The Codex of Roguelikes

[PrettyDeadman]

anyone here played this?

Played it. Didnt care for it. Seems extremely simplistic.

 

[Sonic Titan]

Epyx released multiple ports of Rogue commercially, including an Amiga port in 1986:

Also, Mastertronic later released Rogue in Western Europe for various systems, including Commodore 64, Amstrad ZPC, and ZX Spectrum, all with some variation of this cover art:

What are you using to play this?

 

[CryptRat]

For anybody interested I dug through my screenshots to illustrate my points about Casverns of Xaskazien II, it's been a little while so I hope I'm not making too many mistakes while commenting. I think the game is really worth it.

Spoiler

Your race and class determines in particular the cost of the different skills, there are a 4 base stats (Strength, Dexterity, Intelligence and Health) and each of the 4 stats correponds to a set of available skills. They also determine the starting skills and give some special bonuses.

There are 3 ranks (basic/advanced/expert) for each skill and you need 30/60/90 points in the corresponding stat (dexterity for rogue skills) to be able to reach the next rank, spending one skill point.

These are the different miracles proposed by the chosen god, by spending faith points. For example he can summon a strong (strong for the first half of the dungeon, more or less) hero, he can also repair armors, that's very valuable especially if your character is a rogue-type character, which is traditionally not able to repair armors (the skill is expensive), but it's also valuable because he can repair the "improvised" armor parts, which can't be repaired by normal means. Gods are a big deal, one can cure poison and diseases for example, which can quickly or slowly kill you.

These are the exact requirement for gaining (or losing faith) with this god, but you also always gain faith when entering a new level regardless of the chosen god.

A dedicated skill allows to increase the number of slots 3 times by 5, which is not a waste of a skill point, but the problem is that just like other skills depending on your character it may cost more than one point and still, inventory, which includes equipment, is very limited. This armor here takes three slots among 10 available. There are strength requirement for armors and melee weapons (ranged weapons are special, you can target an enemy in range but there's 33% chance an enemy won't fight back if you're using a ranged weapon), and warriors can really stomp enemies, and their weakness will rather be against traps and instant death effects.

Inventory is especially limited since in theory you want to carry such items providing various passive bonuses, items preventing the next instant death, a bunch of antidotes ...

That's not even mentioning trinkets, provided you don't have the spell to directly turn those into gems, you need to carry those you want to eventually be able to sell to a smuggler, and smugglers are very far from legion.

This is a shrine where you can pray, with the possibility of a bad outcome, but pleasing a god will raise the odds to make your wish come true up to 100% by the end of a game.

Wheels of fortune are the typical item which acknowledges non-combat skills, gambling can be very legit. Note that one very important thing is that your money is divided between gold, and the number of gold you can carry is very limited based on your strength, while the number of gems (earned via different ways, typically mining, or selling) you can carry are not limited. You can trade all your gems and gold for experience in a temple, but that's all or nothing, it's very frequent to meet a travelling merchant without enough money to buy good stuff because of that.

A level gives 10 base stat points, 1 skill points and 2 additional hit points. You also regain your full health, which is very important in this game, you can have a quite big bar eventually and you can't regain health at will, while you regain some mana when entering a level. Putting enough points into max health is one of the advices I would give to new players, and in further levels you even want to keep your current health has high as possible because some traps can deal insane damage.

There are plenty of reasons you will carefully choose your targets in the game, one is that some enemies will permanently drop your stats, directly or via some disease (which will regularly drop some stats, being cured won't bring those back).

Or destroy your items. Acid traps can also ruin a good part of your inventory. Rogues will mitigate the risks and effects via their trap detection and other related skills, but warriors especially will have to deal with it (and for example hope they will create some new equipment when entering the next levels).

Skill books can save a skill point, but you need to meet the stat requirements anyway. Being expert in cartography allows maps to include the hidden traps (previous levels don't reveal traps so they are not that worth it), maps that you can randomly find, or can have a chance to directly get when entering a level via another skill, geography (obviously these two skills work great together). More generally there are plenty of skills which may do something when entering a level (creating a weapon, a stronger weapon if you're further into the dungeon). These are super cool, one of the things which make me think the game is very well-thought around a system where you can't save, but the shrine and wheel of fortune described before are too.

