Yep, I love me some roguelike action and I often like to take a break from the “big names” in the roguelike world to try something new or different.  So I thought I would fill you in on three of the roguelike games I have been checking out lately.  Oh, if you are not familiar with the whole roguelike thing, Wikipedia has a fairly good description.

Spelunky: Spelunky is a platformer created by Derek Yu.  I know what you are thinking: “Hold on now, Aggro.  I thought we were talking roguelikes here?  What’s this nonsense about a platformer?”  

Well, trust me…Spelunky has a very roguelike feel to it.  The dungeons, items and enemies are all procedurally generated so you get a totally different game every time.  Like most roguelikes, death will be very frequent and permanent and you will find yourself dying in the most absurd ways.  As Derek Yu says: 

Probably the easiest way to describe Spelunky is that its (kind of) like La Mulana meets Nethack - every time you play the levels, items, monsters, and so forth, are all procedurally-generated.  And the terrain is destructible and there are quite a few ways in which the various game elements can interact with one another.

Here are some brief reviews of the game.  I find it to be addictive and awesome.  Sure, it can be very difficult and somewhat frustrating, but it’s so much fun trying to do crazy stuff like kill off the shopkeeper or throw damsels in distress at ghosts.  I will say that this one is a lot better with a gamepad than the keyboard controls.  So if you have a gamepad, I would go that route.  Keep in mind that this is just a beta, so don’t expect bug-free perfection.  But it’s totally free and you can get the latest build right here.  That thread (93 pages already - wow) is also a great place to read about people’s experiences with the game.  But you may want to just play it yourself and avoid spoilers.

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