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The four things every roguelite needs (and the ones it doesn't)
What actually makes a game a roguelite, and which famous conventions are optional.
A roguelite isn’t defined by what you do in it, but by how play is structured across attempts. That’s why the genre wraps around card games, shooters, platformers and even poker. Remove any one of the four pieces below and the game turns into something else.
The four givens
| What it needs | Why it’s there | Without it, you get |
|---|---|---|
| A run: an attempt that ends and resets most of what you built | Decisions carry weight, and each attempt becomes its own story | An RPG or a campaign |
| Variation you have to read | Old solutions don’t simply replay, so skill becomes judgement | An arcade game, or a puzzle with fixed levels |
| Choices that build on each other | The run has an arc, and early picks matter late | An endless runner: random levels and permadeath, but nothing builds up |
| Failure that’s expected | The game is tuned for your tenth attempt, not your first | A game you’re meant to finish first try |
The middle two together are the genre’s signature: decisions under uncertainty that add up. Randomness without decisions is a lottery. Decisions without randomness are a puzzle.
You can see this in creator rankings too. The clearest thing separating games at the top of PepperHead’s tiers from those at the bottom is whether your choices make runs play differently. Even beloved classics like Spelunky and Downwell sit low on his lists because their runs play alike.
Conventions that aren’t rules
| People assume | But look at | What’s actually needed |
|---|---|---|
| Procedurally generated maps | Hades uses handmade arenas; Balatro has no map at all | Variation, from any source |
| You lose everything when you die | Darkest Dungeon keeps your hamlet while heroes die for good | Resetting the run, not everything |
| Damage carries between fights | Slice & Dice heals you fully after every fight | Stakes, from any source |
| Fights are unpredictable | Into the Breach shows every enemy attack before it lands | Uncertainty about strategy, not every action |
| Pick one upgrade of three | The Binding of Isaac mostly just hands you items | Some way to steer your build |
| Separate rooms or floors | Vampire Survivors is one continuous field on a clock | Regular decision points and rising pressure |
| One character | Darkest Dungeon’s party, Monster Train’s units | Something whose state you build up |
| Combat | Balatro is poker; Peglin is pachinko | An activity worth repeating |
| A hub between runs | Slay the Spire has none | A way into the next run |
| Permanent upgrades means power | The Void Rains Upon Her Heart unlocks information instead | A reason the next run plays differently |
The most interesting games usually change one of these and keep the rest familiar.