A river may not be anodyne depending of the overall layout, you can quickly derive off unless you can swim.

Spells are learnt from books (some types of characters carry some spells from the start, including very strong ones like descend which allows to descend a level if I'm not mixing things up). The number of spells a character can learn depends on a skill, so with non-mage characters you'll focus on utility ones.

The game has a lot of special things, for example in this level I faced a lot of traps because there's a machine constantly adding new traps to the map, you can break it if you find it but it's often a bit too late so anyway it's the kind of levels you want to leave as soon as possible.

In a similar vein a map can contain a monolith which makes the monsters in the map stronger, you can break it though', but with only low intelligence it can take a while and not be worth it.

There's no food system but floors will eventually start to collapse with more and more caves-in, lava and water flood as you stay there.

Being lucky with a throne can grant you several levels of experience, the thing is that the history skill will allow to prevent the consequences of facing the bad outcome, it's not only lottery.

Altars can be extreme, unless you're desperate, crazy, or manage to manipulate their particular odds by pleasing all gods at once, which I don't think I ever did.

You can set traps, a legit part of rogue-type characters that I rarely use.

There's plenty of brambles, walls that you need to pass through where there can be a cave-in and that sort of things.

I found the passwall spell in this game, and when I use this spell I'm paranoid about ending dead because the spell would end while I'm inside a wall.

Levitation is cool, although even more when you don't already have passwall.

I also found the descent spell which allows to directly descend, it's very strong if only because between gorgons, lava and other delightful stuff there are quite some levels you just want to leave as soon as possible. Some maze level with extra constraints you may also simply can't find the exit before it collapses.

Of course there are also plenty of spells related to combat, direct damage spells which will be very mana intensive as a non-mage as others.

Any advanced summoning spell especially is very strong as a mage, you can spam those for a satisfying big mess.

I'd say it's a feature of the game, warriors will slaughter most enemies, it's not impossible to keep your chances to hit at 100% and those of all enemies at 10%, while mage will slaughter most enemies as long as they find one appropriate spell, but that still leaves plenty of ways to die (not that it's any surprising but mages hate anti-magic glyphes, and a warrior may loses most of his equipment to an acid trap for example).

There are plenty of different types of containers, some needs lockpicking to open, most may be trapped, while this one cannot be trapped but requires high strength to open (here you can try again if you fail).

Miners will often not care much about finding a gold seam like this one, but gem seams will be very valuable to them.

The game is very not just a big lottery, not only because the player progression curve is big but also because this kind of items is not that uncommon.

Besides relations towards gods, monsters of a type also get stronger as you kill such types of monsters.

Anti-magic glyphes, which prevent everybody (you as monsters) on the level from casting spells, but will be destoyed if anybody enters the tile, can be a cursed or a blessing depending on if you're a mage or not, or sometimes depending on the level if you've got such spells as descend and passwall.

A smith can be welcome. He will repair your weapons and armors.

In the last versions of the game you now gain special perks depending on your race and class. The game already has ton of content and is constantly getting even more.

Some are very not boring. For example rangers will gain a chance to add an entrance to a lair (containing one type of enemies) to any map. Lairs, like mines, are not unique levels, they are generated. There are also some unique, and very cool, levels in the game, although' I came across none during that game.

Sometimes you're blind.

Among glyphes, one will turn killed monsters into zombies.

Keeping good relation with your god may be rewarded twice.

Small maze maps are often some of the most dangerous.

Especially with constant cave-ins destroying your map.

Some meat need to be cooked before being used, the problem being once again that you have little room to bring all the uncooked meat with you. It may be worth it if you're good at cooking, because meat will typically raise a stat, or bring some faith in that case, and the rise or gain will be higher if your character is better at cooking.

You need the appropriate weapon skill and keep your dexterity high enough to hit, while the weapon and strength (unless you use a missile weapon, in which case you'll make lower damage) will determine your damage.

You need to raise a skill to be able to use magic items, like you need to raise skills for many things in the game.

