GROGPOD Roguelike Podcast

Death to Chronos! This week we brew up an incantation to summon the sequel of one of our top 5 roguelites of the podcast: Hades 2! The famed house of the Underworld has been captured by the Titan of Time and it’s up to you: Melinoë, the sister of Zagreus hidden away by the Halloween hat touting goddess of the Crossroads Hecate. The only way to restore your family is to destroy time itself by delving down into the Underworld, but also by summiting Mount Olympus itself. It’s twice the adventure, twice the polycule relationships, and twice the metaprogression resources! So mote it be!

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01:08 - Game Stats & Listener Request Week Returns!

03:00 - One Sentence Description

9:14 - First Impressions

16:57 - Melinoë & Her Motivations

34:30 - Arcana Cards, Omega Attacks, Magick & Selene’s Hex System

40:51 - New Gods: Selene, Hera’s Hitch, Hephaestus, Apollo & Elemental Infusions

50:32 - Erebus & Hecate

57:36 - Oceanus & Scylla ft. the Sirens

1:05:08 - Fields of Mourning & The Infernal Beast

1:09:59 - Tartarus & Chronos

1:20:33 - Mount Olympus Surface Path: Polyphemus, Eris, Prometheus & Beyond

1:38:39 - Rankings & Final Thoughts

1:49:53 - Similar Games & Show Wind Down

Next episode: White Knuckle

Contact us at [email protected]!

https://grogpod.zone

Intro music: GROGPOD Theme 3 by Balatro composer LouisF - https://louisfmusic.com/

Outro music: Hades 2 OST - Coral Crown

C-c-c-combo maker! This week we hunt through the forests of new roguelite releases and encounter Combolands: the town-building, deck-building, point-building game that takes its inspiration from the greats like Balatro and Luck Be A Landlord. Choose two of seven guilds to harness the power of natural resources, trade goods, sand fighting pits, and bees to clear a point goal every milestone. Grow your town council and make number go up!

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01:13 - Game Stats

03:01 - One Sentence Description

4:16 - Splash Art: Board Game Cover, King & Council Aesthetic Debate

10:29 - Guild System: 7 Guilds, Pick 2 in Monster Train Style

13:03 - Ascension Difficulty System: Additive Modifiers Stacking to Level 10

16:50 - The Meeples: Horrific Shadow People & In-Game Pixel Art Praised

18:34 - Scoring Animations: City Building vs Balatro Flames

23:18 - Building System: Terrain Features & Placed Tiles All One Category

33:31 - Shop Design: Relics, Blueprints & No Elite Monsters?

37:56 - Council Request System

45:17 - Winning Moments

55:05 - Abstraction on Abstraction vs Universal Poker Knowledge

1:03:49 - Wish List For Future Content

1:04:58 - Rankings & Final Thoughts

1:14:02 - Similar Games & Show Wind Down

Next episode: Hades 2

Contact us at [email protected]!

https://grogpod.zone

Intro music: GROGPOD Theme 3 by Balatro composer LouisF - https://louisfmusic.com/

Outro music: Combolands Town Theme - Meydän

Rakanishu! We have quite a treasure in the Horadric podcast this week by summoning the remaster of one of the highest rated procedural generation games of all time: Diablo 2 Resurrected! The first action-RPG to feature a permadeath option, Diablo 2 was nothing if not foundational for its particular genre what with selling at least 25 million copies. The remaster brings a fresh new lighting system, controller support, not having to fumble with weird ISOs, and a wildly imbalanced new character class with the Warlock. Stay a while and listen once more as we follow a mysterious wanderer to the east…always to the east.

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01:44 - Game Stats

03:36 - One Sentence Description

04:12 - Yeah We Know It’s Not A Roguelike…But…

9:43 - Speedruns vs. Casual 20-Hour Experience

13:22 - Class & Build Variety

17:22 - Multiplayer Hardcore Act 1

21:38 - Growing Up With Diablo 2

36:24 - New Warlock Class

40:07 - Named Champion Packs: Color-Coded Elites & Monster Name Generator

44:58 - The Solo Hardcore Experience and Roguey-ness

47:37 - Story and Remastered Cinematics

1:09:22 - Diablo 2’s Diverse Cast

1:18:46 - Rankings & Final Thoughts

1:31:02 - Similar Games & Show Wind Down

Next episode: Combolands

Contact us at [email protected]!

https://grogpod.zone

Intro music: GROGPOD Theme 2 by Balatro composer LouisF - https://louisfmusic.com/

Outro music: Diablo 2 Lord of Destruction Main Menu Theme

At PAX West this year I had a great time interviewing Angel Polanco: the solo dev behind the incredibly well-rated bullet hell roguelite The Void Rains Upon Her Heart! An incredibly interesting game from mechanics, boss designs, art, story, I couldn’t wait until our usual end-of-year PAX interview episode to publish. It was a great conversation where we talked in depth about the designs and motivations behind it. Very thankful again to Angel and the support staff handling the booth at PAX for letting me grab some interveiw time at the end of the 2nd of all day showcasing in front of the public!

