Get yo bow and go innawoods

You know what some people love? Camping. Nature. The great outdoors in general. You know what a lot of people hate? Camping. Nature. The great outdoors in general. If only there was way for people who love camping to do it way more often. If only there was a way for people who hate camping to go camping with actually...camping. OH WAY, THERE TOTALLY IS, ITS TIME TO CELEBRATE!

Celebrate inside, where there's electricity

The game today is UnReal World RPG, and the best way I can describe it is by taking a blurb straight from the website its from. " UnReal World is a unique low-fantasy roguelike game set in the far north during the late Iron-Age. The world of the game is highly realistic, rich with historical atmosphere and emphasized on survival in the harsh ancient wilderness." So yeah, camping without leaving your heated/air conditioned house. Like all roguelikes what it lacks in graphics it makes up for in mechanics and general depth to the game, such as the various tribes with their different advantages and disadvantages, the number of skills to train in, the rituals to find, and the various "classes". Between all that and the world randomization you could play for a very long time without ever having to play the same way twice, one of the biggest draws of roguelikes.

You'll never get bored of the different ways you can get your ass kicked!

They arent joking when they say this game is about survival, as everything is out to kill you, from the wildlife to the environment. Not only are there wolves and bears out there but deer can kick your ass as well if you drop the ball. That isnt even getting into the hunger and thirst systems, so have fun eating the clothes off your back because you cant chase down squirrels, and then immediately getting frost bite because its winter and you have no clothing.

you need the right skills to make bacon yourself

Originally UnReal World RPG was something you'd have to pay for, but some time ago the developer for it just decided to run off of a donation based format, so if you REALLY like this game and want to give back, you totally can. If you like nature but cant hang out in the woods like a crazed hermit in real life, or if you hate nature and want to play the game to tell yourself "look at all the ways I can die out here, there isnt even any video games", or if you want a game to play in your doomsday bunker to remind yourself the surface wasnt a blasted hellscape populated by mutants and cannibal hipsters, then UnReal World RPG might be for you!

"Haha, no, I'm not going back out there"

You can get UnReal World RPG here

DORFS DORFS DORFS DORFS DORFS

I have no idea how to properly introduce the game for today's update. I mean I COULD just sum it up in one to three sentences as im certain most of you have heard of it before, but that wouldn't do it justice at all. I COULD probable type up a thirty page report on it, but I'm far too lazy for that and I'm certain you don't want to fight your way through an essay.So I'm gonna do what I usually do and hope for the best! The game today is Dwarf Fortress!

Behold, a glorious mountain!

You could call Dwarf (DORF) Fortress a lot of things: Roguelike, God game, City Builder game, adventure game. Frankly, you could do all most ANYTHING. First thing that happens when playing is that a world is made. This isnt some nambly pambly preset map made up of cookie cutter set pieces, this world is procedurally generated from the ground up. Continents, oceans, kingdoms, cities, people, and even individual animals. Then you get a group of dwarves, some equipment, and you strike it out on your own in the wilderness. A wilderness that could be a savanna, a tundra, a forest, or a desert. Which could be populated by monkeys, the craven undead, elves, or all of those combined, or worse.

Sure it looks nice but you cant see the vampires

Then there's Adventure mode, which plays like a typical Roguelike game where the player creates an adventurer, and sets out into the world to either die horribly, or become famous, powerful and retire somewhere, maybe even a fortress you start in that generated world. There is no in between, just as in fortress mode everything you build will eventually be torn down in one way or another, its inevitable.

This will be you

Lastly there's a Legends mode, which lets you read into the history of the generated world. See the civilizations rise and fall, glorious commanders come into power. Its a neat little feature, though it has no real gameplay in and of itself.

"and in the year 457, all the Goblins got up and kicked the crap out of this one guy"

Dwarf Fortress was made by, and is still being developed and worked on by two brothers, Tarn and Zach Adams. Originally coming out in August of 2006, they keep adding more and more to the game. Make no mistake Dwarf Fortress is as hard as they come, with a learning curve that's littered with the broken bodies of those that came before you. You could try it and want to go back in time to stop it from being developed after five minutes of playing it. Or you might think its the best game ever. In either case, there are plenty of beginner guides out there on the internet, so you're not entirely on your own.