There are skills to increase efficiency against each type of monsters. Some are mage type skills and the other ones are warriors type skills. The advanced level of these skills is the interesting one because the bonus depends on the skill, for example mages can regain hp or mana when defeating an undead or demon.

Obviously some risks you'll take depending on your current state, the possiblity to lose a disease by drinking liquor is the most noticeable possibility of it.

Here there's a temple and there's gold to donate at the temple behind some fire, but with a passwall spell you can take at least some if your mana allows it.

Merchant get killed when they come across a monster, which often happens before you even got to notice them.

You can dig for items, provided you found a map, have the required skill for maps to indicate spots, and also found a shovel or it's not worth trying.

A pit in the way, there are plenty of those.

By the end magic users can instantly kill you.

Note that more options is often not superfluous, if a lava trap was triggered because disarming did not work, at least swimming will allow to leave lava quite fast so the damage won't be lethal.

Odds.

There are ways to create your own pentagrams if there's no in sight and you're out of mana.

If you're crazy, or if you've got no choice :

Unless you're good at reparation you're simply going to ruin any forge you come across without repairing anything, which makes metting smiths (as well as our god) all the more useful.

It makes you lose a spell on hits.

Air elementals scatter the items from your inventory across the level. Not the best time to fall down to the level below, you can't go back.

There are plenty of skills you would want, for example alchemy allows to identify potions. Obviously you can't take everything and it makes different playthrough different. Wands are good provided you have the wandlore skill which allows to successfully use wands and gain new charges when entering new levels.

There are strong items to find, that's definitely another high point of the game. The hand of glory will give one chance over three to paralyze any enemy which hits us. And in this game I didn't find, for example, the tome which allows you to reach several unique levels.

Some consumables are also strong.

You need to take into account possible events when managing your resource.

Basilisks don't even need to hit to have a chance to kill you.

Some enemies are immuned to physical attacks.

Some treasures behind a frozen river, that you don't want to enter.

A high strength monster will pursue you through bushed without any problem if your own strength is low and you can't escape the bushes without losing some turns failing.

More than in many games I feel like taking some skill based on the circumstances. For example when entering a cloud giant lair.

Especially when it's a level worth staying a bit in.

Some events are cool.

The dungeon is basically composed of 30 levels, but you're going to roam much more than that during a successful run, something entering special levels (mines, lairs) or unique levels, and sometimes simply entering a level on the same floor or even one or two floors higher.

You need to manage to enter a cart to reach some mines.

Some floors are particularly not welcoming.

Technically with no other way you may even have to walk through acid, with a possibility that your items melt in the process.

Some items can be really strong depending on your character.

 

[Fenix]

Caverns of Xaskazien II. Yay or nay?

I think it's amazing because it's very PnP-ish. The character system and level generation are both very good.

It may depends on what you're looking for for one precise reason. The combat part may be controversial, there's no traditional positioning like in other roguelikes, instead when you enter the same tile as an enemy then you hit it once and it hits you once too, and if you want to use a damaging spell you would use it here too, so if you're looking for the best game to cast big area fireballs and with a bar of ninja skills then you should search elsewhere. I really like the combat system anyway for other reasons but that can be unsettling. I think there's a bigger emphasis during a game on choosing the opponents you'll face or not compared with some other games.

Now regarding non-combat exploration especially, I always claim how you should make a totally different game with or without permadeath. To make it simple without permadeath you may as well make skill checks determistic, while with permadeath you sure don't want to, because rolling is one million times more fun (it's just that with possible reloads it loses some sense). I think that skill checks is a reason why you would make a game with permadeath. The thing is, I think that this game is the best when it comes to skill checks, with tons of utility skill checks which make two different characters play differently outside combat. The character system is great and very pnp-ish (classic D100) with tons of various utility skills (trap disarming, swimming, mining, history ...) and also no ninja stuff, fighter-types have plenty of resistance and other random creation of an armor when entering a new level types of skills instead. I really love the character system. There's a deity system which works very well, you choose a god and you need to satisfy him or her (for example by killing some type of enemies but not another type) and then he or she will grant you wishes to choose from a list which depends on the chosen divinity. Pleasing a divinity (not only the one you chose) will also eventually allow you to pray to a shrine with a high chance of sucess (because failure comes with a punishment).

