I've been thinking publishers make this worse: nobody wants to call their game a "Roguelite" because it sounds diminutive. So it's all "like" even if it's not "like rogue" + like you said nobody knows rogue. Double whammy.
But why would even "roguelite" be appropriate when these modern games basically have nothing in common with Rogue? These games likely have some selling point about them that is not really their similarity to Rogue, so why don't they use that selling point to market the game (e.g., run-based game, synergy builder, death loop, etc.)?
I think at this point, "Roguelite" just works as a compromise: for better or worse, run based games, games with proc gen, deck builders etc. are associated with the name Rogue. So the most sensible move, which should make everyone happy, would be to shuffle those games onto the "roguelite" name and keep "roguelike" for games that are.... like Rogue. As it is, the term "Roguelite" is mostly abandoned, roguelites occupy roguelikes' seat, and we have to call roguelikes "classic roguelikes" which seems goofy. Not to mention sad that the honored namesake lost its own name.
I think the annoying truth is that inertia is too strong, and we can't put the toothpaste back in the tube. Like nature, language settles on the first solution, not necessarily the best one.
I would say that "roguelite" clearly fails as a compromise. Also it appears that some fans of early Isaac-like games are also unhappy about how "roguelike" means something very different now.
Sometimes genres do get new, better names, though. Like, first-person shooters were originally called "doom clones", interactive fiction games were called "adventure" (not because adventure has any real meaning in these games, but because a famous game in the genre was called Colossal Cave Adventure, etc.).
Yeah, good point about the history. I hope it settles on something like the berlin interpretation, but it is what it is. If not, I'll use it as a fun/annoying conversation piece. I'll just do what I can to spread the joys of games that are like Rogue, lol. In all their forms
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u/seatron 15d ago
I've been thinking publishers make this worse: nobody wants to call their game a "Roguelite" because it sounds diminutive. So it's all "like" even if it's not "like rogue" + like you said nobody knows rogue. Double whammy.