GROGPOD Roguelike Podcast

This Is Part Of! … the roguelike pantheon of short games! A beloved mobile game classic, we hop in to Hoplite this week: the Greek underworld dungeon crawling chess tactics inspired puzzle game of spear-chucking, shield-bashing, and hoppin! Featuring at seemingly simple 16-floor dungeon that can go on infinitely should you so desire, the game also boasts a seemingly bottomless pit of bespoke puzzles. So get swipin and swipe on that play button either for the pod or the game, they’re both good!

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1:39 - Game stats

4:55 - One sentence description

8:19 - Mobile gaming on the go

9:45 - Tutorial & Mechanics

19:26 - Quest for the Golden Fleece

21:30 - Enemy Types & Elegance of Game Design

22:05 - Filler Games vs. Epic Games: Scope & Value Discussion

31:31 - Altar of Apollo Upgrades & Upgrade System

37:44 - Challenge Modes, Daily Puzzles & Bonus Dungeons

41:51 - Sound & Music

1:01:15 - Rankings & final thoughts

1:09:15 - Similar games & show wind-down

Next episode: Slay the Spire 2

Contact us at [email protected]!

https://grogpod.zone

Intro music: Stolen Momens - Orballo Jazz Cuartet

Outro music: Hoplite Main Theme

Brains! Brains! This week in “yes we know it’s not a roguelike”, we venture into the heart of Kentucky for some country-fried human flesh with Project Zomboid. The zeds have spread and you have one goal: survive as long as possible. Do you loot the local school for backpacks and safety scissors, or the police station for pistols and shotguns? Do you dare risk alerting the manic hordes with your car as you break windows in your desperate search for prescription painkillers? …in the game, I mean… allegedly, Your Honor…

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1:34 - Game stats

4:16 - One sentence description

5:50 - Roguelike arugments from the Zomboid community

12:00 - Actual gameplay

14:22 - Zombies as Environmental Hazard vs. Villain

27:47 - Tutorial Design & Quality Praise

30:43 - Character Creation, Occupations & Traits

32:30 - Map Size, Starting Location & Open World Scope

36:00 - Lack of Win Condition & Sandbox Design

49:19 - Combat Mechanics, Difficulty & Stealth

1:00:01 - Defining a Winning Run & End-Game Goals

1:20:00 - Rankings & final thoughts

1:38:32 - Similar games & show wind-down

Next episode: Hoplite

Contact us at [email protected]!

https://grogpod.zone

Intro music: Jimmy Greene - Last Summer

Outro music: Project Zomboid OST - Maybe We Can Win This

Muscle up your game buddy! This week we dust off the 500 year old robot action FPS Roboquest: something like a “Doom Eternal for kids”, the electrobeats of synthwave send you hungering for more and more of those delicious green health orbs. Infiltrate a gigantic city of bad robots, rescuing good robots along the way, and unlock all sorts of wacky movement gadgets, character classes, and more hidden secrets than you can shake a pogo stick at. Always check behind those waterfalls!

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1:42 - Game stats

4:04 - One sentence description

07:21 - Opening comic book sequence & story setup

12:08 - Movement mechanics & speed discussion

17:45 - Weapon variety & upgrade systems

24:32 - Biome diversity & level design quality

31:18 - Co-op gameplay & multiplayer features

38:05 - Enemy design & AI behavior patterns

44:52 - Difficulty scaling & progression balance

51:39 - Boss fights & challenge variety

58:26 - Audio design & soundtrack

1:08:30 - Rankings & final thoughts

1:16:57 - Similar games & show wind-down

Next episode: Project Zomboid

Contact us at [email protected]!

https://grogpod.zone

Intro music: Lady Iris B. - Dexter Gordon

Outro music: Final Metal Hero - Noisecream

Angels and demons all over the world, join hands and start a Monster Train sequel! One of our highest rated deckbuilder rogues arrives at GROGPOD station once again, featuring some interesting twists on the established formula. As we’ll explore more in this season, we’ll be looking closely at what makes for a good sequel while trying to make as many obnoxious monster moaning sounds at turbo speed as hum- … as monster-ly possible.

