Tuesday, 6 October 2020

The live, die, repeat nature of roguelikes isn't so repetitive anymore.

There's a reason roguelike games are as popular as they are — they're addictive. Roguelike games (inspired by the 1980 game Rogue) are predicated on the player getting to the end of an entire game in one fell swoop, so repetition is baked in. You die three dungeons in, you start over at the beginning. However, over time you learn new tricks, unlock new skills or weapons, and slowly move forward.

However, because of the difficulty often involved with roguelikes, they can be inaccessible to a lot of players. I can understand why "repeating the same levels over and over" wouldn't sound appealing, even if you clarified that the levels were procedurally generated and changed up every time. A good roguelike can't just present a challenge; it needs to pull you through the game. Recent games like Children of Morta and SUPERHOT: Mind Control Delete manage to pull this off, but it's oddly rare amongst the category.

The past couple of weeks I've been playing two roguelikes: the incredibly popular Hades and the much smaller Going Under. Fans of the genre will love both of these games, but they're also a great way to hook in new players or those who avoided them up to this point. Not only are they both great examples of roguelikes, but they do the genre as service by showing the small but important ways developers can keep people playing.

Hades has been a huge hit since it hit early access at the end of 2018, but it's taking the internet by storm since its release a couple of weeks ago (it was even one of our favorite indie games last year when it was in early access). Developer Supergiant Games had already proven itself to be masters of creating games with style, with modern classics like Bastion making their mark over the last decade. Hades is in the same vein — a colorful, cool-looking title that oozes style. The characters are all ridiculously good-looking and the soundtrack's full of guitar riffs that make you feel powerful. You play Zagreus, the son of Hades, and you want to escape the Underworld with the help of the other Greek gods and your own fighting prowess. The problem is that it's impossible to escape the Underworld. Luckily, if you die during your escape attempt you'll just get sent right back to your father. Because where else would you go but back to Hades when you die?

A good roguelike can't just present a challenge; it needs to pull you through the game.

You'll immediately see where the roguelike nature comes into play here. Having to repeat levels is built into the narrative; it shows how this world works and makes the repetition easier to stomach. Other games have worked repetition into the narrative — Into the Breach with its branching timelines is a recent example that comes to mind — but few have done it as smoothly as Hades. It helps also that Supergiant has done an excellent job making sure that while the bosses repeat, the dialogue almost never does. Even when Zagreus talks to the same people over and over again, they'll reference the new weapons he's unlocked or the specific encounters he just got out of. It makes it all feel like one continuous experience, not just one you have to repeat.

Another trick Hades has up its sleeve is how despite it being a game focused on combat and skill, it weaves a narrative that reveals itself the more you play. The more characters you encounter and the more areas you unlock, the more you learn about Zagreus' motivations for escaping, the needs of the side characters for either helping your or not, and the drama that surrounds the Greek gods. This pushes the player forward as a small reward for continuing to play, but it's a neat trick to use the structure of the roguelike to create natural-feeling pacing. It also elevates the game beyond its combat, which often is at the center of roguelikes.

A big issue with a lot of recent roguelikes is how they might fail to push the player forward in ways beyond actual gameplay. Dead Cells is a fast-paced title with some great abilities and a fun world to play around in, but it doesn't do much to create a story for the player to follow. It's similar to Hades — you need to escape your confines — but beyond a few reveals here and there, the game doesn't do much to change up the moment-to-moment gameplay. Hades reveals itself as you play, but for the most part, everything you need to know about Dead Cells you learn from the start.

Going Under utilizes a similar trick. The dungeon crawler from Aggro Crab is a satirical take on Silicon Valley tech culture first and a roguelike second. You have to enter the basements of the tech conglomerate you're interning for and wipe out all the monsters (or previous employees) from companies that have folded. Participating in the repetitive nature of the game is supposed to mirror the humdrum of basic tasks, and so our intern Jackie has to keep dying and keep trying to defeat bosses because otherwise, she'd get fired.

