Roguelikes are a tricky genre to pin down, seeing as the name itself began popping up everywhere at once without much structural rigor once a certain type of game started to in win players over. Conspicuous features include turn-based gameplay, usually with exploration or combat, and limited-to-no persistent progress carried across different play sessions.

Not feeling Rogue enough? How about trying out some of the best puzzle games instead.

These constraints made for entertaining, thoughtful and compact games which acquit themselves well to on-the-go bursts of play. This list includes the most classic and favorite members of the roguelike genre on mobile, as well as some unusual hybrids, noteworthy and exciting in their own right.

Auro (Review)

Developer: Dinofarm Games
Platforms: Android
Price: $1.99 

Auro is the result of Keith Burgen’s careful tinkering and experimentations with game design. He’s an outspoken creator with a definite vision which hinges on useful distinctions like the knowledge horizon (a player can’t know everything at once, the designer draws a line beyond which information is out of reach). The prince must save the kingdom by bumping enemies and judiciously using spells and skills across this hex-based battler. Speed, precision and efficiency are paramount; score-chasing the measure of success. Not praised enough, the game’s only drawback is its exclusive availability on android.

Road Not Taken (Review)

Developer: Spryfox Games
Platforms: iOS, Android
Price: $4.99

In Road Not Taken, the winter is harsh and full of children, lost and dearly missed by the village. You, a sackcloth-clad stranger, take your torch and use what precious energy you have to brave the elements, to find and rescue each child. Along the way, the stranger will fend off wolves and spiteful ghosts, scavenging for food and the materials to make campfires. Each step drains energy, more so if carrying items, so the whole game is turn-based but with a soft cap on the number of steps. ‘Soft’ because energy can be replenished by eating various foodstuffs. The procedural generation behind each run belies the handcrafted puzzle levels which recur. This hybrid game wears many hats, though it is primarily a puzzler with crafting elements and a dash of combat. The secrets are a delight to discover and add to your book of recipes, while the multiple play modes offer a softer means of approach for newcomers.

FTL (Review)

Developer: Subset Games
Platforms:  iOS
Price: $9.99

Faster Than Light is a quest to save one corner of the galaxy, powering your ship through sections whilst questing for a handy crew, a devastating array of weapons, and sometimes just a glug of fuel. Real-time with pause combat works around cooldowns, with each battle encounter ending once the enemy ship is destroyed or its crew incapacitated. Honestly, the ship is the real hero, suffering hull breaches and 1 HP scrapes while slowly updating its bells and whistles till it can slay the beast. The chiptune beats and graphics were neither wholly retro nor AAA trendy but instead creating their own cool aesthetic. An uncontested classic.

Dream Quest (Review)

Publisher: Peter M Whalen
Platforms: iOS Universal
Price: $2.99

The challenge in Dream Quest is always the same: proceed through three levels as a chosen class, building a deck strong enough to escape the realm of dreams at last. But like its namesake, the twists and turns this progression takes are strange and wonderful. Rogue-likes typically rely on stochastic events and imperfect knowledge, yet Dream Quest transforms these uncertainties into a must-try challenge for strategy buffs.

The total card-pool is modest and manageable but in total produces a surprising variety of synergies and unique challenges. Inscrutable sphinxes, malicious mimes, and immortal hydras all make an appearance as foes, giving show-stopping battles. The art is so bad it has become iconic; the theoretical possibilities it provides are captivating. Dream Quest’s endgame is supremely satisfying in of itself, but the arduous journey to meet the Master of Dreams is equally thoughtful and intense. A pleasure throughout.

Dungeon of the Endless

Developer: Amplitude Studios
Platforms:  iOS
Price: $3.99

One-part tower defense, one-part dungeon crawler with a party-squad dynamic and thoughtful exploration system, Dungeon of the Endless exists as a kind of in-universe spinoff for Endless Space and Legend, other offerings from Amplitude Studios and good games in their own right. Pick a ship to explore and a crew with various perks and stats and start carving a path through. The game is split into two phases: the initial exploration phase, where each room could reveal a trap, a merchant, an artefact or many other space oddities besides. The game should be Frankenstein of unlikely parts and genres, but its flow is seamless, its gameplay familiar yet inspired.