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2:00 - Game stats

5:30 - One sentence description

07:36 - Good sequel mechanics & previous coverage comparison

11:23 - First impressions & visual improvements discussion

17:45 - Clan mechanics & faction system changes

24:31 - Card synergies & build complexity analysis

31:18 - Champions system & upgrade mechanics

38:05 - Boss battles & difficulty scaling discussion

44:52 - Art style evolution & presentation quality

58:35 - Rankings & final thoughts

1:06:03 - Similar games & show wind-down

Next episode: Roboquest

Contact us at [email protected]!

https://grogpod.zone

Intro music: Blue Mitchell Quintet - March on Selma

Outro music: Monster Train 2 OST - Stryx & Hallow

Yoom-taah! To kick off season 4 of the podcast, we choose you: Pokemon Mystery Dungeon Blue Rescue Team! Joined again by our expert guest on the sub-genre with Helen, we revisit nostalgia and fresh experiences for a 20+ year old spinoff roguelike…lite…game? Hopefully the listeners don’t also brand us as fugitives, focing us to traverse the Great Canyon of JRPG menu systems to the high peaks of Friendship Mountain, while eating jelly bean-based IQ boosters we find on the dirty ground. Can we overcome Team Meanies’ quest for world domination? Can we find our lost sense of gratitude in the depths of murky caverns? Were we the true meanies after all? Time to take charge of our destiny and find out!

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3:03 - Game stats

5:59 - One sentence description

6:56 - Is PMD a roguelike?

12:20 - Our experiences with Pokemon growing up

23:00 - Gameplay mechanics

36:40 - The personality quiz

44:30 - Saving Caterpie, Thunderwave Cave, Mt Steel

49:00 - Friend areas

52:00 - Team ACT, the dream, Team Meanies, Silent Chasm, Mt Thunder

1:11:15 - The Ninetales legend, Gengar’s muckraking, the hunt begins!

1:16:58 - Mt Blaze, Frosty Forest, Mt Freeze

1:24:00 - Return to town

1:27:50 - Magma Cavern, Sky Tower

1:41:50 - Postgame content

1:55:55 - Rankings & final thoughts

2:07:37 - Similar games & show wind-down

Next episode: Monster Train 2

Contact us at [email protected]!

https://grogpod.zone

Intro music: Pokemon Theme Saxy Style - The 8-Bit Big Band featuring Grace Kelly and Leo P

Outro music: Blue Rescue Team OST - Sky Tower

If the weather outside is frightful, then curl up in front of the fireplace with your favorite roguelike gaming podcast! That’s how the song goes, right? Well in order to find those new favorite permadeath games, Scott travelled back in time to August for the Penny Arcade Expo in downtown Seattle. With only one day’s worth of ticket time this year, we had to cram as much into one recording as possible before familial duties took precedence. Check the timestamps below for interviews with friends of all sorts and their games and studios!

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3:09 - Live on the streets!

6:10 - Jacob from Better Publishing showcasing Don’t Wake the Beast, Void Dungeon, and Order Automatica

11:07 - Holly, Jack, and Quinn showcasing White Knuckle

16:58 - Hasban showcasing Rogue Eclipse

21:28 - Andrea and Bob showcasing Arcane Eats

30:12 - Shiv showcasing Pax Autocratica

35:12 - Special message from the Roguepod Litecast! and a note about Master of Piece

42:04 - Pax Panel Q&A with the folks from Being and Older Content Creator Doesn’t Have to Suck

47:24 - Risk of Rain 2 Tournament, Swap Meat

49:56 - Show wind down

Next episode: Season 4 kicks off with Pokemon Mystery Dungeon Blue Recue Team!

Contact us at [email protected]!

https://grogpod.zone

Intro music: Barbara Dennerlein - Let It Snow

Outro music: Pokemon Mystery Dungeon Blue Rescue Team OST - Title Theme

Season 3 concludes with some of the heaveist hitter games we’ve ever covered for the podcast! From titans of tradtitional roguelikes like Path of Achra and Caves of Qud, to titans of real-time explosiveness like Noita and Hades, this is sure to be an Omegabowl for the ages. We have a great array of listener letters, co-host bickering, and wacky coin flips to make sure everyone is as equally mad as possible. So fire up those spacetime vortices and pray you don’t run out of footsteps before reaching Room 46 of the end of year recap tournament!

Our finalists include:

Blue Prince

Caves of Qud

Deadzone: Rogue

Elden Ring Nightreign

Hades

Halls of Torment

Hero’s Hour

Noita

Path of Achra

Rift Wizard

Spiritfall

The King is Watching

There can be only ONE to hoist the Trophy of Yendor!

! The full tournament bracket with spoiled results can be found here

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0:50 - Intro

3:04 - Tournament plan, categories, and games

10:02 - Wildcard 1: Halls of Torment vs Rift Wizard

20:21 - Wildcard 2: Elden Ring Nightreign vs Hero’s Hour

33:44 - Wildcard 3: Spiritfall vs Deadzone: Rogue

46:14 - Wildcard 4: The King is Watching vs Path of Achra

53:10 - Division 1: Caves of Qud vs ???

1:02:58 - Division 2: Blue Prince vs ???

1:13:19 - Division 3: Hades vs ???

1:15:50 - Division 4: Noita vs ???

1:21:36 - Semi-finals 1

1:28:58 - Semi-finals 2

1:39:08 - Grand finals

1:59:56 - Show wind down

Next episode: Roguelike developer interviews from PAX West 2025!

