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From what I can tell, your description of "roguelike" is the common usage today. However, 20 years ago, a "roguelike" was a turn-based RPG of the lineage of Ro
by danaris 5y ago
From what I can tell, your description of "roguelike" is the common usage today.
However, 20 years ago, a "roguelike" was a turn-based RPG of the lineage of Rogue—which usually meant it was a single-character top-down game with permadeath, grid-based movement, ASCII graphics (and maybe also a tileset or two, by then, but still quite simple compared to something like StS), and a procedurally-generated dungeon that you had to fight your way to the bottom of. (Some also required a subsequent ascension; others didn't.)
I believe the transition in terminology occurred some time around when The Binding of Isaac came out/became popular.
It can be a bit frustrating sometimes for those of us who grew up playing the old-style roguelikes when we want to go find ones we haven't played before, because most of what searching on the term turns up these days is the new-style ones.