Crypt of the Necrodancer

Developer: Brace Yourself Games
Platforms:  iOS
Price: $4.99

Dance like no one but the lord of death is watching. The rhythm-based gameplay calls back to Audiosurf, Dance Revolution and Guitar Hero, but the skill-split here favors combat and planning over split-second reflexes and a perfect internal metronome. The dungeon pulses to the beat, with everyone’s movement on the grid bound by this universal time. Import your own playlist, pick a character and get questing for loot, boss battles and a jig to remember. The graphics are simple and the size of the maps, the variety of enemies are not colossal, but these actually work in the game’s favor. Entrancement: a simple compulsion to move to the beat. Fill the game with your own personal library of earworms and enjoy the groove.

Binding of Isaac: Rebirth

Developer: Nicalis, Inc.
Platforms:  iOS
Price: $14.99

Binding of Isaac refuses to die. Lurching from platform to platform, from expansion to expansion, with an ever-multiplying list of secrets, mini-bosses and bonus-final-final-final zones. Conceived as part of a game jam, its inspiration is simply the biblical namesake, with a maternal twist. A child told to wait in the basement with pullulating horrors. The game’s enemies are filthy, rotten, grotesque, and the player’s weapons are literally mewling infant’s tears. If the setting is twisted, the mechanics are straightforward. Its real-time combat is frantic but not chaotic, the oodles of possible weapons and upgrades not to RNGesus-dependent. A good player acquires knowledge as well as skills with each run-through. Not as easy to play on the go, but besides that practical concern, a worthy and immortal, depraved challenge.

Crowntakers

Developer: Kalypso Media Group
Platforms:  iOS, Android
Price: $2.99, $3.49

Crowntakers has a sense of scale, uniquely balancing tactical combat with long-term investments via the overworld. It needn’t even be played as a roguelike at all, strictly speaking, for one of its alternate play modes is a persistent RPG with unlockables. The emphasis on individual decisions in either case remains paramount, from the exploration phase to combat. Its limitations are in how carelessly it hides some information, about enemy abilities, for example, from the player. In short, an excellent refreshing roguelike-RPG-lite which might be outmatched by other roguelikes but remains a distinct favorite.

Hoplite (Review)

Developer: Magma Fortress
Platforms:  iOS, Android
Price: $2.99, (free demo on Android)

Hoplite might very well delight that wight who likes only the right sort of roguelike. The hoplites of history aren’t usually considered lone wolves or heroes, but this is exactly what the game casts you as: one nameless figure on a tight hexa-based on a quest to retrieve the golden fleece. Soldiering across levels of escalating difficulty, visiting temples to get incremental bonuses. The movement and decisions are simple, just a series of swipes along with the odd special ability. Small numbers and single turns are always decisive, and the ability effects are simple yet profound, little deus ex machinas bestowed each level. The skill synergies are tantalizing enough to draw you in, and the fiendishly difficult achievements (pacifist run, anyone?) will keep even veterans engaged. This one is a relic of the genre that is sterling.

868-HACK (Review)

Developer: Michael Brough
Platforms:  iOS
Price: $4.99

Of all the Roguelikes, 868-HACK ties reward to punishment most directly, scrambling the player’s usual risk-reward mindset. Thematically, a hacker scours the network for cash, energy and points while dodging hostile programs and warping across different nodes (i.e. levels). Mechanically, the poison and the cure are all the same stuff, because by hacking to gain a lead or even just catch your breath, the player spawns more foes. Resources are forever tight, and any attempt to siphon extra points or tools will aggravate the delicate game-state. As with many roguelikes, positioning is all-important, as is assembling an effective suite of programs to  clear enemies and generate rewards. Across multiple successful runs, enemies gain random passive bonuses, and the prestige builds as the risks compound.

What would your list of the best roguelike games on iOS and Android look like? Let us know!

Last month we reported that Blender Game Engine (BGE) was being removed entirely from the source code of Blender for the upcoming major 2.8 release.  Judging by the comments section this was certainly a polarizing decision, with replies basically falling into two camps.  On one side there was a lot of “good riddance to bad rubbish” type replies, while in the other camp it was mostly “I’m done with Blender if this happens”.  Clearly the decision impact enough people that something had to be done.  Well, that something was just announced on Twitter:

The linked article from the developer mailing list:

Hi all,

The Blender Foundation Development Fund has reserved a number of bigger donations (also on donator’s request) for game engine and interactive 3D related features.

