Roguelike vs. Roguelite: What's the difference?!

All the time I read and hear  “roguelike” and “roguelite” in conversations, on Steam, in articles, and it's come to a point where most are using the word roguelike to describe everything in the genre.   Procedurally generated levels, permadeath, high replayability, and meta upgrades are just some of the features that describe these games.  But what's the right term to use?

Roguelikes are inspired by, you guessed it, Rogue, and many other dungeon crawlers that came after it, like ADOM,  NetHack, Dungeons of Dredmor, and Caves of Qud.  Traditional roguelikes are turn-based, usually very difficult, and most importantly, individual runs are not affected by your playing history and other runs.  

• Turn-Based Gameplay: Strategy over fast reflexes and learning attack patterns and boss moves.
• Permadeath: Once you die, the game resets completely and you move to the next run.  There are no out of run, or meta upgrades.
• Grid-Based Movement: Movement is usually confined to a grid, which reinforces the strategic, slower pace.  
• Complex Systems: Roguelikes still very much have the idea of making a "build" during your run, but since it's true permadeath, you only deal with what you get in that run.  There is no doing a run just to get currency for upgrades outside the run.

Every run in a traditional roguelike is a true test to see how far you can go.  You get what you get in the run, and that's it.  There is no in between and no redos.

Roguelites are similar to roguelikes, whereas they can be turn-based, punishing, and sort-of permadeath, but have a lot new features.  Mainly, they'll have some kind of system where you're changing the base game through stat upgrades, new characters, new skills, difficulty modifiers, or other features that lets you progressively change the game.  

• Progression Systems: Having both meta upgrades and in-run upgrades, roguelites let you progress your character, class, or just the whole game itself by letting you choose different stats, skills, or other changes to buy, usually through in-game currency.  Losing a run does not mean failure anymore, because you are almost always progressing the meta game in some way.
• Build Mechanics: While allowing a "build" isn't specific to roguelite, these games usually give you a lot of flexibility and lots of choices to cater to all play styles.  A well made roguelike will have a diverse range of endgame viable build styles.
• New Games Styles: The roguelite genre introduced a ton more game types outside of the standard turn-based, grid roguelike.  Action games like Hades or Dead Cells, deckbuilders like Slay The Spire or Balatro, horde games (or survivor-likes, as I call them) like Vampire Survivors or Halls of Torment, bullet hells, bullet heavens, dice games, tower defense, and many others.

Roguelites tend to have a broader appeal, easier starting conditions, a huge amount of choices in terms of games, than traditional roguelikes

So in the end, does it matter what you call them?  The reality right now is, not really.  Most sites and gamers just use the term roguelike to refer to all of them.  If you're searching for a certain type of game on Steam, you'll likely find more games listed under roguelike that are actually roguelite.  I don't think this is a problem in general, but if you know the terms and styles of roguelites out there, you can definitely narrow down to your favorite types easier.

Happy gaming and I hope your next build is perfect!

#roguelike #roguelite #roguelikevsroguelite #gaming