The OT75K1R7 Guide To Starting Out With

Roguelikes

Getting Into One of PC Gaming's Most Enduring Genres For Free! (mostly)

Page Music: Kobold - The Cave of the Lost Talisman

(Pictured: The Roguelike Family Tree Circa 2015~, A few games came before and MANY came after Rogue that borrowed from it's design philosphy.)

Wikipedia Defines Roguelikes as being a style of role-playing game traditionally characterized by a dungeon crawl through procedurally generated levels, turn-based gameplay, grid-based movement, and permanent death of the player character. Games that deviate substantially from this design philosophy are called Roguelites.

The world of Traditional Roguelikes is as vast as the Dungeons of Doom themselves and as esoteric as the magical spells found therewithin. For that reason I recommend starting with the original.

Rogue (1980)

(Pictured: EPYX box art that still goes hard, I would put up this poster for sure.)

Rogue is the original dungeon crawling computer game and the BEST place to get started with playing Rogue-Likes. There isn't going to be a simpler example to get your feet wet with. If you are worried about the complexity of the genre and you have never played a Real Traditional Roguelike before then you won't do better than the O.G.

Rogue was released many times over the years but the version you will most likely be playing is the Epyx 1985 consumer edition of the game. There are lots of ways to move in a Roguelike the original Rogue manual lists 20 keys and key combos which will move the player across the game grid. But since we are ultra gamers we have a Num-Pad that will fit most roles we need.

Num-Pad? Yes, the Number Pad or the part of the keyboard that includes a 3x3 grid of the digits 1-9 often alongside an additional delete, enter, -, +, /, and * key for quick mathematical calculations as well as a NumLk or NumLock key. The NumLock key turns the number pad on and off. The NUMLK button is a vestigial remnant from a time when the arrow keys and number keys were one and the same. Today they exist side by side but the NMLK button remains.

If you do not have a Num-Pad you can purchase one that connects via USB at a very low cost. The number-pad allows you to move diagonally. This may seem small. Indeed you will be able to use the arrow keys for a large percentage of your run. The only turn you will HAVE to use diagonal buttons for but cannot will be the one that kills you, , and THAT turn will be the one you remember. Not the 4295 turns before that. But the ONE turn where you could have gotten away or attacked first if you had only been able to move diagonally. So skip this step for now. But remember it for later when you have an extra five bucks.

Movement is grid base, attacking is as well, just move into a square that an enemy is in and you attack. The enemy is going to be any letters you see hanging around in a dungeon. The original rogue does not have a "look" or "examine" command. So you will have to get good at remembering what letter is what monster. Killing monsters gives you XP in Rogue and that gives you better health and monster killing ability as you level up.

(Pictured: A screenshot of a level map from the game Rogue (1985) the player is represented by the yellow smile, stairways down by the green box, walls and doors are brown, and hallways are grey.)

Other things in the dungeons are going to be weapons, armor, food, and gold. Gold you will automatically pick up if you move over it. The more gold you have the higher your score.

Potions and Magic scrolls are going to have nonsense names. These are random. Which means each run you will have NO idea what the spells or potions do until you use them or identify them somehow, usually by using a scroll or potion. The potions themselves are always the same, but the names are different. So a potion of levitation may be called "Quitzialpoodo" in one run and "Spoonfedbabymash" in the next.

Actually interacting with your items is going to be on a case by case basis. But in most old school roguelikes you aren't going to be able to tell the game what you want to do with an item FROM your inventory menu. You need to tell the game what you want to do FIRST then it opens your inventory and you tell it what you want to do that action to.

Let's say you've been playing for a while and your dungeon delver is hungry. First figure out what button is eat and press it. Probably "e". This will bring up a menu of items from your inventory you have available to eat. Same with dropping or throwing something. Pressing the "?" button will usually bring up a menu of helpful commands. Use this menu to figure out what your options are in any situation and you will realize it's a lot in most cases.

Okay so you have played Rogue, you read the manual, you looked at the command list and the help screen and learned how to maneuver the game world. It's like Dungeons and Dragons, but the computer is the Dungeon Master. It wowed folks in the 80's and it's still engrossing today. If you can figure out how to play this game and make it a few levels in you are ready for something modern and more complex.

Brogue (2009~)

Next, out of all the Trad-Roguelikes in the family tree I recommend playing... as it's one of the only true spiritual successors to Rogue, it's a lot like a sequel 30 years later. It's got a modern design philosophy and mouse controls, although I implore you to continue to be a HARDCORE-GAMER and use the NumPad.

Brogue features underground lakes, caverns, pits, bridges, lava, more monsters, companions, stealth mechanics, traps, locked treasure rooms, and keys to accompany them. It's slick in how it handles but it's also got a lot of depth to develop a play style for yourself. You do not level up nor gain experience. Instead you need to gain the proper spells and magic items to increase your powers over time. Because of that Brogue relies more heavily on RNG than some other Roguelikes and it expects you to be versatile with your playstyle if you are going to progress through these Dungeons of Doom.

