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.

[–] huginn@feddit.it 16 points 6 months ago (1 children)

Right but Rogue isn't much like modern Roguelikes either. It's still the genre.

[–] Seasoned_Greetings@lemm.ee -4 points 6 months ago (1 children)

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.

[–] huginn@feddit.it 11 points 6 months ago (1 children)

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.

[–] Seasoned_Greetings@lemm.ee 2 points 6 months ago (1 children)

Are there any other genres named after games? I'd say rogue is the exception.

[–] huginn@feddit.it 13 points 6 months ago (1 children)

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.

[–] Seasoned_Greetings@lemm.ee 0 points 6 months ago (1 children)

I do see your point, but in this specific situation the genre already has an accepted name

[–] huginn@feddit.it 6 points 6 months ago (1 children)

Didn't we start this chain by saying this genre needs it's own name?

[–] Seasoned_Greetings@lemm.ee 1 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago) (1 children)

The genre can be called "rogue like deck builder" all you want, we all know what it really is: "Spirelike"

Well, you did. And you also directly acknowledged that the genre already has a name in the same sentence.

It seems to be your opinion that it needs another one, even though the name it has is already so well established that it has its own steam tag.

I mean, you're entitled to have that opinion, and I also understand the logic behind it. But this conversation wasn't started with "us" saying it needs another name.

[–] huginn@feddit.it 2 points 6 months ago (1 children)

Sorry I interpreted

I really think it deserves its own genre.

As a statement calling for a genre with it's own name.

[–] Seasoned_Greetings@lemm.ee 1 points 6 months ago

I meant that to say, it's a genre that deserves to be distinguished from just one of the many games that define it.

As a rephrase of that comment, defining the 5 games I listed after one game that basically just came before them would be dishonest because of how different those games all are from Slay the Spire and each other. That's why the genre is named after what they all have in common, which is a mashup of two existing genres.

What you're proposing would be like renaming the first person shooter genre to "halo-like" or "call of duty-like" just because those games predate a lot of others and people like them. It's unnecessary and loses the descriptive quality of the name it has.