks amazing, I know what I am doing this years. Thanks for the video
I found some more I may cover if I get time!
I'd also suggest checking out Moonring and Tales of Maj'Eyal as they're fantastic and free!
I love Rift Wizard but honestly never made it very far. This one is really hard (for me at least). My favourite ones are Caves of Qud and Cogmind.
I'm TERRIBLE at Rift Wizard.
Caves of Qud was cut for different flesh, it is amazing
Great video! Dungeon Crawl has been my favorites for decades. Trying to find new ones now. Dwarf Fortress was too complicated like 10 years ago when i tried. Might be time to try to crack that. But yeah need new deep games.
Dwarf Fortress is a lot easier to parse on the Steam Release (I have a short series I did on that if you want to see it from a beginner perspective, but I stopped doing it in favor of other content!)
DCSS is interesting but I could never get into it.
One I didn't mention in my video is Golden Krone Hotel. It's pretty unique too, with a lot of classes etc. Definitely worth checking out.
I just bought Rift Wizard and it's my new favorite game!
Does Quagmorph count? That game is good now and is going to be something else in a few years.
Cogmind is just "chefs kiss". The author is aware that people like to play in slightly different ways. SO he tends to add new ways all the time. About 4 years ago he added RPG mode/ There are hard modes, explorer modes. All done really well. Not just bolted on - but fully fleshed out.
My first Roguelike was "Catacombs" on the ZX81 ...16K Ram Pack required
I think sanctuary rpg is another good modern take on the formula with combat that resembles goldbox dungeon crawlers or jprgs more than the grid based tactics style of rogue. Great video, I had never heard of Rift Wizard!
Caves of Qud is definitely my favorite roguelike
CoQ is great, but I have a hard time getting into it.
It'd be better if the developers would stop shooting themselves in the foot with every update.
Love the video! i've just subscribed!
Thanks a lot! My biggest video so far came out today so I hope you enjoy it.
Shattered Pixel Dungeon is amazing. Free to play mobile Rougelike and its actively adding content.
Shattered is great!
This. All my old devices become dedicated Shattered Pixel dungeons.
Rogue was originally developed around 1980 for Unix systems en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rogue_(video_game), en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roguelike. Dungeon Hacks: How NetHack, Angband, and Other Roguelikes Changed the Course of Video Games is a fairly entertaining read chronicling the history of roguelikes.
I'll give it a read, I love learning more about the genre. I've been trying to get into ToME lately.
Nethack. I've always loved the kitchen sink fantasy of games like Nethack and Zork (or Colossal Cave before it). I think I prefer it to fantasy that takes itself more seriously, like Tolkien.
RIGHT ON THE MONEY! Sir, I completely agree with your collection. The dev of hydra slayer…wow I never knew he made a non Euclidean game. Have you ever played UnExplored?
I have BOTH Unexplored games actually but I'm waiting until the combat overhaul is done to play more of the second!
@@SolemnSunday Nice, hell yeah. I gotta admit as an oldschool roguelike fan I preferred the first despite its primitive art style.
caves of qud (roleplay mode)
Not a huge fan of CoQ. I like the setting and think the world is fantastic, but I like to be involved in the communities of games I play and I found their community to be pretty exclusive; feeling rather unwelcome.
For me CDDA, Elona+, ADOM and CoQ has the same kind of gameplay I love from the genre
I love C:DDA but it's a bit obtuse for me. I really used to like ADOM too, but I've never really tried Elona+! It's definitely on my list to check out.
CoQ has fantastic world building and design choices that are an awesome recreation of early Sci-Fi things like Dune, but the community felt a bit unwelcoming to me which somewhat put me off the game.
@@SolemnSundayObtuse? Whatchu mean.
My favorite is ToME.