‘What is a roguelike?’ is one of video gaming’s most controversial questions. Let's dive deep into the fascinating history of this influential genres and explore how roguelikes first emerged in the early 1980s with the game "Rogue", to then play a pivotal role in shaping gaming through procedural generation and their evolution into roguelites. From their notoriously difficult mechanics and deep strategy to the intense fan debates over their definition online and with the Berlin Interpretation, I look at how roguelikes have evolved into roguelites, and the creative space these games now occupy in the modern gaming landscape.

I’ll be using the tentative labels of complexity, controversy, and creativity to discuss the history of roguelikes. I see these as crucial to understanding what kind of games they are, the kind of people that make and play them, the reasons they play them, how this history has unfolded, and how it is told by scholars, fans, developers, and in the media.

This video is based on a talk I presented at a game studies conference at the University of Innsbruck in 2024, presented with the same title.
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00:00 Intro
01:53 What is a Roguelike?
03:59 History of Roguelike
12:28 Complexity
14:18 Controversy
16:07 Creativity
17:52 Roguelite
21:14 Outro
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Mentioned Texts:
Mark Johnson: https://doi.org/10.1177/1555412015585884
"How NetHack, Angband, and Other Rougelikes Changed the Course of Video Games" By David L. Craddock: https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/m...

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Thanks for watching, and see you next time on Breaking the Game!
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Get in touch with me: [email protected]
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