Contact us at [email protected]!

https://grogpod.zone

Intro music: John Williams - Wide Reciever

Outro music: Craig Hamilton - Onward (Kitfox recording)

The agony and terror of season 3 of the podcast comes to a close with the Survivor-like, Diablo-lite game Halls of Torment! Hear the demonic horns and twisted drums that lay down the epic background music, feast your eyes on the gorgeous low poly, highly pixelated 90’s inspired spritework! Collect those soul stones, find the artifacts and items from the demonic lord’s hallowed halls and see firsthand the horrors of greed!

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1:29 - Game stats

3:07 - One sentence description

06:48 - Comparison to Vampire Survivors

10:05 - Difficulty progression & enemy density

15:42 - Character classes & abilities overview

22:18 - Quest system & progression mechanics

29:03 - Item system & build variety

35:47 - Boss fights & challenge mechanics

42:31 - Movement mechanics & gameplay strategy

49:15 - Accessibility & difficulty options debate

55:58 - Art style praise & technical performance

1:02:44 - Endgame content & replayability

1:27:24 - Rankings & final thoughts

1:36:39 - Similar games & show wind-down

Next episode: Omegabowl 3

Contact us at [email protected]!

https://grogpod.zone

Intro music: Cyrus Chestnut - Precious Lord

Outro music: Halls of Torment OST - Chambers of Dissonance

Stay a while and listen! The sanctity of this podcast has been fouled as we turn back the clock to cover the 1997 groundbreaking procedural action RPG: Diablo. From humble origins as an Angband clone, to global standardbearer for game design polish, this titan of the horror genre greets us with a few haunting guitar chords and a cathedral of the damned. Join our descent into terror as we encounter vegetable hating butchers, skeleton kings, multiplayer friends running ahead and leaving us behind, sultry winged demons, poorly-aged game mechanics, and many more devlish delights! Perhaps there you will find answers. Or perhaps, salvation!

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2:35 - Game stats

5:44 - One sentence description

07:17 - Original turn-based design & real-time conversion

10:04 - Berlin interpretation & roguelike elements debate

19:48 - Character classes overview (Warrior, Rogue, Sorcerer)

29:35 - Town mechanics & NPC interactions

39:21 - Dungeon structure & difficulty progression

49:08 - Loot system & item identification mechanics

58:54 - Combat feel & clicking gameplay

1:08:40 - Multiplayer experience

1:18:27 - Soundtrack praise & atmosphere creation

1:28:13 - Hellfire expansion & cut content discussion

1:38:32 - Rankings & final thoughts

1:52:02 - Similar games & show wind-down

Next episode: Halls of Torment

Contact us at [email protected]!

https://grogpod.zone

Intro music: Nat Adderley Jr. - Old Devil Moon

Outro music: Diablo OST - Tristram

O Glorious Shekhinah! To conclude our two-part special on Caves of Qud, we turn our focus from the epic storyline to the deep gameplay mechanics and systems from the Salt Dunes of the west to the Deep Jungle in the east. Join us for a water ritual on how to negotiate with camel merchants before we clone them, managing our reputation with fuedal fungal lords, and how to navigate the differences between mutated humans, psychic warriors, and just straight-up cyborgs. Get those schematics ready as we disassemble one of the densest and deepest “traditional” “roguelike” games out there.

Part 1 of our Qud coverage focusing on the story and soundtrack can be found here

Part 3 of our Qud coverage is an interview with the composer Craig Hamilton which you can find here

You can find the in depth tutorial series we did with BigSimple to learn this massive game here!

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3:44 - Game stats

7:47 - One sentence description

08:09 - Gamma World tabletop RPG comparison

10:08 - Initial bouncing off & polish improvements

14:23 - Tutorial mode & learning curve discussion

19:31 - Character creation & mutation systems

24:48 - Story structure & main quest overview

29:17 - Death mechanics & permadeath options

34:52 - Open world exploration & procedural generation

40:15 - Village generation & faction systems

45:38 - Combat mechanics & weapon variety

51:22 - Skill tree & ability customization

56:47 - Water economy & trade systems

1:02:08 - Equipment & artifact identification

1:07:45 - Mutation system depth & combinations

1:13:31 - Enemy variety & creature encounters

1:19:03 - Interface improvements & accessibility features

1:24:38 - Save system exploits discussion

1:30:15 - Community & modding ecosystem

1:35:52 - Writing quality & atmospheric storytelling

1:41:27 - Endgame content & difficulty scaling

2:07:27 - Rankings & final thoughts

2:25:15 - Similar games & show wind-down

Next episode: Diablo

Contact us at [email protected]!

https://grogpod.zone

Intro music: Caves of Qud OST - Soundscape I

Outro music: Caves of Qud OST - Onward Romantique / Live and Drink