possibly my favorite recent roguelike, not so much because i find it particularly innovative or interesting to think about - it is those things, in some small ways, and i don't think it has to be those things to be a good game - but because the developer's labor and the love he has for the genre bleed thick through the screen. you can see bits and pieces of every big roguelike of the last decade in here, not just direct references (although those are plentiful) but in the design decisions; you can feel hades when you level up, nuclear throne in the enemy encounters, isaac because it's always set in a little square ass room.

the core gameplay loop is very very simple even for what you'd expect out of the genre, you follow a direct line from first room through shop after tavern after boss encounter until you reach the Final Guy, it's a linear hallway full of doors where behind each door is a random room... in a way this basic formula closely resembles the NoEnd House creepypasta, or perhaps it makes more sense to say that the NoEnd House has a very video-game-like structure.

complication comes via the eight bajillion stats that your character has which can be manipulated via items and potions and shit. the amount of text presented on screen in any given menu can feel overwhelming at first, but with time i found that (like many roguelikes) you can sort of ignore half of the stats and just focus on killing things as fast as possible. the decision to give the game that sort of analog pc style feels a little more carefully considered to me than it often does in other games, obviously it makes doing the graphics much easier but it also lends the game a degree of warmth and close proximity often associated with early home computing and analog media in general (vinyl nerds have a point...)

all of these little points i've just mentioned (the obvious inspirations, the very classic linear structure, the overwhelming text, the visual style) all serve to reinforce that aforementioned feeling of love and pride which i sense coming from the developer through his internet lines underneath the ocean and around the fish and coral and up onto the shore into my computer and my eyes and thus into my brain and heart. as individual choices you could argue that a lot of these traits make the game a bit derivative or simplistic, and i wouldn't fully disagree, but it tells me that it's designed by someone who wanted to make a roguelike that he would like to play a lot of, and because of that i had a pleasant time playing a lot of it myself. this is actually the first game i've ever 100%'d on steam! this isn't a perfect game by any means (hence the 3.5 score), but it is a very sweet game.

Bought the game when it was released (Ty egg father). Kind of dropped it immediately, putting only an hour in. The dev later comes back drops one of the biggest updates I've ever seen in a game? Started playing it again on December 23, 2023, and holy moly the update did the game justice. So many syngeries, so many unique classes, a ton of easter eggs. I love the bullet hell patterns some of the bosses have (except the walrus, fuck that). I can't wait for the next update to drop, super eager to see what the dev has in store.

After a couple successful runs I think I can mark this as completed but I'm going to keep coming back to this.

Tiny Rouges is really great. It's a mix of elements taken from Binding of Issac, Hades, and Enter the Gungeon but with it's own spin mechanically on all of them. It's got really satisfying gameplay and a huge amount of variety in builds and characters and a great meta progression system, and this is all even more impressive considering it's still in early access. This game offers more than most similar rougelikes manage at a fraction of the price.

I will say that I don't think i'm insanely skilled at this kind of game, but I found myself clearing it really easily. The game uses some kind of 'smart loot' system to make sure items that drop are related to existing items you already have and that is cool because it means less garbage RNG determining if your run is a total waste, it also means you get god-tier runs really regularly, making them feel a lot less special.

It's weakest aspect might just be it's identity. It's just sort of a generic fantasy with some loose Dark Souls references. It doesn't really have an identity to call it's own and I feel like that's a large part of why it's slipped under the radar.

Yet another one of the somehow-legal-crack-cocaine-on-Steam-store roguelites, on par with Vampire Survivors with how good it pumps the ol' dopamine drip and eats the time allocated to your responsibilities, social life, and hygiene.

Its pool of mechanics is concise, shockingly well-balanced for a game in early access, and, as of 20 hours of game time, still producing new results every run. In sheer variety of approaches, Tiny Rogues easily beats Vampire Survivors, and gets close to such giants like Isaac and Dead Cells. The interaction between skills gained on level ups, innate character abilities (and there are so many characters), equipment, and consumables is really rich and varied, and makes planning a build a delight each time.

The tiny SNES-like action of the game is, again, shockingly satisfying, dynamic and, unlike Vampire Survivors, never lets you just kick back and enjoy the show. The first 5 levels or so are usually very breezy, but they let you focus on perfecting your build. The later levels are the real test of both the build and your skill, where the bullet hell aspect of the game comes through full force.

The only downside is that the game pretty much doesn't have any lore or story. It has a cute 8-bit aesthetic and even cuter homages to Dark Souls, but that's the extent of aesthetic engagement. It's so fun, that you don't actively notice it, but I imagine it will impact how much I remember of the game and how much I'm willing to return to it after, say, 40 hours.