I don’t think we need an article to figure out the answer: Slay the Spire was a megahit and it’s a copycat industry.
I don’t necessarily mean that in a bad way either; there’re always plenty of devs finding interesting new angles on the current hot genre and creating genuinely interesting new games in the process, but also a huge number of devs that end up just chasing the trend and releasing something uninspired/derivative.
I really think it deserves its own genre. Games like Cobalt Core, Balatro, Tower Tactics Liberation, Alina of the Arena and Loop Hero are all unique in their own right and differ greatly in gameplay from Slay the Spire and each other but still hold to the deck building rogue-like core.
Slay the spire is the granddaddy of the genre, but isn’t the single defining example by far.
I think the “rogue” in rogue-like refers to the fact that you start over if you die. Not the similarity to the actual game. Am I misunderstanding you?
I think I get what you’re saying, that rogue-like was named after the game and therefore this genre should be named after slay the spire. But I think Rogue named the genre because there wasn’t anything else like it. Slay the Spire is still at the end of the day a mashup of two existing genres.
Rogue was the start of the genre - games that came after we’re always measured against it.
Rogue was a dungeon crawler - a type of game that had been done plenty of times before. Starting over on death had also been done.
But it became genre defining by being the best at both.
Spire I’d say is similar. It is genre defining because the combination of gameplay elements was so perfectly executed that it will become the measuring stick against which all roguelike deck builders will be measured. So Spirelike fits, I think.
I don’t think we need an article to figure out the answer: Slay the Spire was a megahit and it’s a copycat industry.
I don’t necessarily mean that in a bad way either; there’re always plenty of devs finding interesting new angles on the current hot genre and creating genuinely interesting new games in the process, but also a huge number of devs that end up just chasing the trend and releasing something uninspired/derivative.
The genre can be called “rogue like deck builder” all you want, we all know what it really is: “Spirelike”
I really think it deserves its own genre. Games like Cobalt Core, Balatro, Tower Tactics Liberation, Alina of the Arena and Loop Hero are all unique in their own right and differ greatly in gameplay from Slay the Spire and each other but still hold to the deck building rogue-like core.
Slay the spire is the granddaddy of the genre, but isn’t the single defining example by far.
Right but Rogue isn’t much like modern Roguelikes either. It’s still the genre.
I think the “rogue” in rogue-like refers to the fact that you start over if you die. Not the similarity to the actual game. Am I misunderstanding you?
I think I get what you’re saying, that rogue-like was named after the game and therefore this genre should be named after slay the spire. But I think Rogue named the genre because there wasn’t anything else like it. Slay the Spire is still at the end of the day a mashup of two existing genres.
Rogue was the start of the genre - games that came after we’re always measured against it.
Rogue was a dungeon crawler - a type of game that had been done plenty of times before. Starting over on death had also been done.
But it became genre defining by being the best at both.
Spire I’d say is similar. It is genre defining because the combination of gameplay elements was so perfectly executed that it will become the measuring stick against which all roguelike deck builders will be measured. So Spirelike fits, I think.
Are there any other genres named after games? I’d say rogue is the exception.
Soulslike and Metroidvania spring to mind.
As games become more and more complex these kind of genre defining sets will become more common I think.
I do see your point, but in this specific situation the genre already has an accepted name
It’s not even an original concept. It’s just the popular kid.