Q: Whenever I hear about Eldritch the words “Roguelike”, “Roguelike-like” or even “Rogue-lite” tend to be not too far off in conversation. Do you feel these adjectives are fitting? In what way does Eldritch contain “Rogue-like” elements. (For those who don’t know, a Rogue-like is a game categorized by an incredible amount of randomization, procedural generation and permanent death. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roguelike for more info)
I’m not a stickler when it comes to roguelike terminology, and I’ll usually call anything with random levels and permadeath a roguelike. But I recognize that many roguelike enthusiasts have a stricter definition of the term, so I usually speak about Eldritch being “inspired by” roguelikes instead. Eldritch is an action-oriented first-person game which contains roguelike elements in its use of randomly generated worlds and permanent player death.
I have tried to balance Eldritch such that it appeals to roguelike fans and non-fans alike. Eldritch is not immediately as difficult as other roguelike(-likes), and I hope that it may serve as a gateway for newcomers to the genre, or for anyone else who feels intimidated by the concept of permadeath. But there are also hidden secrets which exist to challenge veteran players, and I strongly encourage voluntary conduct-based challenges. I did a vegan/pacifist run once while testing the game, and it was an incredibly fresh and exciting experience.
