Chronology of roguelike video games

Part of a series on:
RPG video games

This is a selected list of roguelike video games, and action RPGs directly inspired by them.

Contents

Legend

Video game platforms
AMI Commodore Amiga
APPII Apple II
ATR Atari 8-bit family
BEOS BeOS
C64 Commodore 64
CROSS Cross-platform
DC Dreamcast
DEC DEC Professional
DOS DOS / MS-DOS
DS Nintendo DS
GB Game Boy
GBA Game Boy Advance
GBC Game Boy Color
GEN Sega Genesis / Sega Mega Drive
GG Sega Game Gear
INT Intellivision
LIN Linux
MAC Macintosh / Mac OS
MSX MSX
OS2 OS/2
OSX Mac OS X
N64 Nintendo 64
P2000 Philips P2000
PC88 NEC PC-8801
PC98 NEC PC-9801
PET Commodore PET
PS1 PlayStation / PSone
PS2 PlayStation 2
PSP PlayStation Portable
SAT Sega Saturn
SMS Sega Master System
SNES Super NES / Super Famicom
TRS80 TRS-80
VIC20 Commodore VIC-20
Wii Wii
WIN Microsoft Windows
WIN3X Windows 3.x
WS WonderSwan
XBLA Xbox Live Arcade

Roguelikes

First Last Title Developer Setting Platform Notes
1978 Beneath Apple Manor Don Worth Fantasy APPII One of the earliest commercial Apple II games. It predates Rogue, and was much simpler, but supported a low resolution graphical display in addition to the text version. Was ported to the IBM PC in 1983.[1]
1978 DUNGEON Brian Sawyer Fantasy PET Published in Cursor issue 15[2]
1980 Rogue Michael Toy, others Fantasy CROSS Inspired the genre as a whole.
1982 Telengard Daniel Lawrence Fantasy APPII, ATR, C64, TRS80
1982 Sword of Fargoal Jeff McCord Fantasy C64, PET, VIC20 Based on Gammaquest II by the same author.
1982 Hack Jay Fenlason, Andries Brouwer, others Futuristic CROSS Later became the basis for NetHack.
1982 Advanced Dungeons & Dragons: Cloudy Mountain Mattel Electronics Fantasy INT
1983 1999 Moria Robert Alan Koeneke & Jimmey Wayne Todd Fantasy CROSS Based heavily on The Lord of the Rings. Later port (Umoria) became the basis of Angband. Influenced the preliminary design of Blizzard's Diablo.[3]
1985 1987 Dungeon of Doom, The John Raymonds Fantasy MAC Released commercially in 1987 as The Dungeon Revealed.
1985 Island of Kesmai John Taylor, Kelton Flinn Fantastical CROSS Early CompuServe commercial multiplayer game
1986 1987 Larn Noah Morgan, Phil Cordier Fantasy CROSS Original version of Larn remains part of the NetBSD games collection.[4]
1987 2003 NetHack The NetHack DevTeam Fantasy CROSS Descendant of Hack.
1987 1992 Scarab of Ra Rick Holzgrafe Modern, Fantasy MAC Turn-based Roguelike played in first-person 3D.
1988 Moraff's Revenge Steve Moraff Fantasy DOS One of the earliest 3D, first-person perspective role-playing video games.
1989 N/A Castle of the Winds SaadaSoft Fantasy WIN3X
1990 N/A Dragon Crystal Sega Fantasy GG, SMS
1990 2009 Angband Alex Cutler, Andy Astrand Fantasy CROSS Based heavily on The Lord of the Rings.
1991 N/A Fatal Labyrinth Sega Fantasy GEN
1991 Moraff's World Steve Moraff Fantasy DOS Sequel to Moraff's Revenge.
1992 Mission Thunderbolt Dave Scheifler, John Calhoun Futuristic DEC, MAC, WIN
1992 1995 Ragnarok Norsehelm Fantasy DOS
1993 Torneko no Daiboken: Fushigi no Dungeon Chunsoft Fantasy SNES
1993 N/A Dungeon Hack DreamForge Fantasy DOS
1994 2002 Ancient Domains of Mystery Thomas Biskup Fantasy AMI, BeOS, DOS, LIN, OS2, OSX, WIN
1995, 2008 Mystery Dungeon: Shiren the Wanderer Chunsoft Fantasy DS, GB, SNES
1997, 1999 Chocobo no Fushigina Dungeon Square Fantasy PS1, WS
1997 2005 Linley's Dungeon Crawl Linley Henzell Fantasy CROSS
1998 2008 Baroque Sting Futuristic, Horror PS1, PS2, SAT, Wii
1998, 1999 Chocobo's Dungeon 2 Square Fantasy PS1 Sequel to Chocobo no Fushigina Dungeon.
1998 2000 Azure Dreams Konami Fantasy PS1, GBC
1998 Super Lotsa Added Stuff Hack - Extended Magic The Slash'EM development team Fantasy CROSS Variant of NetHack.
1999, 2001 Torneko: The Last Hope Chunsoft Fantasy GBA, PS1 Sequel to Torneko no Daiboken: Fushigi no Dungeon.
2000 2001 Dark Cloud Level-5 Fantasy PS2 Also included a city-building aspect, making it not purely a roguelike, though dungeons did include a roguelike engine.
2000 2001 Falcon's Eye Jaakko Peltonen Fantasy CROSS Graphical update to NetHack.
