Roguelike

Roguelikes refer to a sub-category of RPGs in which primary gameplay mechanics feature navigation through procedurally generated areas, grid-based movement and permanent player death, tied to a turn-based gameplay. The consequences of the permanent death mechanic usually differ between games. For some games, the death of the character obliges the player to create a new one before restarting the game, while in other games the player's character is "reborn", while losing most or all of its previous equipment and inventory. The turn-based gameplay refers to either combat, movement and general progression, where the passage of turns is defined by a determined execution of actions, according to the game's own rules.

The term comes from the 1980 game, Rogue, regarded as the precursor of the genre's specific mechanics in which later roguelike games would derive from. Another concept, described as roguelike-like or roguelite, is attributed to games which borrow some from the major aspects from roguelike games, such as procedurally generated levels and permanent death, while not being proper roguelikes or even RPGs. Roguelikes are closely related to dungeon crawler games, however roguelike games are defined by mechanics that expand beyond the categorization of dungeon-based exploration and progress. The mechanic is considered a possible feature rather than a core gameplay aspect.