I wrote my answer to roguelikes 12 years ago.
Yeah, I don't know why they bothered adding tilesets to roguelikes, they communicate less information in exchange for... well, not a whole lot. Does anyone actually like playing with a tileset enabled?
By the way, I just ran across a blog about roguelikes that looks quite good. Check it out.
I wrote my answer to roguelikes 12 years ago.
That flamethrower effect is off the hook. Very nice.
Yeah, I don't know why they bothered adding tilesets to roguelikes, they communicate less information in exchange for... well, not a whole lot. Does anyone actually like playing with a tileset enabled?
I'm playing Nethack on my DS, and it uses tilebased graphics, to my chagrin.
By the way, I just ran across a blog about roguelikes that looks quite good. Check it out.
Oh, I've seen this, but forgot about it. Thanks!
I wrote my answer to roguelikes 12 years ago.
Needs pixel shading.
Needs pixel shading.
Unlike what the video suggests, the game uses pure 80x25 and 40x25 textmode. 16 colors, no possibility of pixel anything 
If you own a Wii, Baroque, published by Atlas has a very strong Roguelike appeal to it. You need to get to the bottom of a dungeon and if you die you get sent up to the top, your character goes back to level one, to begin again. There is a town at the top of the dungeon. It randomizes the dungeon layout each time you go back in though. The kicker is you can send up VERY FEW items while exploring, so they will be there if you die and have to begin again. So it's a slow process of building a stockpile of equipment up in the town to finally make that push downward to win. Typically strange Japan RPG story with some good voiceovers. A very sinister/futuristic wasteland tone to this game. Check it out.
If you own a Wii, Baroque, published by Atlas has a very strong Roguelike appeal to it.
I rented that. I played for about 45 minutes or so, and sent it back. It's not that I don't enjoy roguelikes, but the interface seemed particularly impenetrable to me, and I was having trouble finding the fun, so back it went.
Regarding sci-fi RLs, I only know GearHead has very good "street-cred", and the same team is working on a sequel. Oh, and there's also Transcendence, a strange Space Rangers/RL hybrid from what I understand.
But whatever you do make sure you try DoomRL! Great fun, easy to learn. I don't know if that's sci-fi enough though...
To keep yourself informed, @play is a great column and Temple of the Roguelike keeps track of new releases, occasionally reviews stuff and is about to issue yet another 7 Day Roguelike challenge.
And one last thing: for all you DS dungeon crawlers, try Mystery Dungeon: Shiren the Wanderer (as seen on Dubious Quality!). I just bought it, so I can't say much about it more than it has simpler controls than PC RLs (duh!) without compromising depth, and graphics that won't make you puke and wish for a good old-fashioned ASCII tileset. John Harris has a pretty in-depth column about it.
I just installed larn on my mac (its in macports with a few other roguelikes.) I'm really enjoying the simplicity. It seems like a nice starter for people who get frustrated with constantly dying just as you start to build your character up.
As to tile sets, I have to admit I've enjoyed some of the isometric graphical nethacks that came out in the past decade or so. It feels like a different game to me. But I almost always go back to being good old "@".
I think I'll resurrect this thread. So, arise!
In the past year I've been playing a lot of roguelikes and roguelike inspired games. As far as your standard roguelikes go, I've been playing Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup quite a lot. necroyeti mentioned it on the previous page, but I thought I'd mention it again as I've stuck with it longer than any other roguelike. There's something enjoyable about playing a Minotaur and giving praise to my god by killing things.
Anyway, there have been a number of roguelike-like games I've played this past year. Demon's Souls certainly has roguelike aspects to it. I name drop that game whenever I can.
I just started playing Weird Worlds Return to Infinite Space, which is simply fantastic for a quick fix of game playing. My only real gripe is that it doesn't have more stuff as I keep finding the same things. I imagine that a number of you played this a few years back when it came out. Hell, they actually quote Cory on the Shrapnel site, praising the game.
There was another game I was going to mention, but can't recall right now. Oh well.
Thanks for some of the recommendations in the thread. Believe it or not I am going to check out the Izuna games on the DS. Worth giving a shot. Otherwise, DoomRL here I come!
Oh, and Shiren came out for the Wii. Anyone pick that up?
No, I forgot. I'll have to hit the store this weekend. 
There was an interesting podcast on roguelikes just recently.
One roguelike I've had a lot of fun with in the past is Omega. It's as large as ZAngband in terms of the potential time commitment, but does a better job of making the game fun.
I also recommend Omega, It's more similar to ADOM because it allows plenty of free play. It also has a fighting system that let you set your fighting style. You can tell your character where to strike (high,low,middle) or try to block.
There is a little Rogue like game called MAG (mike's adventure game) which is like Rogue with a few extra features . My wife never knew what rogue like games are but she liked that one in particular . She thought Adom is too complicated (it got a lot of key bindings) .