2000 Fushigi no Dungeon: Fūrai no Shiren 2: Oni Shūrai! Siren-jō! Chunsoft Fantasy N64
2002 2003 Dark Chronicle/Dark Cloud 2 Level-5 Fantasy PS2 Much like its predecessor, Dark Cloud, it wasn't a pure roguelike, including world-building aspects, though dungeons remained roguelike.
2002 2010 Doom, the Roguelike Kornel Kisielewicz Futuristic, Fantasy LIN, WIN Based on the Doom series by id Software.
2003 POWDER (Game) Jeff Lait Fantasy GBA, DS, WIN, LIN, OSX, PSP, Wii
2004 Nightmare of Druaga: Fushigino Dungeon, The Arika, Chunsoft Fantasy PS2 Sequel to The Blue Crystal Rod for SNES.
2005 N/A Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Blue Rescue Team[5] Chunsoft Modern, Fantasy DS
2005 N/A Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Red Rescue Team Chunsoft Modern, Fantasy GBA
2005 2006 Tao's Adventure: Curse of the Demon Seal Konami Fantasy DS Semi-sequel to Azure Dreams.
2006 Izuna: Legend of the Unemployed Ninja Success Fantasy DS
2006 2011 Stone Soup Community Fantasy CROSS (open source) Fork of Linley's Dungeon Crawl
2006 2011 Slaves to Armok II: Dwarf Fortress Tarn Adams Fantasy LIN, OSX, WIN
2006 Dragon Quest: Shonen Yangus to Fushigi no Dungeon cavia Fantasy PS2 Spin-off of Dragon Quest VIII.
2007 N/A Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Darkness Chunsoft Modern, Fantasy DS
2007 N/A Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Time Chunsoft Modern, Fantasy DS
2007 2008 Izuna 2: The Unemployed Ninja Returns Ninja Studio Fantasy DS Sequel to Izuna: Legend of the Unemployed Ninja
2008 N/A Dransik Iron Will Games Fantasy PC An online MMORPG Roguelike with NES-like graphics that is still being updated to this day.
2008 Final Fantasy Fables: Chocobo's Dungeon Square Enix Fantasy Wii [6]
2008 2010 Shiren the Wanderer Chunsoft Fantasy Wii, PSP 3rd game in the series.[7]
2009 N/A Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Sky Chunsoft Modern, Fantasy DS [8]
2009 100 Rogues Dinofarm Games Fantasy iPhone OS
2010 Smart Kobold Jeff Lait Fantasy WIN, Linux A "seven-day roguelike" that was selected for demonstration at IndieCade, E3 2010. It attempts to implement a high level of artificial intelligence for a single type of enemy.[9]
2010 Z.H.P. Unlosing Ranger VS Darkdeath Evilman Nippon Ichi Software Fantasy PSP [10]
2011 Dungeons of Dredmor Gaslamp Games Fantasy WIN, MAC Tile-based movement with rudimentary graphics and a sense of humour.[11]

Action role-playing games

First Last Title Developer Setting Platform Notes
1984 1997 Dragon Slayer Nihon Falcom Fantasy PC88, PC98, MSX, GB, SAT Real-time hack & slash action RPG with roguelike elements.[12]
1996 Diablo Blizzard North Fantasy WIN, OSX, PS1 A prototypical roguelike action RPG.[13]
2000 Diablo II Blizzard North Fantasy WIN, OSX
2002 Dungeon Siege Gas Powered Games Fantasy WIN, OSX
2003 2010 Transcendence George Moromisato Sci-fi WIN Space combat inspired by NetHack.[14]
2004 Sacred Ascaron Fantasy WIN, OSX
2005 2007 FATE WildStudios Fantasy WIN, OSX Action RPG.
2005 Dungeon Siege II Gas Powered Games Fantasy WIN
2006 2007 Titan Quest, Titan Quest: Immortal Throne Iron Lore Entertainment Mythological WIN Action RPG
2007 Dungeon Runners NCsoft Fantasy WIN Action RPG.
2007 Hellgate: London Flagship Futuristic, Dystopia, Fantasy WIN Action RPG.
2007 Avencast ClockStone Software Fantasy WIN
2007 Loki: Heroes of Mythology Cyanide Fantasy WIN
2008 Sacred II Ascaron Fantasy WIN, PS3, XB360
2009 Torchlight Runic Games Fantasy WIN, OSX, XBLA Action RPG.
2010 Cladun: This is an RPG System Prisma Fantasy PSP Action RPG.
2010 DeathSpank Hothead Games Fantasy WIN, OSX, XBLA, PSN
2010 Din's Curse Soldak Entertainment Fantasy WIN, OSX Dynamic and evolving game world.
TBR 2011 Torchlight II Runic Games Fantasy WIN, OSX
TBD Mythos Flagship, HanbitSoft Fantasy WIN Action RPG. Uses the Hellgate: London engine.
TBA Diablo III Blizzard Entertainment Fantasy WIN, OSX
TBA Grim Dawn Crate Entertainment Fantasy WIN
TBA Path of Exile Grinding Gear Games Fantasy WIN An online-only free-to-play with a "gloomy tone".[15]

