I've been keeping my eye on this game for quite a while. I'm wondering what other Roguelikes Nuclear Throne fans like in order to gage if I might like this game.

For instance, I really like Binding of Isaac and even more so Spelunky.

I like Nuclear Throne, even though it has crashed to the XMB on my two best runs!!!!!!!!!!! I like the different abilities the different characters have, it brings a little something extra for me, even though I have only unlocked a couple of them. Anyway, I really like Spelunky, and Rogue Legacy.

So I bet you would like it, it's not easy, but nobody wants an easy roguelike.

@benjamminlee: The difficulty (dying in 1-3 hits, getting health back is relatively rare), structure (common level progression but there are secret levels kind of like the black market), the level all being one continuous piece instead of sectioned off into explicit rooms, and number of possible items/upgrades, all makes Nuclear Throne more similar to Spelunky than to Binding of Isaac.

Other than that, it gets very hectic in the way a lot of topdown dual joystick sorta shooters are, and also there is a degree of ammo management to the game where you have to make shots count, or at least be willing to switch to different weapons once you run out of all or most of the ammo on one weapon type.

I absolutely love roguelikes and this is one of my personal favorites. It's definitely up there with Spelunky and The Binding of Isaac. It can be occasionally frustrating, but I still love it.

I really like Vagante. It's a side-scrolling platformer with heavy roguelike elements. Kinda like Spelunky I guess, but less platforming and more rogueliking. Different classes and some unlockable character traits. It is in early access but I've been enjoying it for hours none the less.

Nuclear Throne is more of a shooter which randomly gives out mutations (perks) and weapons.

The Binding of Isaac has more of the spirit of a roguelike and is closer to a Zelda.

I personally think The Binding of Isaac is a better roguelike and a better overall game. The number of weapons and mutations make it hard to compare to The Binding of Isaac. In BOF, you have literally 200 different items, pick ups, secrets, characters, etc. on top of the truly randomized worlds. In Nuclear Throne it feels more like a couple dozen weapons and maybe 20 different mutations.

I like it. Its a top-down Risk of Rain.

Risk of Rain is criminally underrated. By far my favorite rogue like. The evolution of power you get in that game is unlike anything else I have seen, and also very difficult. Nuclear throne comes pretty close to scratching that itch for me as well.

What the hell. I'm going to buy it and try it out.

It's more like Spelunky than Binding of Isaac. It's a relatively set progression with a fairly small pool of items, and it's all about getting insanely good at making snap-decisions in situations that become exponentially more fucked-up as you progress.

I think if you enjoyed Spelunky and Binding of Isaac you will like this. It's in the same ball park as those, just with a greater emphasis on shooting. Great game.

@clagnaught said:

Preferring The Binding of Isaac over Nuclear Throne is a valid opinion, but I think it should be based on more than "one game has more items than the other game". I don't like any argument that boils down to "more game = better game". Just like how Giant Bomb's game of the year for Best Graphics doesn't necessarily go to "most graphics"; a game with a cool art style that only took a couple guys to make could still win. Or how Jeff prefers Nuclear Throne over Binding of Isaac because he likes the aim controls much more in Nuclear Throne, item quantity be damned.

Spelunky only has like a dozen items that truly matter out of a total pool of maybe 20 or 30, but it is exquisitely well made. You can make a meaningfully challenging and interesting game with small pool of randomized items. Admittedly, most of Nuclear Throne's items are ranged weapons, so they're mostly the same in their use, except in cases where you have to consider how much ammo you have and whether you have character upgrades specific to that weapon (the upgrade that gives homing bolts, or increases energy damage, etc.). The only weapons that are meaningfully very different are melee weapon, toxic weapons where you could accidentally kill yourself with your own toxic cloud, and explosive weapons that can destroy terrain or you could kill yourself with explosive friendly fire.

True, more game certainly does not equal better game. That said, I still like The Binding of Isaac more. I've had more fun learning the basics, random tips and tricks about how the game works, progressively getting a better/interesting/weirder build together, and stumbling upon more and more secrets. Also I think the game does a nice job with progressively getting more complex and difficult over time and sprinkling a few things here and there to tell you there's more of the game to discover. The variety and how much "stuff" is in the game is a big part of that, but if I didn't find the core action or that setup interesting, it wouldn't really matter.

Also the farthest I've gotten in Nuclear Throne so far is 6-1 (where I was killed by 10 things off screen almost instantly, woo-hoo), while in The Binding of Isaac I managed to defeat Mega Satan. I haven't seen everything in that game, but that's more or less "finishing" The Binding of Isaac. I still think Nuclear Throne is a good game though (even if I keep flip flopping between runs, where one session will make me go "Fuck yeah!" and another will make me go "Fuck this game")

Nuclear Throne is a top down shooter/action game, not a rogue like.

@mikachops said:

It's so "not even that much of the modern definition of roguelike" that I wish they would take the randomness partially out of it. Like, if I find a level seed I like (say, one where the world 5 player spawn-in locations aren't completely fucked and open), just let me keep playing that. I think the random character upgrades in Nuclear Throne are the thing that most make people want to think it's Binding of Isaac, so give me a checkbox to turn off that upgrade randomness and just be able to choose from all or most of the abilities each time you level up.

The game controls great, and feels great (music, sound effects, screen shake, etc.), but the randomized nature of the game is so tertiary to my enjoyment of Nuclear Throne that I wish there was a slider to actually minimize that randomness, because even with the randomness, it never feels THAT different.

@bisonhero: Yeah, thankfully the upgrades don't make that huge of a difference to each run which makes it even more of a shame / confusing how this is being lumped into the category of rogue-likes. It's such a fantastically controlling game that calling it anything but a shooter seems like a huge disservice.

Being able to unlock "free mode" where you can choose from all the mutations would be great... if it's not already in the game that is.

@bisonhero: Yep, even though I own Nuclear Throne, Spelunky, Rogue Legacy, Risk of Rain etc, my Roguelike section in Steam only contains 2 games - Tales of Maj'Eyal and Dungeons of Dredmor.

Nuclear Throne is fantastic but it's a fantastic little shooter.

@clagnaught: For clarity, NT has 28 character-agnostic mutations and 3 unique to each character, and around 120 weapons. Not sure how you were killed by 10 enemies offscreen in 6-1, since 90% of the enemies there are melee and the rest don't trigger until you step near them, but assuming you're very lucky, you've probably seen around 60% of the weapons and a couple of the ultra mutations.