There's great combat, but the key is to slowly unfold the story.

As you go through your day, so do all of your colleagues and bosses topside. The boss will often come in and make announcements that decimate the company (as they do), and other higher-ups will give you tasks to do in the dungeons. As you complete goals, you can unlock powerups and earn currency that you can spend on other skills. The game works similarly to how a career at a tech company would — the more work you do, the more perks you earn. Of course, to get those rewards you have to take on monsters, which was definitely not a part of your job description. But it is the job nobody else wants to do.

There's great combat in both Hades and Going Under that you want to master and evolve, but the key is to slowly unfold the story. The more you play both games, the more you learn about the world each title inhabits. It all works to make these games feel lived in despite the repetitive nature of the play itself.

It also helps that the repetition is built into the game and its story, so it all works together. Going Under's structure is supposed to emulate the doldrum nature of work, and taking out the remnants of the companies your conglomerate has swallowed up only adds to the message the game is trying to convey. Hades is a game about death, so why not have death happen frequently? Gaining more powerful throughout motivates both Zagreus and the player, and all of it comes together to create a story about the Greek pantheon that feels fresh.

Roguelikes can suffer from too much of a focus on either story or gameplay. There needs to be a reason for the repetition to keep the player going. Luckily, Hades and Going Under show that it's possible to maintain that balance.

Dad issues

Hades

$25 at Steam $25 at Nintendo

Take on Hades and escape to freedom

In Hades you play Zagreus, the son of Hades, and you want to escape the Underworld. However, your dad isn't going to make it easy.

Startup blues

Going Under

$20 at Microsoft (Xbox) $20 at GMG (PC)

Not the internship you signed up for

Is this the internship from hell? Maybe not, but you do have to descend into the basements of a giant tech company to take out the monsters that live there. Just try not to die too much.



0 comments:

