At the International Roguelike Development Conference, developers codified the "8 must-haves" for a "pure" roguelike:

The roguelike genre began as a technical solution to a creative problem: how to make a game that could surprise its own creators.

Modern titles like Everything is Crab allow players to stack mutations like poisonous spines with dash attacks to create unique biological "builds".

Infinite replayability through procedural maps. Permadeath: High stakes where every mistake is final.

While Rogue (1980) gave the genre its name, Beneath Apple Manor (1978) was the first to implement the core pillars of procedural generation and permadeath.

The genre eventually split into two distinct evolutionary paths: Roguelike (Classic) Roguelite (Modern) None; every run starts from zero. Persistent upgrades/unlocks between runs. Gameplay Turn-based and grid-based. Often real-time (Action/Bullet Hell). Difficulty Extreme; requires deep system knowledge. Scalable; often more forgiving. Examples Caves of Qud , NetHack , ADOM . Hades , Vampire Survivors , Dead Cells .

Unlike traditional skill trees, these often define your physical capabilities (e.g., movement speed vs. armor) and can drastically alter your appearance. Part 3: Comparative Evolution: Roguelike vs. Roguelite