They couldn't handle it

You can get Dwarf  Fortress here. Remember, losing is fun!

The dev team really DOES think of everything...

Today I got something special. One of the most well known of all roguelikes: Nethack! Originally released way back in 1987, and its roots can be traced back to the game “Rogue” which was released in 1980, Nethack is likely older than you, and its still being worked on today.

It will still be going after you die

The goal of Nethack is to obtain the Amulet of Yendor from the beyond the Mazes of Menace, and then get out alive. If the name of the dungeon doesn’t tell you this game means business than how about the fact that there are over fifty levels to that hell hole? Nethack doesn’t screw around.

Nethack knows who you are

At the start of every new game you choose your race and class with a number of selections to pick from. Classes have the typical ones you would probably expect, such as wizard, knight, and priest, who are basically what you imagine they are but Nethack also provides stranger choices, such as archeologist who start off with scientific tools, cavemen who start with high strength but ancient weaponry, or tourists who start off with a lot of money and a camera. Races who can choose from are the basic human, and dwarves, elves, gnomes and orcs. You also choose an alignment at the start, Lawful, Neutral, and Chaotic which has an effect on monsters and how hostile they are to you.

Nethack knows where you live

There is a lot to Nethack, from the randomized levels (with a few special exceptions), the cursed and blessed items, pets and Gods, you wont even see a fraction of what the game has in one go, odds are you wont see all that there is to Nethack period. What really makes Nethack is the high level of complexity and interaction in the game world. Your character can go blind, shape shift, lose limbs, then replace those lost limbs, wield dead monsters as weapons, make wishes, and starve if you don’t pay attention, and that’s really just the start.

Nethack will kill you in your sleep

Nethack uses ASCII graphics, though the option of tilesets is available if you're not into that.Whats even crazier is that Nethack can be configured so blind people can play it. I want you to think about that for a second.
...
Ok, now if any of that sounds appealing to you, you can snag Nethack here for whatever OS you use
and heres a guide for the game in general because damn this is complicated

Why did it have to be snakes

Grab your whip and temple defiling hat, we’re off to adventure, treasure, and painful frequent death. But first, some music!

Continuing the theme of exploring dark and horrible places is Spelunky, a roguelike released back in 2008 where you delve into a deep cave full of traps, snakes, bats, and other various horrible things out to ruin your day in the search for cold hard cash in the form of gold, gems, and golden skulls. Spelunky was considered so good that it got a XBLA release with updated graphics, multiplayer, and coop, but obviously this post isn’t about that. With sixteen randomly generated levels and numerous items to find and buy from mundane firearms to climbing gloves to ancient relics that allow you to find gems hidden in the ground, the game is deeper than its pixilated appearance would suggest. Its ALSO has the best start menu ever.

Way better than "New Game"  "Menu" and "Quit" buttons

As typical to roguelikes, you will die often, be it from the traps or your own carelessness (or both). However, you don’t need to really commit to a single play through, the game is short enough that even if you die on the last level, while you might end up tearing your hair out because of frustration, but you wont lament the time you spent getting that far. The game has been beaten from start to finish in under three minutes in the case of speed runners, and the game itself sends ghosts at you if you wait around in one level for too long.

Using a shotgun on a ghost? Did Ghostbusters teach you nothing?

Between the “level feelings” which change up the levels by making the darker, or full of a specific enemy type, the boss monsters, the challenges (self imposed or otherwise), the short cuts you have to earn, and the secrets, Spelunky has plenty of offer. The game also has a modding community and player made levels to dive into if you find any that interest you. For a game released more than three years ago, Spelunky has a community that’s still going strong. I’d say its definitely worth a download.

Nothing's perfect, however

 You can get Spelunky from here

DOOM

WE'RE GONNA NEED SOME MUSIC FOR THIS

 Got another rogue like today. Its got shotguns, chainsaws, rocket launchers, exploding barrels, pools of acid, flaming skulls, zombies, demons, and blood everywhere. That’s right! This is DOOM: The Rogue Like!