Notes

  1. ^ Kim R Schuette. Book of Adventure Games. p. 22. 
  2. ^ "ADVENTURE". Video of Brian Sawyer's Adventure. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qPmbdJ7yshw. 
  3. ^ Pitts, Russ (2006-06-06). "Secret Sauce: The Rise of Blizzard". The Escapist. http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/issues/issue_48/289-Secret-Sauce-The-Rise-of-Blizzard. Retrieved 2007-12-24. "[The idea for Diablo] was modified over and over until it solidified when [Dave Brevik] was in college and got hooked on … Moria/Angband." 
  4. ^ src/games/larn/. NetBSD CVS Repositories. Accessed January 18, 2008.
  5. ^ Frank Provo (Sep 21, 2006). "Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Blue Rescue Team Review". Gamespot. http://uk.gamespot.com/ds/rpg/pokemonblue/review.html. Retrieved 2010-08-03. "Pokémon Mystery Dungeon has more in common with a litany of dungeon hacks than it does with any of Nintendo's traditional Pokémon role-playing games." 
  6. ^ Hatfield, Daemon (July 1, 2008). "Final Fantasy Fables: Chocobo's Dungeon Review". IGN. http://uk.wii.ign.com/articles/885/885311p1.html. Retrieved 2010-08-14. "Mystery Dungeon and "roguelike" games make up a niche genre that spans the difficulty range from the unforgiving Shiren the Wanderer to the more breezy Pokemon [sic] Mystery Dungeon titles." 
  7. ^ Goergen, Andy (March 4, 2010). "Shiren the Wanderer". Nintendo World Report. http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/review/22688. Retrieved 2010-08-14. "The series of Mystery Dungeon games, of which the original Shiren on SNES is a founding member, are referred to as roguelikes amongst their fans, a reference which dates back to an early 1980s computer game called Rogue." 
  8. ^ Bailey, Kat (2009-09-06). "Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Sky Preview". 1UP. http://www.1up.com/do/previewPage?cId=3174676. Retrieved 2010-08-14. "Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Sky is the latest iteration of Nintendo's cuddly take on the roguelike genre." 
  9. ^ "Tech Weekly: E3 – Kinect, 3DS and the best of the indies". Keith Stuart inverviewing Sam Roberts. Tech Weekly. guardian.co.uk. Wednesday 23 June 2010. 24.50 minutes in.
  10. ^ http://web.archive.org/web/20101226030917/http://www.gamepro.com/article/reviews/217260/z-h-p-unlosing-ranger-vs-darkdeath-evilman/
  11. ^ Caoili, Eric (2011-07-14). "Dungeons of Dredmor, Spelunky Mac Released". Game Set Watch. http://www.gamesetwatch.com/2011/07/dungeons_of_dredmor_spelunky_m.php. Retrieved 2011-07-16. 
  12. ^ "Falcom Classics". GameSetWatch. July 12, 2006. http://www.gamesetwatch.com/2006/07/column_compilation_catalog_fal_1.php. Retrieved 2011-03-18. 
  13. ^ "The Essential 50 Part 12: Rogue". 1up.com. http://www.1up.com/do/feature?cId=3123537. "The most significant innovation in [roguelikes] came in 1996 with the release of Blizzard's Diablo, which added multiplayer action to the mix." 
  14. ^ Murff, James (Jan 9th 2009). "Freeware Friday: Transcendence". Big Download. AOL. http://news.bigdownload.com/2009/01/09/freeware-friday-transcendence/. Retrieved 2010-08-14. 
  15. ^ Walker, John (2011-04-18). "ARPG Gets Dark: Path Of Exile". Rock Paper Shotgun. http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2011/04/18/arpg-gets-dark-path-of-exile/. Retrieved 2011-07-16. 
Role-playing video games
Tactical role-playing games
Other subgenres
Roguelikes · MUDs
See also