Find The Void Rains Upon Her Heart on Steam here!

Soundtrack on Steam here

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3:06 - Interview Start

4:10 - PAX Weekend Impressions

7:00 - Record-Breaking Steam Reviews

8:14 - Solo Dev Life: Programming, Art, Music & Community Bug-Hunting

9:28 - Development Prioritization: Following Gut Feeling to Avoid Burnout

11:02 - Touhou & Kirby Design Inspirations

13:15 - Difficulty Design & Accessibility

15:56 - Boss Design Philosophy: Start Simple, Combine Mechanics Progressively

27:39 - Undertale Influence: Pacifist-Only Path, Love Bosses Into Acceptance

31:17 - Hades-Like Story Driven Narrative

34:08 - Player Character Designs: Alien Looks & Deeply Human Feelings

45:43 - Success Beyond Expectations, Game as Diary & Future Plans

Contact us at [email protected]!

https://grogpod.zone

Intro music: TVRUHH OST - Blank Melody

Outro music: TVRUHH OST - Heaven Sends Its Love

It’s time to put the BOOM back into boomer shooters as we fire up the hottest graphics of 1996* with Strafe! Another entry in our Devolver Digital review catalogue, the self-described “ worlds bloodiest roguelike first-person shooter” will put our pixel-perfect aim to the test fighting aliens, mutants, and … human experiments?

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01:02 - Game Stats

02:55 - One Sentence Description

6:25 - Strafe as 2017 Genre Forerunner

9:16 - Roguelike FPS Genre History: Eldritch, Ziggurat, Barony & Strafe

15:18 - Gun Modifiers

17:41 - 1996 Nostalgia Marketing & VHS Camcorder Tutorial

35:10 - Biome 1 Enemy Incoherence: Too Many Types, Generic Asset Look

40:17 - Simplistic Enemy AI: All Rush or Shoot, No Puzzle Strategy

1:03:18 - Mechanics Deep Dive

1:21:09 - Disposable Guns vs. Meaningful Build Choice

1:27:49 - Rankings & Final Thoughts

1:40:40 - Similar Games & Show Wind Down

Next episode: Diablo 2: Resurrected

Contact us at [email protected]!

https://grogpod.zone

Intro music: GROGPOD Theme 2 by Balatro composer LouisF - https://louisfmusic.com/

Outro music: Strafe OST - Paint It Red

It’s Christmas in August as we unload the sooty petro-rocks from our stockings and crack open the clean-burning Coal LLC! The quick action mining-themed roguelite version of Motherload, you are tasked to fill your quota of coal before time runs out. Hire employees to help dig, collect, and fly your mantle-shattering progress. Fulfill the quests of NPCs like Fiona Frog, Pippa Penguin, and Tabitha the Mermaid. But most importantly, follow the guiding principle of any good coal mining business owner: NUMBER GO UP!

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01:05 - Game Stats

01:50 - One Sentence Description

3:37 - Platforming & Youtubers

5:24 - MS Paint Art Style

7:15 - Core Loop: Mine Coal, Meet Daily Quota or Explode

12:02 - Going Deeper: Colored Coal Layers & Increasingly Valuable Resources

24:18 - Unlocks & NPC Quests

28:01 - Workers & Weapons

52:25 - Whats the Value of a $15 Indie Game These Days?

1:08:34 - Rankings & Final Thoughts (hidden gem new #10!)

1:20:44 - Similar Games & Show Wind Down

Next episode: Strafe

Contact us at [email protected]!

https://grogpod.zone

Intro music: GROGPOD Theme 2 by Balatro composer LouisF - https://louisfmusic.com/

Outro music: Coal LLC Theme 1

Roguelites belong to the Nords! This week we return to tower defense rogue land with Nordhold: the vaguely Viking-themed tower defense roguelite featuring tower synergy systems, work placement econometrics, and decisions about whether or not to sacrifice them to demonic gods. If careful optimization of numbers and slowly checking off metaprogression boxes is your thing, then Nordhold has got it in spades! We even have towers that shoot ravens at people, what more could you ask for here???