The spell set is great with some game changing ones (decent, passwall) and you need to find the books. Those, some other very good items makes loot exciting, while armor and weapon systems are good due to the base system.

The level generation is very good and the rare handcrafted levels are great. There are tons of magic pools, shrines, traps and other events which acknowledges your character stats and skills. This part really puts most games to shame. A game really feels like a PnP expedition. It's the reason why you should play the game. If you like passing skill checks, playing with risks and rewards and thinking about odds the game is a delight.

The game also has ton of content and tons of different ways to build characters, it's very pleasant to replay a lot at very least until you win.

This somehow sounds very similiar - on the surface - to what Incursion HotGK is. Maybe author is the same?

Also, Mastertronic later released Rogue in Western Europe for various systems, including Commodore 64, Amstrad ZPC, and ZX Spectrum, all with some variation of this cover art:

That dude with sword reminds me for some reason Biskup. :D

anyone here played this?

Try original - ProspectorRL.

Played it. Didnt care for it. Seems extremely simplistic.

You too try original.

 

[getter77]

CoX 2 dev is not the same as the Incursion dev---what IS true, however, is CoX 2 has largely and purposefully been developed in something of a vacuum. Such that it owes much to the fact that there's nothing else quite like it out there.

 

[Aemar]

DCSS. Gnoll venom mage of Vehumet branching out into Fire/Ice magic looks like a decent caster, especially due to the Olgreb's Toxic Radiance spell than can poison everything in sight, covering a lot of area. What's the best hybrid build involving poison magic?

 

[KeighnMcDeath]

This already covered?
Labyrinth of Legendary Loot

Looks meh tbh.

 

[Sonic Titan]

Looks like one of the other 5000 roguelites.

 

[CryptRat]

It is, yes, there's nothing special about it, it's not complex nor has a lot of different content at the moment, yet exactly just like Haque it's one of those roguelikes I like better than average.

Here's a description :
- One tower, you can't ascend back, you regain your hps when reaching next floor (but you also regain some while exploring or when killing some enemies). Mana is regained when you walk (and when descending).
- Monster spawns in the level while you explore, I'm not sure how exactly but especially in later levels it's dangerous to go back to an unvisited areas at the very other side on a level before descending.
- Stats are only hp, mana and damage range, all attempts hit.
- Stats and skills are fully determined by equipment, and there's only equipment, no consumables. Equipment parts from the 5 first slots, weapon, helm, armor, boots and gloves, and unlike rings and amulets, all come with a skill. The skill set is alright, nothing shameful nor impressive. Items may be enchanted when you find them or can be enchanted at a forge (the enchantment is randomized). An item can only have one enchantment, which adds a passive (which may be a stat raise but generally is not). There are unique items, the difference being typically, from my experience, that the enchantment on these items is directly linked with their skill (the passive of a unique weapon with a fire skill would increase burn duration, for example). Skills are eventually strong on a big level item but skills all have a high cooldown and a mana cost, typically you'll never use two times the same skill during a same fight nor have enough mana to use all your skills either.
- The monster set is alright as well, there could be a little more different enemies but what's there is OK. There are champions, with more hps and for rest it depends, sometimes the monster, for example, is faster, or die only three turns after he lost its last hps.
- The game ends with a boss fight, I don't think you can simply hide through the game, you'll need some money. Money is found on the floor and when defeating a champion, and is spent into upgrading the level of an item, increasing its stat raise, skills and possibly passive.
- The game is not very hard in normal mode, I didn't try hard leave alone master that you get to unlock.

 

[sser]

anyone here played this?

It's solid. I think the basic foundation of the game is woefully underdeveloped in a "genre sense"; basically the concept of having a Star Trek-type ship and a bunch of captains and away teams is super cool, but this game is the only one I've seen tackle it in earnest. So it's a question of "is this good" or is it more that I think it's good cause there's nothing else of repute like it.

