For any studio, garnering sufficient curiosity and success in a online game to the purpose the place a sequel is justified is a commendable feat. And but, if you’re navigating an area that is rising ever extra saturated–such because the case of roguelikes and roguelites–a sequel can change into a needed evil quite than a cherished alternative to additional discover current concepts.
The roguelike style is brimming with creativity, and the efforts of small studios through the years have led to a plethora of devoted communities. Reputation broke containment years in the past, with greater trade names giving the style a spin. Some have launched modes individually from the principle expertise, together with Prey: Mooncrash, God of Struggle Ragnarok: Valhalla, and the Freelancer mode for Hitman: World of Assassination, to call just a few examples. Others, like Returnal and Elden Ring Nightreign, launched themselves as AAA productions of those ideas.
As extra builders proceed to push boundaries within the house, whether or not that’s Balatro and Buckshot Roulette kicking off a wave of engrossing gambling-inspired video games, or studios nonetheless attempting to capitalize on the Vampire Survivors formulation, there was a gentle development that, in some methods, is holding builders again. Put merely, the house is being overcrowded by sequels.
Take, for instance, Spelunky 2, Hades 2, Rogue Legacy 2, Monster Prepare 2, Slay the Spire 2, Threat of Rain 2, Darkest Dungeon 2, Wizards of Legends 2, Enter the Gungeon 2, Streets of Rogue 2… and the checklist goes on. That is beginning to prolong to blockbuster productions, too, with Housemarque, developer of Returnal, revisiting the idea with Saros.
Whereas it is sensible that builders need to capitalize on success, there’s additionally the missed potential that comes with an increasing number of studios deciding to financial institution on a development quite than pursuing different artistic concepts and genres, not desirous to let go of that security web. From the skin, it would be simple to dismiss the argument as a “suffering from success” state of affairs, however there are substantial drawbacks to this.
For starters, it is one factor to have labored on a sport with an idea or design method that was novel on the time when the style was slowly re-emerging and taking new shapes–like the map in Slay the Spire, for example–but by the point these studios begin to work on sequels, the panorama is already totally different, generally going through loads of different video games who drew inspiration from the unique work.
In fact, each developer places their very own spin on the idea of a sequel. Some are extra of a refinement to earlier foundations, like Rogue Legacy 2 and Hades 2, whereas others, like Darkest Dungeon 2 and Threat of Rain 2, are bolder from the get-go. And sure, one can assume {that a} sequel for an indie studio that was fortunate to get successful launch is a safer guess than a brand new sport altogether. However the strain to recapture that momentum is tough to cope with, particularly if you veer from fan expectations.
Such was the case of Darkest Dungeon 2. The sequel, which launched in early entry in 2021, was shortly met with criticism by the neighborhood from the primary sport. Whereas the predecessor is a roguelike dungeon crawler with a lite town-management sim facet, Darkest Dungeon 2 was offered much more in step with your regular fashionable roguelite, focusing totally on doing runs the place you select from totally different paths to get so far as doable.
A yr later, developer Crimson Hook Studios launched a community update, addressing suggestions from gamers. This was substantial, because the builders ditched the preexisting roadmap and adjusted their processes to launch smaller, but extra frequent updates. In addition they targeted on remodeling a number of of the mechanics and options current within the sequel.
These huge undertakings are generally the character of the beast in relation to growing video games in early entry. The issue is that, between updates and neighborhood suggestions, studios can spend years upon years engaged on the identical title. The prospect of bringing concepts again from the preliminary drafting board is attractive, and a sequel presents a second probability in each sense of the phrase. However with it comes its personal artistic stagnation, and the danger of being tangled in expectations that may by no means be totally glad.
The Binding of Isaac remains to be getting DLCs, regardless of lead creator Edmund McMillen repeatedly saying that “subsequent one would be the final,” like a rock band asserting its third farewell tour. All of the whereas Mewgenics, a undertaking McMillen introduced again in 2012, has been repeatedly pushed again.
Lifeless Cells, one of the crucial in style roguelites within the final decade, had 35 updates in its lifecycle and years in early entry. After the 1.0 launch, the sport bought 4 paid expansions, in addition to substantial updates afterward. Developer Movement Twin relegated the post-launch content material to a different studio, Evil Empire, which supplied help for 5 years, whereas it went out and began to discover different concepts.
In a approach, each builders bought fortunate. Evil Empire’s farewell post is bittersweet, however the pleasure over taking that new accrued data into new initiatives is palpable. The studio went out to work on roguelite The Rogue Prince of Persia, which shares fairly a little bit of DNA from Lifeless Cells. The identical applies to Movement Twin and fellow roguelite Windblown. Whereas totally different from its seminal work, the spirit is all the time current ultimately.
But, not each studio is fortunate sufficient to garner the success of a sport like Lifeless Cells, turning into financially safe sufficient to have the ability to break the norm. For some, revisiting concepts which have labored up to now is the safer path. Sticking intently to earlier foundations could make for much less dangerous growth processes, however what number of builders would quite be engaged on one thing utterly new as a substitute?
As we method 2026, which is about to be one other outstanding yr for the rogue subgenre, studios are seemingly at an deadlock. Leaping on a sequel means turning into inevitably tangled in expectations imposed by builders’ earlier work, and the ever-growing concepts launched by different studios. With so many examples colliding with each other, it is getting more and more tougher to current one thing novel for the primary time. Trying to iterate on different video games’ concepts, nevertheless, can yield blended outcomes, compromising the essence that originally drew gamers’ consideration to a undertaking.
In the meantime, an overreliance on gamers’ expectations may also be troublesome. Following the earlier throughline, there generally is a lack of company and the ultimate results of a undertaking can look fairly totally different than what builders initially envisioned. However there’s additionally the time issue, and the exhaustion that may come from working throughout the similar universe for a very long time. Returning to Darkest Dungeon, the Steam Early Entry launch for the primary sport occurred in 2015. Ten years later, the developer continues to launch updates for its sequel.
The enjoyment of roguelites is to study a brand new vocabulary, to inhabit a brand new world for lengthy sufficient till the trivialities of techniques change into second nature. But, it is the shock issue that retains the style attractive, basking within the promise that, even whereas acquainted, each new run can be totally different. Now, plainly builders are unable to interrupt that loop, caught in a spot the place they danger to change into too just like their earlier work to play it secure, compromise their current visions in favor of attempting to appease participant suggestions, or play all of their playing cards proper and simply be engulfed by the rising saturation of a development that may not have the ability to maintain the identical pleasure by the point a studio lastly wraps up growth.