The game also lives on with a community edition that is free as well as a nifty tileset that removes the ASCII symbols in favor of something more understandable for a someone new to the genre.

(Pictured: Brogue's Tileset By Oryx Design Lab)

You also now have the ability to LOOK at enemies before you engage with them giving you even more of an opportunity to strategize about how you want to move forward. Moving forward, learning to look at and identify things around you and parse out the info the game gives you will be a major key to success moving forward with any Roguelike you play. Speaking of moving forward how about adding some complexity to the game formula?

NetHack (1987)

(Pictured: I don't know who made this cover art using the 3.6.0 tileset but it goes hard and I love it.)

From Brogue, you should give Nethack a shot, it's OLDER than Brogue and it shows, but it's more complex and has a class system so you have a LOT more control over your playstyle. Nethack is where I started out playing Roguelikes and I still really enjoy it. It suffers from the need to grind for an "ascension kit" in order to beat the game but as a new player to the genre you don't need to worry about that so much right now, just enjoy the dungeon and it's unique features like new monsters and a shop to buy stuff in with the gold you collect. Nethack does not have stealth but it does give you a hell of a lot more options for mechanics to mess around with. It's also the oldest game still supported by developers.

(Pictured: Someone on wikipedia found a Dijinni!?!?! I need to get good at this game.

Nethack has a lot going for it but it also has a lot holding it back, but the depth of gameplay it offers in still incredible and fully beating the game is a gaming accomplishment many set out for and very few succeed. The next game I talk about is... cursed... I don't know why it's so hard to find anything about it. There are no guides or wiki... It shows up here and there...I don't know why people don't talk about it...

Infra Arcana (2011)

(Pictured: I swear to God Infra Arcana is 10/10 but no one knows it, no one plays it, it's a damn shame. This screenshot might go dead, I need to make a shrine page to this game and host my own screenshots)

Infra Arcana is a Lovecraftian Horror roguelike that has sound effects (the first game with sound on this list). It's got stealth mechanics like Brogue but it offers class selection and leveling through gaining experience like Nethack although the XP does not from killing monsters but learning forbidden secrets. You won't get hungry either but you will slowly lose your mind if you don't get a move on. If you are more into survival horror and Call of Cthulhu or Bloodborn type games then this is for you. Currently my favorite free Trad-Roguelike.

Sometimes in this game just seeing the monsters is dangerous, and the ability to smell enemies before they get to you is similarly peak. The game is filled with spooky music stings and little sound effects that make it the perfect game to play in the dark.

So you've touched on the Original Classic, The Sequel, The Technical Advancement, and the Survivor Horror conversion... but you still haven't LEFT the dungeon.

Well, here are some options if you want to play a Trad-Roguelike that takes place on an over-world.

Ancient Domains of Mystery: Classic (1994)

(Pictured: ADOM's Splash Screen from 2002. Another Classic ASCII game)

Large overworld with towns to buy gear in and static dungeon entrances with randomly generated dungeons attached to them. A good fantasy adventure and great next step to more complex roguelikes, it's got a full version on steam but the classic version from 2002 is still free.

Unreal World (1992)

(Pictured: Unreal World's Splash Screen. This game has a tileset and some Photography used for chracter graphics, very 90's retro.)

This is a low-fantasy take on roguelikes with a wilderness exploration and ancient civilization angle. It's likely the most relaxing game on this list. I haven't played in a long time and perhaps I should for the site. Tell me what you think in the guest book.

Cataclysm: Dark Days Ahead (2013)

(Pictured C:DDA's hud, filled with things to look at and learn from, you will die a LOT and it will be your fault for not knowing better. You can fix up and drive a car in this game! Although it does not LOOK great, it is FUN to run over zombies and drive away fast from the Mi-Go!)

This is a complex post apocalypse survival horror Roguelikes that REALLY starts to amp up the learning curve on this list. There is a paid version on steam but there is also a free version available.

Dwarf Fortress (2002)

(Pictured: a procedurally generated worldmap from Dwarf Fortress, fully explorable in the games "Adventure Mode".)

This is THE most complex game ever made. Adventure Mode is technically a roguelike. There are builds of the game available for free that include this mode but, I don't recommend playing this game if you are newcomer to the genre. I won't be doing any guides for it. If you want to climb the mountain you need to help yourself. But this guide will get you through the foothills and to the base of the Dwarf Fortress Peak.

Well there you go, hopefully my ramblings were helpful, and you were able to find something you enjoyed in the world of Traditional Roguelikes. If you have a recommendation for Traditional Roguelikes I should check out. There is a lot I left out because there is a lot I have never played.