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01:13 - Game Stats

02:24 - One Sentence Description

4:53 - Viking Tutorial Walkthrough

8:28 - Resource Economy

10:24 - Meta Progression Treadmill

15:24 - Rogue Tower Comparison: Limited vs. Open Tower Selection Debate

19:23 - Oracle Choices: 5-Wave Passive Modifiers

21:56 - Banner System & Tower Fusions

31:49 - Hero System

54:45 - Cosmetic Glory Shop

1:04:36 - Rankings & Final Thoughts

1:10:52 - Similar Games & Show Wind Down

Next episode: Coal LLC

Contact us at [email protected]!

https://grogpod.zone

Intro music: GROGPOD Theme 2 by Balatro composer LouisF - https://louisfmusic.com/

Outro music: Nordhold OST - Viking Layers 6

A dark presence surrounds you, whispering promises of stolen power! Our episode 100 mega special concludes with a mega special game in the traditional roguelike sphere: Brogue! Developed by a lawyer, Brian Walker sought to rewrite the state of roguelikes in 2009 from bloated checkbox-ticking, weeks-long RPG length games and bring the genre back to its coffee break length roots. Careful streamlining of systems, UI polish, graphical effects, and a much smaller monster pool make Brogue one of the most readily accessible roguelikes of the modern era. My, what a yummy mango!

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01:11 - Game Stats

06:15 - One Sentence Description

10:17 - Brian the Dev’s thoughts on Rogue vs Angband vs Nethack

16:38 - Modernized Design Philosophy

31:58 - Character As Items Design

37:18 - Lumen Stones: Optional Hard Mode & Going Beyond Floor 25

41:30 - Brogue as a First ASCII Game?

51:02 - ASCII Sprites

53:24 - Monster Roster: Dragons, Liches, Jellies & Hover Flavor Text

56:11 - Emergent Narrative

57:37 - Identification Meta-Game, Percentages & Risk

1:10:50 - Magic System: Staffs, Wands, Charges & Enchantment Synergies

1:16:39 - Brogue Fan Community Correspondence

1:31:09 - Rankings & Final Thoughts (new #1 hidden gem game for the podcast!)

1:43:53 - Similar Games & Show Wind Down

See also:

The Incredible Power of Dijkstra Maps

Brian Walker - Procedural level design in Brogue and beyond

Brian’s thoughts on Rogue vs Angband and Nethack

Next episode: Nordhold

Contact us at [email protected]!

https://grogpod.zone

Intro music: The Lord of the Chiptunes: The Return of The Chiptune - Minas Tirith

Outro music: Sir Knight Beats - GELATINOUS CUBE (hexcore)

What is this new devilry? Part 2 of the GROGPOD100 extravaganza continues, this time with a focus on the first ever rogue-like games ever made! Following the part 1 format, Scott does a brief historical deep dive of the games with some community correspondence, followed by our in-person live first experiences playing these games. We’ll experience why Gandalf had no memory of dungeon floors in Moria, see the first draft of history with Hack, try to rescue our poisoned daughter in Larn, and try to survive longer than 10 turns in the city of Rampart with Omega!

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00:28 - Part 2 intro

02:23 - 1983 Moria

15:42 - Moria correspondence

27:31 - 1984 Hack

38:23 - Hack correspondence

47:31 - 1986 Larn

54:07 - Larn correspondence

58:13 - 1987 Omega

1:12:11 - Omega correspondence

1:14:11 - GROGPOD live first impressions

Mentioned in this episode:

Dungeon Hacks: How NetHack, Angband, and Other Roguelikes Changed the Course of Video Games

Toma’s unedited 15 minute voicemail here

Toma’s 130 traditional roguelike reviews

Rogue Elements

Scott & Dan talking Dwarf Fortress back in 2020

Next episode: EP100 part 3: Brogue CE

Contact us at [email protected]!

https://grogpod.zone

Intro music: Shiryu - The Lord of the Chiptunes: The Chiptune of the Ring - The Council of Elrond

Outro music: Shiryu - The Bridge of Khazad-dûm

The road to Rogue was paved with ascii, teletype, thousand-pound mainframes, and a hacker spirit only highschoolers and college kids and eminate. For our big 100th episode, we have for you a 3-part deep dive into the games that inspired Rogue, the first TRUE roguelikes, and the crown jewel of ascii games: Brogue. This being part 1, we focus on the biggest computer games of the 1970s and how those shaped the design of Rogue. For each game, Scott briefly talks about how its played and a short bit of history, followed by some community correspondence about the game. Finally we have the pod crew doing a first ever live in-person recording about our experiences playing these games for the first time. So use those podcast desription timestamps to jump around! You feel weak with hunger… a hunger that can only be satisifed by hitting that play button!

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1:00 - Intro to episode 100 parts 1, 2, and 3

05:30 - 1971 Star Trek overview

13:30 - Trek correspondence

20:22 - 1975 pedit5/The Dungeon overview

30:10 - 1976 Colossal Cave Adventure

41:12 - ADVENT correspondence

47:12 - 1980 Rogue

58:52 - Rogue correspondence

1:06:46 - GROGPOD live first impressions

Next episode: EP100 part 2: The First Roguelikes (Moria, Hack, Larn, Omega)

Contact us at [email protected]!

https://grogpod.zone

Intro music: Star Trek 1969

Outro music: Introduction to the PDP-11