Roguelike is a subgenre of
role-playing video games, characterized by a
dungeon crawl through
procedurally-generated game levels, turn-based gameplay, tile-based graphics, and
permanent death of the player-character. Most roguelike are based on a
high fantasy narrative, reflecting their influence from
tabletop role playing games such as
Dungeons & Dragons. Though the roguelikes
Beneath Apple Manor and
Sword of Fargoal predate it, the 1980 game
Rogue is considered the forerunner and the namesake of the genre, with derivative games mirroring
Rogues
character- or
sprite-based graphics. These games were popularized among college students and computer programmers of the 1980s and 1990s, leading to a large number of variants but adhering to these common gameplay elements, often titled the "Berlin Interpretation". Some of the better-known variants include
Hack,
NetHack,
Ancient Domains of Mystery,
Moria,
Angband, and
Tales of Maj'Eyal. The Japanese series of
Mystery Dungeon games by
Chunsoft, inspired by
Rogue, also fall within the concept of roguelike games.