Now 2.8 is getting shaped up, it was time to check on this topic. Yesterday afternoon I met with Benoit Bolsee and a couple of Code Quest participants, to discuss the future of Blender’s real-time 3D needs and “interaction mode”.

The outcome is that Benoit accepted a grant to work as designer and lead developer for one year on bringing back a good real-time interactive 3D system in Blender. He will do this part-time, in average 1.5 days per week, starting July 1st.

Obviously all work and further discussions will be done in public; using our regular channels (mailing lists, code.blender.org, developer.b.o, devtalk.b.o). Help from other Blender developers is very welcome. This will be further announced when Benoit starts.

To summarise, work will first be done in two areas;

– Implement a high quality real-time viewport with physics/event handling. This should result in a pleasant & usable environment to setup and bake simulations.

– Design and prototype a new nodal logic system.

Related to this work is also to enable good support (export or some kind of integration) for external game engines such as Godot, Armory, Blend4Web, Unreal, Unity, etc.

I especially invite the first three (open source) projects to connect with us to find ways to keep a high level of compatibility.

Work on typical GE features such as super-fast drawing (LOD, etc) are welcome too but should be part of the regular work on Blender’s viewport and our internal drawing engines. That way everyone benefits. Laters,

-Ton-

Blender Game Engine is not coming back, but a great deal of the functionality that was removed with it will be returning. Additionally Blender will be working directly to support Blender as a game development tool for existing game engines.

This July, Microsoft will host bright student developer teams from across the world for the 16th annual Imagine Cup. Teams will travel to Redmond, Washington to showcase their technical innovations and compete for up to $100,000 USD, as well as a mentoring session with Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella. We are excited to announce the dates for the 2018 Imagine Cup World Finals!

Follow the action to learn more about the competing teams and tune in to see which teams will be announced as World Finalists!

July 23, 2018

The Imagine Cup World Finals kick-off at Microsoft headquarters in Redmond, Washington! The day starts with a Tech Showcase, where teams will pitch to multiple judges and the top-rated teams will move on to the next round. Imagine Cup Awards finalists in Artificial Intelligence, Big Data, and Mixed Reality are chosen to vie for $15,000 USD.

July 24, 2018

The top 15 teams are announced and will move forward as Imagine Cup semifinalists. There is good news for all other teams – they will get a second shot in the wildcard round! The students vote which wildcard teams will be saved and have the opportunity to join the semifinals. Semifinalists present their projects to the judges, and the final 3 teams are chosen to compete in the World Championships.

July 25, 2018

Imagine Cup World Championships – Streamed Live! Tune in at 9:00am PST to watch the top 3 teams pitch to the judges, coming to you live from the Four Seasons Hotel in downtown Seattle. Who will win it all?

Save the date for the Imagine Cup World Finals to see who will win $100,000 and the glory of being the Imagine Cup champions!

The team at Valve seem to have unceremoniously delisted the upcoming mass shooting simulator Active Shooter from Steam today, calling the developer “a troll, with a history.”

This is a big deal because the alleged game developer in question (Revived Games, aka Ata Berdiyev) seems to have a storied history of making terrible games, often by reusing the assets and intellectual property of others, and then quickly having them removed from Steam.

It’s also significant given that the alleged video game in question purports to put players in the shoes of either a mass shooter or the law enforcement personnel attempting to stop them, and thus quickly earned the public ire of mass shooting survivors, the parents of victims/survivors, politicians, and basically anyone with a conscience.

“We have removed the developer Revived Games and publisher ACID from Steam,” a Valve representative told Motherboard. “This developer and publisher is, in fact, a person calling himself Ata Berdiyev, who had previously been removed last fall when he was operating as ‘[bc]Interactive’ and ‘Elusive Team.'”

Sure enough, the Steam listing for Active Shooter (which was supposed to launch next month) now appears to be nonexistent.

