rogue-like

plural rogue-likes

1. alternativeAlternative form of roguelike.

   But don't get me wrong; instant-deaths have a history in rogue-likes. Increasing the amount of such situations/possibilities is not exactly what I am considering as being fun.

   2023 April 26, Janis Papanagnou, “[evilhack] Shambling horror”, in rec.games.roguelike.nethack (Usenet), archived from the original on 04 Jan 2026

   2 more examples

   Also they added a skill system which I've seen in some rogue-likes, you get a skill point when you go up a level and buy skills and some skills have other pre-requisites. I agree the biggest separation from other rogue-likes that Diablo has is being real-time instead of turn-based and secondly the graphics though I see nothing wrong with having graphics over ASCII, the visual interface as far as how the dungeons represented hasn't been of much concern to me with rogue-likes so much as the randomness and storylines and quests.

   1999 October 14, Kele Kravelin, “Diablo II info”, in rec.games.roguelike.misc (Usenet), archived from the original on 04 Jan 2026

   Fate doesn't "look and feel" like Diablo or Diablo 2 to me. I feel much more reminded of traditional rogue-likes. What does "look and feel" the same to me are numerous shooters, and I don't see any sueing (suing?) going on in that genre.

   2005 August 9, Michael Vondung, “Fate: How can they get away with it?”, in comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.rpg (Usenet), archived from the original on 04 Jan 2026

comparative more rogue-like · superlative most rogue-like

1. alternativeAlternative form of roguelike.

   > Azure Dreams A very fun little game. It's 'rogue-like', consisteing^([sic]) of a town and a huge 40 level, randomly floored, tower.

   1999 August 20, Joshua Kaufman, “Advice Needed: What Game Should I Get?”, in alt.games.final-fantasy (Usenet), archived from the original on 04 Jan 2026

   2 more examples

   > Does Angband (or any variants) keep track of the sex of monsters? ADOM does (Ancient Domains Of Mystery). It's not an Angband variant by any definition, but it's rogue-like (and it lacks graphics!!!!!) […] If someone makes (or is making) a more open-ended rogue-like game (in the style of Daggerfall, but with gameplay instead of buggy 3D graphix) it could be possible for male characters to marry and have children (or have children and then marry, or not marry at all), but female characters should not be able to become pregnant as this would prevent them from adventuring for the next 9-11 years.

   1998 January 2, Peter, “Sex questions”, in rec.games.roguelike.angband (Usenet), archived from the original on 04 Jan 2026

   Actually, Summon Nights is also not very random -- only the monsters and items are randomised, the maps stay the same. Maybe it's the "explore-shop cycle" similar to *bands that made me think it's rogue-like?

   2007 March 16, Radomir 'The Sheep' Dopieralski, “Market for graphical roguelike?”, in rec.games.roguelike.development (Usenet), archived from the original on 04 Jan 2026

plural Rogue-likes

1. alternativeAlternative form of roguelike.

   Roughly a dozen different flavors of Rogue-likes have evolved over the years, but one of the most popular is Nethack.

   1997, John Withers, Developing Java™ Entertainment Applets, Wiley Computer Publishing, →ISBN, page 93

   5 more examples

   Diablo is not an RPG. I've been reading through the posts and some people agree with this, so just what IS Diablo (as far as game type). Well, I'd say Diablo is a "Rogue-like".

   1999 November 2, Levi Kendall, “Diablo is a "Rogue-Like"”, in alt.games.diablo (Usenet), archived from the original on 04 Jan 2026

   As with the Rogue-likes before it, Tunnels of Doom featured random encounters with monsters, wildly varying treasure, and a final quest that required the lost king to be defeated (Barton 2008:81).

   2011, Michael J. Tresca, The Evolution of Fantasy Role-Playing Games, McFarland & Company, →ISBN, page 138

   The main tool Rogue-likes bring to creating interesting gameplay through randomness is algorithmic complexity far beyond that provided by a few 1D100 tables in the back of the D&D rulebook.

   2013, Greg Costikyan, Uncertainty in Games, Cambridge, Mass.; London: The MIT Press, →ISBN, page 47

   DND just goes to show you that you don't need graphics to achieve greatness. I think the legions of people who still play Rogue-likes such as Nethack would agree.

   2014, Rob Strangman, Memoirs of a Virtual Caveman, →ISBN, page 334

   I do not think necessary to give the list of the most important microprocessors that were released in the 1990s, because by the 1980s dungeon games ('Rogue-likes') were already firmly established.

   2023 June 10, CSS Dixieland, “Weights in various roguelikes”, in rec.games.roguelike.nethack (Usenet), archived from the original on 04 Jan 2026

comparative more Rogue-like · superlative most Rogue-like

1. alternativeAlternative form of roguelike.

   MAG is Rogue-like.It's almost a brother to the game we all know and love.

   1997 February 17, Nikolai81, “MAG - a new (old) DOS rogue-like game”, in rec.games.roguelike.rogue (Usenet), archived from the original on 04 Jan 2026

   4 more examples

   I don't know if they are stepping on anyone's copyright toes, but a local group of enterprising young programmers have implemented a very Rogue-like game in pascal running on our Dec-20s.

   1983 November 23, Chris%u...@sri-unix.uucp, “Rogue”, in net.micro (Usenet), archived from the original on 23 Mar 2024

   Close -- but while Hack is very Rogue-like, it's a fresh effort, not based on Rogue.

   1999 August 13, William Tanksley, “Looking for suggestions”, in rec.games.roguelike.misc (Usenet), archived from the original on 04 Jan 2026

   Lodoss isn't really "Rogue-like" in that it you retain status rather than lose it once you emerge from an era.

   2001 July 13, Jeremy Williamson, “Which game to play next?”, in rec.games.video.sega (Usenet), archived from the original on 04 Jan 2026

   These days, a lot of games pick-n-choose from the Rogue-like feature set, so deciding if a game is "Rogue-like" or not can be difficult.

   2021 December 21, Spalls Hurgenson, “Free Games x5: Loop Hero”, in comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action (Usenet), archived from the original on 04 Jan 2026