This game makes no effort to hide what it is

Compared to other rogue likes, DOOM doesn’t have that much depth to it. However, its very easy to just pick up and play. Game play wise its actually fairly similar to the DOOM shooters, in that its dark as hell, everything is out to kill you, and you solve your problems with grievous violence, firearms and explosives.

This will be you at some point while playing this

Speaking of enemies and firearms, all the sounds in this game are the same as in the original games, from the satisfying shotgun blast to the sounds of an angry hell knight out there somewhere in the darkness. The game also makes use of custom music and remixed versions of songs from the DOOM soundtrack, giving the game that perfect feeling as you fight your way through hell and back.

This will also be you at one point

Like most rogue likes  the game consists of randomly generated levels with a staircase down to the next level. These levels are obviously filled with demons, and through killing these demons you level up, which is necessary as the later levels don’t screw around at all. As a bonus, the flavor text for each skill that you can choose from when you level up is all from the DOOM comic, and that’s perfect.

If you can get the BFG you will also know this feeling

The game also features special challenge levels that are all about risk and reward, since it’s far easier to get yourself killed in those, but its also how you get some of the best weapons in the game such as the BFG or the chainsaw. The core game play itself is solid, but there are also special game modes that can be unlocked that change the game. Like melee only, or a pacifist mode, or harder difficulties to unlock (which are all named after the ones in DOOM)

Typical rogue like conventions apply

If you’re a big fan of DOOM, or you’re just looking for a time sink this might just be your game. Even on the easiest difficulty you’re not getting through this game in one go. You know exactly what the game is going to be, so you cant really go wrong with DOOM.

Oh?

Ok fine, but that was just one time, everything else is great!
You can get DOOM the Rouge like at  http://doom.chaosforge.org/

Devious subsister

Got something different for you today! It can run on a brick and has the worst graphics out of all the game’s I’ve put on this blog so far! You wont care about the graphics though when you’re trying not to starve or be eaten yourself. I present to you Rogue Survivor!

That's no hobo in the doorway

Rogue Survivor is a roguelike, and for those who don’t know what that is, lets see the wikipedia definition. “The roguelike is a sub-genre of role-playing video games, characterized by level randomization, permanent death, and turn-based movement. Most roguelikes feature ASCII graphics, with newer ones increasingly offering tile-based graphics.” That about sums it up. All of these features are implemented in Rogue Survivor, especially the randomization factor.

The classics weren't much to look at but they were still solid games

The goal of Rogue Survivor is (surprise!) survival. The game takes place during a zombie outbreak and you are given the choice of either being a human or one of the undead. Humans are given a choice of traits to choose from, one at the end of character generation, others after the dawn of each new day they survive. The Undead choice gives you a selection of different zombie types to choose from, such as a full on skeleton whose strong suit is speed, or a far more durable zombie master.

Expect a lot of burning cars

Human characters need food and sleep to stay alive. Food, traps, and weapons can be found. Barricades can be built in doors and window frames to keep the undead out. Rather than being entirely on your own there are a number of other survivors in the city that you can trade with, or convince to follow you, or to kill to take their stuff. If you give them a reason such as breaking into their barricaded shelter or hoarding food they will try to kill you.

The survivors arent your main concern however, obviously

As a roguelike, despite it's tiled graphic looks, the game is deeper than it appears. Depending on how bad/good you are, you don’t need to invest that much time into a single character. Play until you die, and then reincarnate or start again from the beginning. A save/load feature is available so you dont need to play your character out in one sitting. Even if you find nothing particularly substantial about it you should be able to get a couple of hours of enjoyment out of it. If nothing else you should pick up a few ideas for your own zombie attack plan

Look at how prepared this guy is. This could be you!

There are quite a few Roguelikes out there on the internet, but I'll try to space them apart so this doesn't become "ROGUELIKE CENTRAL, ASCII GRAPHICS 24/7"

 Rogue Survivor is available at http://roguesurvivor.blogspot.com/