Post a Comment

ShortNewsWeb

Blog Archive

Categories

'The Woks of Life' Reminded Me to Cook With All the Flavors I Love (1) 10 Scary Podcasts to Listen to in the Dark (1) 13 of the Best Spooky Episodes From (Mostly) Un-Spooky Shows (1) 13 Spooky Movies Set on Halloween Night (1) 1Password Now Generates QR Codes to Share Wifi Passwords (1) 2024 (15) 21 Thanksgiving Movies About Families As Screwed-Up As Yours (1) 30 Movies and TV Shows That Are Basically 'Competence Porn' (1) 30 of the Most Obscenely Patriotic Movies Ever (1) 31 Spooky Movies to Watch Throughout October (1) 40 Netflix Original Series You Should Watch (1) 55 Box Office Bombs Totally Worth Watching (1) Active Directory (1) Adobe's AI Video Generator Might Be as Good as OpenAI's (1) AIX (1) and I'd Do It Again (1) and Max Bundle Isn't a Terrible Deal (1) Apache (2) Apple Intelligence Is Running Late (1) Apple Intelligence's Instructions Reveal How Apple Is Directing Its New AI (1) August 18 (1) August 4 (1) August 5 (1) Avoid an Allergic Reaction by Testing Your Halloween Makeup Now (1) Backup & Restore (2) best practices (1) bleepingcomputer (64) Blink Security Cameras Are up to 68% Off Ahead of Prime Day (1) CentOS (1) Configure PowerPath on Solaris (1) Documents (2) Don't Fall for This 'New' Google AI Scam (1) Don't Rely on a 'Monte Carlo' Retirement Analysis (1) Eight Cleaning Products TikTok Absolutely Loves (1) Eight of the Best Methods for Studying so You Actually Retain the Information (1) Eight Unexpected Ways a Restaurant Can Mislead You (1) Elevate Your Boring Store-Bought Pretzels With This Simple Seasoning Technique (1) Everything Announced at Apple's iPhone 16 Event (1) file system (6) Find (1) Find a Nearby ‘Gleaning Market’ to Save Money on Groceries (1) Five Red Flags to Look for in Any Restaurant (1) Five Ways You Can Lose Your Social Security Benefits (1) Flappy Bird's Creator Has Nothing to Do With Its 'Remake' (1) Four Reasons to Walk Out of a Job Interview (1) Four Signs Thieves Are Casing Your House (1) gaming (1) Goldfish Crackers Have a New Name (for a Little While) (1) Hackers Now Have Access to 10 Billion Stolen Passwords (1) How I Finally Organized My Closet With a Digital Inventory System (1) How I Pack Up a Hotel Room So I Don’t Forget Anything (1) How to Cancel Your Amazon Prime Membership After Prime Day Is Over (1) How to Choose the Best Weightlifting Straps for Your Workout (1) How to Enable (and Turn Off) Apple Intelligence on an iPhone (1) How to Get Started With Bluesky (1) How to Keep Squirrels Off Your Bird Feeders (1) How to Remotely Control Another iPhone or Mac Using FaceTime (1) How to Set Up Your Bedroom Like a Hotel Room (and Why You Should) (1) How to Speak With a Real Person at Target Customer Service (1) How to Take a Screenshot on a Mac (1) How to Take Full Control of Your Notifications on a Chromebook (1) How to Use Picture-in-Picture Mode on an Android Phone (1) Hulu (1) I Chose the Beats Fit Pro Over the AirPods Pro (1) If You Got a Package You Didn't Order (1) If You Hate Running (1) Important Questions (17) Install and Configure PowerPath (1) interview questions for linux (2) Is ‘Ultra-Processed’ Food Really That Bad for You? (1) Is Amazon Prime Really Worth It? (1) It Might Be a Scam (1) July 14 (1) July 21 (1) July 28 (1) July 7 (1) June 30 (1) LifeHacker (139) Linux (36) Make and Freeze Some Roux Now for Easy Turkey Gravy (1) Meta Releases Largest Open-Source AI Model Yet (1) Monitoring (3) music (688) My Favorite 14TB Hard Drive Is 25% Off Right Now (1) My Favorite Amazon Deal of the Day: Apple AirPods Max (2) My Favorite Amazon Deal of the Day: Apple Pencil Pro (1) My Favorite Amazon Deal of the Day: Google Nest Mesh WiFi Router (1) My Favorite Amazon Deal of the Day: Google Pixel 8 (1) My Favorite Amazon Deal of the Day: PlayStation 5 (1) My Favorite Amazon Deal of the Day: Samsung Odyssey G9 Gaming Monitor (1) My Favorite Amazon Deal of the Day: SHOKZ OpenMove Bone Conduction Headphones (1) My Favorite Amazon Deal of the Day: The 13-Inch M3 Apple MacBook Air (1) My Favorite Amazon Deal of the Day: These Bose QuietComfort Headphones (1) My Favorite Tools for Managing Cords and Cables (1) Nagios (2) Newtorking (1) NFS (1) OMG! Ubuntu! (688) Oracle Linux (1) oracleasm (3) osnews (28) Password