“Ata is a troll, with a history of customer abuse, publishing copyrighted material, and user review manipulation,” the rep continued. “His subsequent return under new business names was a fact that came to light as we investigated the controversy around his upcoming title. We are not going to do business with people who act like this towards our customers or Valve. The broader conversation about Steam’s content policies is one that we’ll be addressing soon.”

It’s worth pointing out that earlier this month Valve’s content policies were publicly called into question after developers began reporting threats of removal from Steam over games the company deemed to include inappropriate adult content.

Play Rising Storm 2: Vietnam for FREE starting now through Sunday at 1PM Pacific Time. You can also pickup Rising Storm 2: Vietnam at 50% off the regular price!*

If you already have Steam installed, click here to install or play Rising Storm 2: Vietnam. If you don’t have Steam, you can download it here.

*Offer ends Monday at 10AM Pacific Time

Starting at 6:00 p.m. PDT today, members of the Xbox One Preview Alpha Ring will begin receiving the latest Xbox One system update (1806.180521-1920). Read on for more about the features, fixes and known issues in the latest 1806 system update.

NEW FEATURE FEEDBACK:

Updates for Groups based on Xbox Insider feedback:

We’re enabling Groups for the rest of Preview Alpha tonight! You’ll want to take the new system update once available and then start trying out Groups if you have not had access to the feature before. There’s also the existing Quest for Preview Alpha to give the team invaluable feedback on your experience using Groups.

How to find the Groups of games and apps feature:

• [Guide] If you were looking for the Pins button in Guide, instead click on the “My games & apps” button – we’ve combined Groups/Pins with “My games & apps” to put all your stuff in one convenient location for quick access!
• [My games & apps] If you go into “My games & apps” you will see a new tab on the left for your “Groups” – Pins will be your first Group and you can create more from there
• [Home] If you go to Home you will still have access to your Pins block and can add other Groups to Home after you create them
• Note: You may need to sign in/out again if you are not seeing Groups in “My games & apps” or your Pins block loading as expected after your first sign-in. If you do not see your Pins as the first Group, go to “My games & apps” > Groups and choose to reset your local Groups data

Fixes:

Guide

• Fixed an issue where some users were not seeing the currently active title in the list of Recently used games & apps.

Groups

• Fixed an issue where the “Add more” or “Create a group” page for Groups would not show all installed content when filtering
• Fixed some issues related to editing Groups not properly being reflected across multiple consoles that all have Groups enabled

Mixer Broadcasting

• Fixed an issue in which some users were experiencing issues with USB webcams while broadcasting.
• Fixed an issue where some users would not see the broadcast overlay or appear as broadcasting in the Guide.

 System Performance

• Misc. performance fixes in the platform.

Known Issues:

Groups  

• A few users are still experiencing the blank names for Groups. Workaround: You may need to rename these Groups if the local reset did not clear up the issue for you.
• The Groups tab My games & apps may not show after sign in even though you can access Groups in Guide. Workaround: Sign in / out to refresh these pages.
• You may see “This group does not exist” on Home on first sign-in for your existing Groups. Workaround: Sign in / out to refresh these pages.
• Some changes might not be reflected when editing Groups between multiple consoles after coming out of connected standby.  Sign in/out to fix.
• Titles hidden from Ready to install will show up as an item you can add through the “Add more” or “Create a group” page
• Choosing “Add to Home” for a game within a group will not add the block to Home
• You may see issues roaming between a GA console and preview 1806 console. Workaround: Choose to reset your Groups locally to resync from the service.
• Resetting Groups – local re-sync or reset everywhere: We’ve updated the reset button at the bottom of the Groups page in “My games & apps” so now you can delete your local Groups data and re-sync with the service. This will clear up a lot of issues that may have occurred due to bad states or if data is not showing up as expected. You can still delete from everywhere if you want a fresh start with Groups.
  
  • You may need to sign in / out for the pages to refresh afterwards.
  • Note: If you are still seeing issues after performing a local reset and/or sign in/out, please make sure to file a bug so the team can investigate

Profile Color

• Sometimes users may encounter an incorrect Profile color when powering on the console.

Networking

• Work continues on the stability of the Wi-Fi connectivity.  If you see any issues please report the problems for investigation.

YouTube

• Some users are encountering an issue where their YouTube account is being signed out whenever they launch the app.
  
