Alright, this has been on my find for quite a while now - since my first encounter with roguelikes - so here it is: what is the deal with rogue likes. Seriously, I understand that, clearly, they're not meant for me but what do the people that like roguelikes get out of them?
In my opinion, roguelikes (such as: Rogue Legacy, Dark Souls (somewhat) and The Binding of Issac) are simply brutally hard for the sake of being brutally hard. Now, this may harken back to an era of games that were like that but what purpose do they serve in this generation or this age? Is it purely for the sake of being retro or is there something more to them - the rogue likes - that I am simply not getting, because playing a game for it's difficulty is a rather shallow reason to play a game.
(I don't dislike a difficult game but I do dislike a game that isn't expressing what I am doing wrong.)
Now, I admit, I'm not typically a sadist or hardcore gamer, but I do know a thing or two about good games and poor games, and every time I get my hands on a rogue like I'm hit with the conclusion that they are not, 'good,' games (for me). What makes them bad, or poor, you might ask? Well, I'll tell you.
It appears to me that majority of rogue likes throw you into a situation without much knowledge of the mechanics or the game itself. The patterns, which you are suppose to follow to, 'learn,' the game become blended or you're simply dropped into a situation where you have no idea what to do. Now, some of you might say this, "but that's what the internet is for," and to that I say yeah; however, a, 'good',' game should be able to drop you into a situation with enough prior knowledge to interact with the environment without being squished to pieces too many times. i.e. there should be no need for a player to go onto the internet to discover what the game is really all about. "Well maybe you should just get better at the game," is what some might say as well and to this I say: At some point in time it's no longer my fault for being bad at the game. i.e. maybe it's just the game, or maybe the game is bad at conveying the information relative to my faults.
I realize that rogue likes are clearly not targeted at a demographic like myself, however, the markets (mainly Steam) seem to be inundated with games like The Binding of Issac and Rogue Legacy and I am left eddying in a stream of material that is simply not meant for me.
Basically I'm saying this: There are far too many rogue likes (good or bad). You may not like me for that but it's what I am sensing each time I spend 15+$ on a game that I want to enjoy but am left scrambling to even understand the basics of because I keep dying so often. Simply stated, I think the age of rogue like games is coming to a close and other, funner, games might take their place.
"What are those games"? I have no idea, but they're certainly not rogue likes (or those darn Minecraft clones) and I am interested in seeing what they will be.
What are your thoughts on rogue likes? Do you share a similar opinion or are our minds too diverse to come to a compromise on what a rogue like should or shouldn't be? What games do you see bubbling to the surface? Will there be a rise in action games again or is strategy taking the lead? What about city builders or RPGs? Please, let me know what you think.
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