less communication (1) Patching (2) Poaching Is the Secret to Perfect Corn on the Cob (1) powerpath (1) Prioritize Your To-Do List By Imagining Rocks in a Jar (1) Red Hat Exam (1) register (73) Rsync (1) Safari’s ‘Distraction Control’ Will Help You Banish (Some) Pop Ups (1) Samba (1) Scrcpy (1) September 1 (1) September 15 (1) September 2 (1) September 22 (1) September 23 (1) September 30 (1) September 8 (1) Seven Home 'Upgrades' That Aren’t Worth the Money (1) Seven Things Your Credit Card’s Trip Protection Won’t Actually Cover (1) Six Unexpected Household Uses for Dry-Erase Markers (1) ssh (1) Swift Shift Is the Window Management Tool Apple Should Have Built (1) System hardening (1) Tailor Your iPhone's Fitness Summary to Your Workouts (1) Target’s ‘Circle Week’ Sale Is Still Going After October Prime Day (1) Target’s Answer to Prime Day Starts July 7 (1) Tech (9544) Tech CENTRAL (24) Technical stories (130) technpina (7) The 30 Best Movies of the 2020s so Far (and Where to Watch Them) (1) The 30 Best Sports Movies You Can Stream Right Now (1) The Best Deals on Robot Vacuums for Amazon’s Early Prime Day Sale (2) The Best Deals on Ryobi Tools During Home Depot's Labor Day Sale (1) The Best Early Prime Day Sales on Power Tools (1) The Best Movies and TV Shows to Watch on Netflix This Month (1) The Best October Prime Day Deals If You Are Experiencing Overwhelming Existential Dread (1) The Best Places to Go When You Don't Want to Be Around Kids (1) The Best Places to Order Thanksgiving Dinner to Go (1) The Best Strategies for Lowering Your Credit Card Interest Rate (1) The Best Ways to Store All Your Bags and Purses (1) The Latest watchOS Beta Is Breaking Apple Watches (1) The New Disney+ (1) The Two Best Times of Year to Look for a New Job (1) the X Rival Everyone's Flocking To (1) These Bissell Vacuums Are on Sale Ahead of Black Friday (and They're All Great) (1) These Meatball Shots Are My Favorite Football Season Snack (1) These Milwaukee Tools Are up to 69% off Right Now (1) This 2024 Sony Bravia Mini-LED TV Is $400 Off Right Now (1) This 75-Inch Hisense ULED 4K TV Is $500 Off Right Now (1) This Google Nest Pro Is 30% Off for Prime Day (1) This Peanut Butter Latte Isn’t As Weird As It Sounds (1) This Tech Brand Will Get the Biggest Discounts During Prime Day (1) Three Quick Ways to Shorten a Necklace (1) Three Services People Don't Know They Can Get From Their Bank for Free (1) Today’s Wordle Hints (and Answer) for Monday (4) Today’s Wordle Hints (and Answer) for Sunday (11) Try 'Pile Cleaning' When Your Mess Is Overwhelming (1) Try 'Pomodoro 2.0' to Focus on Deep Work (1) Try 'Rucking' (1) Ubuntu News (347) Ubuntu! (1) Unix (1) Use This App to Sync Apple Reminders With Your iPhone Calendar (1) Use This Extension to Find All Your X Followers on Bluesky (1) veritas (2) Videos (1) Was ChatGPT Really Starting Conversations With Users? (1) Watch Out for These Red Flags in a Realtor Contract (1) Wayfair Is Having a '72-Hour Closeout' Sale to Compete With Prime Day (1) We Now Know When Google Will Roll Out Android 15 (1) What Is the 'Die With Zero' Movement (and Is It Right for You)? (1) What Not to Do When Training for a Marathon (1) What to Do When Your Employer Shifts Your Pay From Salary to Hourly (1) What to Look for (and Avoid) When Selecting a Pumpkin (1) What to Wear to Run in the Cold (1) What's New on Prime Video and Freevee in September 2024 (1) Why You Can't Subscribe to Disney+ and Hulu Through Apple Anymore (1) Why Your Home Gym Needs Adjustable Kettlebells (1) Windows (5) You Can Easily Add Words to Your Mac's Dictionary (1) You Can Get 'World War Z' on Sale for $19 Right Now (1) You Can Get a Membership to BJ's for Practically Free Right Now (1) You Can Get Beats Studio Buds+ on Sale for $100 Right Now (1) You Can Get Microsoft Visio 2021 Pro on Sale for $20 Right Now (1) You Can Get This 12-Port USB-C Hub on Sale for $90 Right Now (1) You Can Get This Roomba E5 Robot Vacuum on Sale for $170 Right Now (1) You Can Hire Your Own Personal HR Department (1) You Can Search Through Your ChatGPT Conversation History Now (1) You Can Set Different Scrolling Directions for Your Mac’s Mouse and Trackpad (1)

Recent Comments

Popular Posts

Translate

My Blog List

Popular

System Admin Share

Total Pageviews