There is an open ended free play Rogue like style game that's called URW (Unreal World) it's shareware where your objective is survival . The author have been working on it for at least 10 years and he recently made it more affordable especially to people from 3rd world countries. I remember one post on the forum of a person from South America who wanted to pay but couldn't afford the lifetime registration price he initially asked for (It used to be cheaper), so he admitted in pooling the money with his friend (illegal but better than piracy). The author now lets you buy a single version for 3$ which is a lot more affordable than a lifetime registration or major version registration.
I just started playing Weird Worlds Return to Infinite Space, which is simply fantastic for a quick fix of game playing.
For everyone else, they recently released the previous game (Strange Adventure in Infinite Space) for free!
What about Spelunky? I know I know, nothing new, but I'd say it's the most interesting thing to happen to roguelikes in recent years... I played quite a few games when it first came out but never got very good at it.
Also, for all the Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup lovers, GameSetWatch is publishing a very in-depth analysis.
There is a little Rogue like game called MAG (mike's adventure game) which is like Rogue with a few extra features . My wife never knew what rogue like games are but she liked that one in particular.
Found it! And downloaded. I'll give it a shot when I can...
I tried Omega some years ago, it seemed extremely open-ended. I found it very confusing and gave up quickly. UnRealWorld looks cool, I remember reading an article about it. With the new price it might be interesting to try...
I remember spending a bunch of time with Crossfire, a free real-time cooperative multiplayer roguelike. About 3000 pre-generated maps to explore -- it's seriously huge, and very difficult solo.
Damn, now I want to play it again... anyone want to join me? I'll set a server up.
Edit: Server's up. Go download the client (Win, Mac, Linux available) and check out the player's handbook. Then point your client at crossfire.merphle.com and create a character!
garion333 wrote:I just started playing Weird Worlds Return to Infinite Space, which is simply fantastic for a quick fix of game playing.
For everyone else, they recently released the previous game (Strange Adventure in Infinite Space) for free!
What about Spelunky? I know I know, nothing new, but I'd say it's the most interesting thing to happen to roguelikes in recent years... I played quite a few games when it first came out but never got very good at it.
Also, for all the Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup lovers, GameSetWatch is publishing a very in-depth analysis.
Spelunky was the other game I wanted to mention. Thank you.
And I hadn't seen that series on GSW. Going to go read now.
I remember spending a bunch of time with Crossfire, a free real-time cooperative multiplayer roguelike. About 3000 pre-generated maps to explore -- it's seriously huge, and very difficult solo.
Wow used to play this all the time back in my Wharton days... I had an HP UX Server running it so I could play during the day lol
There was an interesting podcast on roguelikes just recently.
Just listened to it. You can skip the first 40 min (more or less) if you just want the RL talk. They brought in a very knowledgeable guy, but Sharkey and the girl (whose name I forget know) know hardly anything about the topic. Parish is a little better prepared.
Some nice historical info, and the conclusion that Shiren on DS and the original Rogue are probably the best starting points. And that spoilers are required to play Nethack (which is why I hate it btw).
I was thinking I'd try the original rogue, but it's kinda hard to find... does anybody know of a good win32 port, possibly ASCII?
I use this when I need a rogue fix.
Neat! Maybe I should be glad I work in an open-landscape office, otherwise I'd sit and play that all day!
In the meantime I even found a standalone version (and many other versions of rogue) here. I downloaded Rogue 5.4, does anyone know if there are notable differences between the variants?
Wow, that was... deep. Based on some very quick reading it would seem like the differences are minor... Guess I'll follow my old motto of "higher version number=better" then!
Man, the DoomRL intro or site (can't remember which) tells you that it was designed for beginners in mind. They weren't kidding. The game is super easy, comparatively.
Not sure if this was posted on the site before but I just came across Desktop Dungeons and am loving it. It's a really simplified roguelike... one level with a point-and-click interface. The game has a really nice progression to it: as you beat levels you unlock new character classes, enemies, items and gameplay modes. Matches maybe take 10 minutes tops but the system keeps you playing again and again.
Dangerous stuff but lots of fun so far!
Haven't tried it yet, seems pretty cool for those of us that have difficulties finding time to play more involved RLs! I'll give it a shot soon, the fact that the interface is simple makes it all the more alluring.
Not sure if this was posted on the site before but I just came across Desktop Dungeons and am loving it. It's a really simplified roguelike... one level with a point-and-click interface. The game has a really nice progression to it: as you beat levels you unlock new character classes, enemies, items and gameplay modes. Matches maybe take 10 minutes tops but the system keeps you playing again and again.
Dangerous stuff but lots of fun so far!
Oooooo. Gonna check this out when I get home.
There's a great system of built-in difficulty increasing as you beat the game with various characters, but beating the game unlocks new things to help you win, too. So the game gets deeper AND harder as you play. Pretty smart.
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