  • Workaround: Uninstall/re-install the app and sign in with your account again.

Video game movies currently seem to be experiencing somewhat of a renaissance in Hollywood, with the live-action Detective Pikachu film starring Ryan Reynolds due to arrive next year on the silver screen on 10th May, followed by the “Sonic The Hedgehog Movie” scheduled for release on 15th November.

With Sonic’s film now under the control of Paramount Pictures, the latest developments about this live-action and computer-generated animation hybrid – as reported by Variety– is the signing of Westworld actor, James Marsden.

Heck, he might not be Ryan Reynolds, but the 44-year old actor has come of age in recent years, taking on the role of Teddy in HBO’s latest success and previously well-known for playing the character Cyclops in the X-Men film series. He’s also starred in Illumination Entertainment’s 2011 live-action animation, Hop. 

Paramount originally scored the film rights for SEGA’s classic video game franchise from Sony in 2017, taking on Jeff Fowler to direct, and not long ago acquiring the services of Neal H.Mortiz to produce under the Original Film banner. Deadpool director Tim Miller is the executive producer along with Toby Ascher, Dmitri Johnson and Dan Jevons, who are co-producing.

With James Marsden signing on, are you feeling more optimistic about the upcoming Sonic The Hedgehog movie? Tell us below.

Following the news of Astro Gaming’s Zelda-themed headset yesterday, a new GameStop exclusive listing has now revealed an officially licensed Crash Bandicoot wired controller by PowerA for the Nintendo Switch. The release of the controller will coincide with the launch of the Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy on 29th June and retail for US$24.99. There are also listings for the controller elsewhere outside of the US. 

Surprisingly this isn’t the only item being released to celebrate the launch of the Crash trilogy on the Switch, with accessory maker Exquisite Gaming releasing its “XL Crash Bandicoot Cable Guy” on 15th June. 

Here’s the technical rundown for the controller from the GameStop website:

The design features an ergonomic black controller with a thumbs-up Crash drawing in Teal accented with Grey icons from the Crash universe and metallic teal D-pad. Comes with a detachable 10ft USB cable with a Velcro-strap for easy storage and reduced clutter when you are not playing.

Features: 

• Officially licensed for Nintendo Switch
• Unique Crash Bandicoot Design elements
• Comfortable shape, and solid lightweight construction*
• Switch System buttons (+, -, Home, Capture)
• Left/Right shoulder buttons and triggers (L/R/ZR/ZL)
• 2 analog sticks: precision tuned to eliminate dead zones
• 8-way plus-shaped Directional Control Pad (D-Pad)
• Nintendo ABXY button layout (larger than Joy-Con)
• Detachable 10ft (3m) micro-USB to standard USB-C cable
• 2-year limited warranty – Register at PowerA.com

Let us know in the comments if you like the look of this controller and if you’ll be picking up the trilogy on release.

Play Train Simulator for FREE starting now through Sunday at 1PM Pacific Time. You can also pickup Train Simulator and DLC at up to 75% off the regular price!*

If you already have Steam installed, click here to install or play Train Simulator. If you don’t have Steam, you can download it here.

*Offer ends Monday at 10AM Pacific Time

As noted in our most recent Roadmap, Crucible Labs shipped with Destiny Update 1.2.1. While the content has been downloaded and installed on your platform, the feature is not yet available. PvP Design Lead Derek Carroll has some information to set proper expectations for the feature, and what to expect when it becomes available:

Derek: The Crucible team has been working hard behind the scenes to improve Destiny 2’s PvP offering, and to get new content to players more quickly. With update 1.2.1, we shipped some bits that will let us turn on our experimental Crucible Labs playlist. To set your expectations somewhat, Crucible Labs isn’t a totally different game. It’s not a different version of Destiny 2 hiding out on the Crucible page of the Director. It is a playlist that will feature new game modes (soon) and some different tweaks to the modes you already enjoy (starting tomorrow!). Crucible Labs is a way for our team to try stuff out in the wild, before it’s “done”, and solicit feedback from the community. We’ve never done this before, and there will be bumps in the road, but I hope you’ll come along for the ride and help us make Destiny 2’s Crucible even better for all Guardians.