What is a roguelike database - ScottBurger/going_rogue_podcast GitHub Wiki
The List
This is an ongoing list of how people are thinking about the definition of a "roguelike". Attempted to be organized by year of publication
Currently the best take on this definition from a modern standpoint would be from legendary game director Masahiro Sakurai.
The special episode that we recorded for the podcast on the topic can be found here
2026
- Polygon - 10 Years later, Enter the Gungeon's creators reflect on a genre in existential crisis
- MandaloreGaming - Rogue Review
- TheCrawl - The 7 levels of Dungeon Crawlers
- Brogue wiki - Roguelikes and Roguelites
2025
- Design Doc - Roguelikes Are Getting Weird
- Rock, Paper, Shotgun - Why are there so many bloody roguelikes or roguelites, and what really makes a game roguish?
- Roguepod Litecast - Roguelikes, Roguelites, and Metaprogression
- Second Wind - Oh, it’s another roguelike
- Breaking The Game - The Rise of the Roguelite: Inside a Gaming Phenomenon
- dopey - You Should Play Traditional Roguelikes NOW!
- thinkygames - Introducing much better genre names to the Thinky Games database!
- doshdoshington - The rise of roguelites… and Teleglitch!
2024
- VDGMS - Roguelikes vs Metroidvanias
- ZenoRogue - Is it roguelike: The Game
- James Cartlidge, Marc Dolgin, Christine Tomlinson - The Rise of the Roguelite
- Spillhistorie.de - The Story of Rogue
2023
- GROGPOD Roguelike Podcast - What Is A Roguelike?
- DFuxa - Roguelikes, Roguelites, & Other Questions Answered About The Genre
- Masahiro Sakurai - Is your game appealing enough to start over?
- RoguelikeCelebration - Scott Burger: The Data Science of Roguelikes
- Sam O'Nella Vlog - Information in Roguelikes, Part 1: Ambiguity
2022
2021
2020
- Ars Technica - ASCII art + permadeath: The history of roguelike games
- GridSageGames - What is a traditional roguelike?
- RoguelikeCelebration - Darren Grey: What is a Rogue Like?
- GoldenKroneHotel - The Roguelike War Is Over
- Actual Roguelikes Steam Curator
2019
- Game Maker's Toolkit - Roguelikes, Persistency, and Progression
- Design Doc - The Evolution of Roguelike Design - How Rogue led to FTL, Spelunky, and So Many More
- Eggplant gamedev podcast - Taking Back Roguelikes with Raigan Burns
- Mr Wendal on games - Roguelikes & the benefits of permenantly dying
- Nostalgia Nerd - Why are Roguelikes called Roguelikes?
2018
- Design Doc - The Evolution of Roguelike Design - How Rogue led to FTL, Spelunky, and So Many More
- OlexaYT - WHAT IS A ROGUELIKE? [Roguelike vs Roguelite]
- RPG Codex - Roguelike Taxonomy Flowchart meme
2017
- Santiago Zapata - What is a Roguelike? Live presentation at Roguelike Celebration
- RoguelikeCelebration - Santiago Zapata: On the Historical Origin of the “Roguelike” Term
- Total Biscuit - I will now talk about rogue-lites for 50 minutes
2016
2014
2013
- Darren Grey - Screw the Berlin Interpretation!
- Spelunky Wiki - Roguelike
- Penny Arcade - What the hell is a roguelike? We try to hash out a definition