My takeaway is that it's only original Rogue fans that care about the delineation of the terms. Is there a modern (i.e. post 2000s game) that matches the definition of a roguelike as given in the article?

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[–] CileTheSane@lemmy.ca 1 points 10 months ago (1 children)

And just to stress: if a game features meta progression it is not a true roguelike. In true roguelikes, you start from zero every time.

What about meta-unlocks? In FTL you can unlock different starting ships, but you will always start the same when starting with the same layout.

In Slay the Spire you unlock different cards you may be able to find, but you always start with the same deck.

[–] johannesvanderwhales@lemmy.world 1 points 10 months ago

That's a good question, actually. I've played a fair bit of FTL and I do think it hews very close to the spirit of a true roguelike, since starting a game with the same ship is always the same experience. I do think meta unlocks change the way you play the game a bit, though, since you may target unlocks and achievements over victory. I'd ultimately put it on the "light" side, but I agree that the game skirts the line.

I haven't played slay the spire, but I'm thinking of games like Binding of Isaac with a lot of unlocks, and I'd say that those change the game experience quite a bit depending on what you have unlocked.