From a game perspective I think it takes a little too long to get going, but the game does pick up considerably after you get a 10ish+ sectors into the game. Your away teams get developed uber captains, they get gear to go fight enemies and delve into caverns and the like, or explore hostile planets, and your ship picks up all kinds of gadgets for navigating dangerous enemy ships and the like.

I think it has a TON of potential. Just a question of whether or not we see it all fleshed out. As of right I think Curse of Yendor is the superior game (made by the same guy).

 

[The Red Knight]

http://minimek.sourceforge.net/RogueMek/

Spoiler

 

[Catacombs]

http://minimek.sourceforge.net/RogueMek/

Spoiler

Reminds me of Cogmind.

 

[Fenix]

I think it has a TON of potential.

Have you tried ProspectorRL? Please try it and say here the difference.

 

[The Red Knight]

description + trailer

Dawn of the Mexica is a challenging roguelike videogame based on the myths from the indigenous people of the Valley of Mexico in the age of the Culhua-Mexica Empire and the invasion of the spanish conquistadors.

One fateful morning, the village of Cohuatltitlan dawns in total darkness. What happened to the Sun, Huitzilopochtli? Did the gods decide it is time to destroy the world again? Embark in a quest to find out, and save your people and the whole world from the fall of the Fifth Sun.

GAME FEATURES
* Pure turn-based roguelike with procedural level generation (different every game!), character permadeath and colored dynamic lighting.

* Extremely complex and realistic combat system. Every weapon and armor type combination is taken into account, and there's more than a thousand detailed critical effects: Every part of your body can be injured or broken, burn and freeze. You can become blind. Or deaf. You may bleed, become stunned, knocked out...

* Complex character sheet with 9 stats, 12 Character classes, more than a hundred spells and more than 40 skills to choose from as you level up.

* Friendly and intuitive interface. Complex doesn't mean hard to use.

* Weather/survival system. Even a torch may change temperature around you. Be careful not to freeze nor faint from the heat!

Player can sacrifice humans on altars.

 

[oscar]

Enjoying Dawn a lot so far even if a lot of the mechanics are obtuse and has (hate hate hate) locked classes.

 

[PrettyDeadman]

Locked classes in a !!!roguelike!!!! is absolutely retarded.

 

[oscar]

Fuck ToME for normalising the idea

 

[thesheeep]

Locked classes in a !!!roguelike!!!! is absolutely retarded.

Why?
It gives you something more to play for. A small goal to achieve beyond the current run.

Not just "play til ded" with nothing carrying over from one run to the next.

Don't get me wrong, I don't think it is a necessary mechanic, it certainly doesn't fit all kinds of games, and ToME would be great without it.
But it's welcome where it fits. I wish CoQ had something that would require unlocking through gameplay.

 

[PrettyDeadman]

Locked classes in a !!!roguelike!!!! is absolutely retarded.

Why?
It gives you something more to play for. A small goal to achieve beyond the current run.

Not just "play til ded" with nothing carrying over from one run to the next.

Don't get me wrong, I don't think it is a necessary mechanic, it certainly doesn't fit all kinds of games, and ToME would be great without it.
But it's welcome where it fits. I wish CoQ had something that would require unlocking through gameplay.

Because it decreases player options and variability in gameplay. Trying to win the game as a character you want to play is a goal good enough to achieve on its own. Grind the game as a character you don't want to play as just to unlock ability to play the game you want to doesn't sound like a fun way to play the game. It's as fun of a mechanic as spending hundreds of hours leveling up classes you don't want to play just to get optimal stat spread for a class you want to play in Dragon's Dogma (i.e. just a retarded way to waste your time).

 

[Farewell into the night]

Is DotMexica any good? I'm a kinda interested in the setting.

 

[thesheeep]

Because it decreases player options and variability in gameplay. Grind the game as a character you don't want to play as just to unlock ability to play the game you want to doesn't sound like a fun way to play the game.

I'd agree if ToME didn't start with 14 (!!!) classes to choose from to begin with. 7 standard + 7 from DLCs.
24 more can be unlocked, many of which by not even doing anything specific for them. You can easily play your first character and once you're done you'll have unlocked a handful of new classes.
Each of them of course having multiple ways to play them.

