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    Roguelike

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    Roguelike is a sub-genre of role-playing games characterized by the exploration of randomly-generated dungeons and permanent death. These characteristics were featured in the classic computer game Rogue, hence the term "Roguelike".

    Help me pick a Roguelike!

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    Bollard

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    Poll Help me pick a Roguelike! (95 votes)

    Dead Cells 53%
    Heat Signature 11%
    Cogmind 3%
    See results! 34%

    I've been holding on to my PUBG Gamescom Invitational crates for as long as possible and saw them spike in price over the last few days. I was able to sell 3 of them and make about £16 for my troubles, so I thought I should give Rougelikes another try with my free money.

    I've tried Roguelikes in the past, but both Binding of Isaac and Spelunky failed to grab me at all and I fell off them very quickly. Of the three games above, which should I try? They are all about the same price so I'm looking for some opinions from people who have played them! Thanks in advance.

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    FrodoBaggins

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    I'm sorry I haven't played any of the above but I recommend Rogue Legacy as a starting point.

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    Bollard

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    @frodobaggins: Thank you for the recommendation! I think I have Rogue Legacy on PS4 maybe? I played a few runs but I don't think I beat the first boss. Another Roguelike that I fell off of!

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    stackboy

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    Dead Cells looks great! I'm waiting for it to come out of early access but by all accounts it's really good.

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    Bollard

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    @stackboy: Indeed, I've had my eye on it for a while. It seems like the perfect game for the Switch though, so I'm hesitant to pick it up on PC. In fact, at this point I want most indie games on my Switch.

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    TobbRobb

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    Dead Cells is fantastic. As someone that generally doesn't like roguelikes all that much, it's easily my favorite one. It's just so satisfying mechanically, that I really don't mind replaying stuff over and over.

    Not neccessarily a roguelike, but Darkest Dungeon is great too. I think it's one of the most well realized versions of the xcom permadeath squad idea. Xcom is great too when it isnt glitching out.

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    Zeg

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    #6  Edited By Zeg

    Heat Signature is the only one I'm slightly familiar with, and I haven't even played it yet. My slight worry of it might be a question of just how much content and variance there is, but I haven't really been paying much attention since early in development so maybe it's just a holdover in my mind from seeing that.

    And to clutter up this thread with more stuff that isn't in the poll, have you considered Enter the Gungeon? It's pretty similar to Isaac in concept so maybe it's already out of contention. But Gungeon is much more like a dual stick shooter than Isaac, and has much less reliance on memorising a bunch of items and combos to build effective runs.

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    OMGFather

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    Definitely give Binding of Isaac Rebirth and Rogue Legacy another shot. Out of the poll options, I went with Dead Cells - only one I've played.

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    deactivated-5ed7db3f7c897

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    Not sure about the above but Darkest Dungeon, FTL & Rogue Legacy are probably my favourite. All dirt cheap too

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    thepullquotes

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    I'd not heard of Cogmind! I greatly enjoyed Dead Cells, but I'd recommend either Vanilla Bagel a Roguelike or AuroraRL other it, just due to the more classic style.

    The true answer is finding Castle of The Winds on Archive.ORG or giving VGAminer a shot.

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    Ben_H

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    If you haven't played Faster Than Light, you definitely need to. It's still my favourite roguelike.

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    Slasktotten

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    haven't played any of the suggestions in the poll but I'd personally go for Nuclear Throne instead.

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    Bollard

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    @zeg: Ah yes, I've seen Jeff (or was it Alex...) play Enter The Gungeon on a few streams, UPF or the like, but it didn't catch my eye. Thanks for the suggestion though!

    @ben_h: Oh yes! I actually did play FTL, didn't ever beat it but have a few hours in it. I did actually enjoy that one, maybe I'll try it again.

    @slasktotten: You've made me realise I've never actually looked at gameplay for Nuclear Throne. In my head I always replaced it with Enter The Gungeon as I somehow thought they were the same game...

    Thanks for all the other posts too, looks like Dead Cells is indeed super popular (not that I'm surprised!)

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    MeierTheRed

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    Dead Cells is pretty great. So thats my vote.

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    bmccann42

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    Galak-Z?

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    clagnaught

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    I’ve only played Heat Signature, but I’m not sure how much depth and variety there is. It is like a Hotline Miami, although Hotline’s combat is just better. It is incredibly neat and all that, but doing dozens of jobs doesn’t seem like it will hold up over time.

    Maybe try Dead Cells? That game looks neat.

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    Humanity

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    Flinthook looks nice at least although I’ve heard the gameplay can get a bit repetitive. My vote is for Dead Cells but it IS unfinished still so that’s like a tentative vote.

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    Bollard

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    @humanity: Hang on, Flinthook is out? I saw it doing the rounds on Twitter, it does look neat for sure.

    Yeah, I'm leaning Dead Cells for now, but damn if it wouldn't be the perfect Switch game. Free is free though!

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    Seeric

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    I haven't played any of those, though of the three I'd personally lean towards Dead Cells. As far as roguelikes I have played though I would definitely recommend looking into one called Monolith.

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    Humanity

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    @bollard: Hasn’t it..been out for a while now? The game about the space pirate with the white bag on his head and the hook gimmick??

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    Bollard

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    @humanity: Turns out it has! I never realised, I guess I assumed the tweets I saw were WIP shots. Or they were a while ago. Either way, reviews don't seem super positive.

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    BladeOfCreation

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    @frodobaggins: I've played a decent amount of Dead Cells over the past few months, but I also recommend Rogue Legacy.

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    BBAlpert

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    NetHack

    Or Heat Signature, that game is pretty cool. Kind of on the easy side (once you start to figure out how stuff works and how things can be pretty much exploited), but still a lot of fun.

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    Humanity

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    @bollard: it’s another case of a beautiful art style being the victim of procedural generation that crushes any charm through repetition.

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