I call BS on the idea that anyone wouldn't be able to find anything they'd enjoy playing in 14 classes.

 

[PrettyDeadman]

Because it decreases player options and variability in gameplay. Grind the game as a character you don't want to play as just to unlock ability to play the game you want to doesn't sound like a fun way to play the game.

I'd agree if ToME didn't start with 14 (!!!) classes to choose from to begin with. 7 standard + 7 from DLCs.
24 more can be unlocked, many of which by not even doing anything specific for them. You can easily play your first character and once you're done you'll have unlocked a handful of new classes.
Each of them of course having multiple ways to play them.

I call BS on the idea that anyone wouldn't be able to find anything they'd enjoy playing in 14 classes.

Well, I didn't find anything I'd enjoy in basic 14 classes. Not sure that I would've found them in any of the unlockables too. It's not the only bad game design decision in that game.

 

[Bastardchops]

I'd agree if ToME didn't start with 14 (!!!) classes to choose from to begin with. 7 standard + 7 from DLCs.
24 more can be unlocked, many of which by not even doing anything specific for them. You can easily play your first character and once you're done you'll have unlocked a handful of new classes.
Each of them of course having multiple ways to play them.

I call BS on the idea that anyone wouldn't be able to find anything they'd enjoy playing in 14 classes.

I think it can be a decent idea. FTL has ship unlocks which does give reason for repeated playthroughs.

 

[thesheeep]

Well, I didn't find anything I'd enjoy in basic 14 classes. Not sure that I would've found them in any of the unlockables too. It's not the only bad game design decision in that game.

Meanwhile, I loved playing all of the classes - well, all of those that I played, anyway.

If a game is not for you, a game is not for you, how many classes are available from the get-go won't change anything about it.

 

[Theodora]

Anyone else given Rift Wizard a go? Sorta reminds me of a more traditional roguelike noita, though more thematic than mechanical in similarity. Very nice aesthetic too, like a tamer version of Qud sprites, and with a lovely uniformity in general. Pretty challenging at that.

More details below the cut:

Spoiler

You get a ton of different spells (and another page of abilities) to choose from as you go, so it's very much a case of choosing your own build rather than being pigeonholed by RNG.

The variety and number of spell choices available seems to grow as you continue through the game.

When you clear a level, you get to choose between a series of options for the next one. You can even look at them before choosing it.

You don't confirm your choice until you actually choose where to spawn in the level.

I don't wanna spoil too much — I could post sooo very many of these — but some of the spells available are really dope.

I guess it's technically what you'd call a coffee-break roguelike, but it has plelnty of challenge in it. Oh, and it has great controls for keyboard and mouse. Lots of flexibility.

description + trailer

Dawn of the Mexica is a challenging roguelike videogame based on the myths from the indigenous people of the Valley of Mexico in the age of the Culhua-Mexica Empire and the invasion of the spanish conquistadors.

One fateful morning, the village of Cohuatltitlan dawns in total darkness. What happened to the Sun, Huitzilopochtli? Did the gods decide it is time to destroy the world again? Embark in a quest to find out, and save your people and the whole world from the fall of the Fifth Sun.

GAME FEATURES
* Pure turn-based roguelike with procedural level generation (different every game!), character permadeath and colored dynamic lighting.

* Extremely complex and realistic combat system. Every weapon and armor type combination is taken into account, and there's more than a thousand detailed critical effects: Every part of your body can be injured or broken, burn and freeze. You can become blind. Or deaf. You may bleed, become stunned, knocked out...

* Complex character sheet with 9 stats, 12 Character classes, more than a hundred spells and more than 40 skills to choose from as you level up.

* Friendly and intuitive interface. Complex doesn't mean hard to use.

* Weather/survival system. Even a torch may change temperature around you. Be careful not to freeze nor faint from the heat!

Player can sacrifice humans on altars.

Haven't had a chance to try this yet, but I'm very much a fan of seeing an indigenous mythos used as inspiration for a game like this.