I am amused to report that this is a legally distinct definitely-not-Zachtronics company that just happens to have two guys (including Zach) from Zachtronics in.
Maybe my subjective take of sudden is different, but is it sudden? (aka I progressively succumb to madness over a title)
There’ve been many fantastic roguelike deckbuilders out since 2020, a little after Slay teh Spire’s official release date. It feels more like people have became aware of how fun the subgenre is after the hype Baltaro generated on streaming platforms. If anything is sudden, it’s the second-wind of attention we’re getting thanks to the above-mentioned game.
I know I’m continuing to split hairs over nothing down here, but 861 games is a little misleading once you get to the end: “Surprisingly, deckbuilders are still an underserved market”
You never know when you’ve reached the peak of a trend, but deckbuilders seem like they’re not quite there yet. Games-Stats tracks 527 roguelike deckbuilders, and Dev_Hell’s Westendorp suggests their higher-than-average revenues, wider revenue spread, and demand make them “relatively underserved as a market.”
So, there’s not 861 games, but 527 games?
If you investigate why there’s a large gap in reported game listings, it’s because Steam is including packs like [Slay the Spire x Backpack Hero] and DLC where Game-Stats is tracking the individual games (i.e, bloatless). This ties back to the title - ultimately we’re not trying to answer the literal question, “Why are there 861 roguelike deckbuilders on Steam”, because OP never answers that question. Instead, we are answering an alternative interpretation: “Why are there so many roguelike games appearing on Steam in a short amount of time?” The answer, may shock you:
spoilerMoney, popularity, ez(er) to dev
While I’ve taken those answers from the article, I find it further interesting that they conclude a different question all-together: “Why are roguelike deckbuilders taking off?”
Buh, I’ve lost it. Ultimately I really liked the core article and their enthusiasm, but I’ve driven myself to madness here.
Yeah, this same article can be written for Mini Golf games, or shmups, or visual novels, or any other genre that’s relatively easy to develop for. Once one gets popular, others will jump on because the barrier to entry is fairly low. Lots will be low effort clones, but some will really try to build something new.
I want to normalize having a sarcastic commentator making scathingly aggressive Youtube videos about people in the news who are doing unethical things.
They way it reads is that they were actually playing and circumventing bans, possibly selling accounts too maybe. They were streaming their exploits on Twitch too.
If you like dishonored you should try prey by same studio. Level design is amazing and character interaction/plot changes based on how you play and where you are when certain events happen.
I do recall they all lacked depth and combat programing. I think the game direction focused on the environment and story more than combat. Which is how I also remember dishonored.
I’ve started playing it and it hooked me for a bit but once it really opens up I’ve been struggling to stick with it. Very interesting premise and characters so far though, I have no idea who can actually be trusted and that feels intentional.
Yeah I can see that. 1st play through I stuck to objectives so I knew what was going on. Next round, I intentionally did stuff out of order which changes a few things. Easy to get lost 1st time around. Especially as environment changes.
Because they’re popular, and they’re super easy to slap together (graphically at least. In theory, you could make a completely text based deck builder and it would function identically to one with fancy graphics).
This is the equivilant of zombie games in the shooter genre. Why program complex ai when you could make braindead (pun intended) bots walk in a straight line at the player and deal damage when they touch them.
It’s even easier than that. Both of these genres have design features that require minimal balancing, making for an even faster dev cycle.
Roguelikes side-step the need for traditional game balance by providing meta progression and building inevitable-death-by-impossible-odds into the core game. For Roguelikes that actually have an ending, all the developer needs to do is provide enough meta progression perks to overcome the game’s peak difficulty, for even the worst of players. Everyone else gets bragging rights for beating the game faster than that. Either way, the lack of balance and “fairness” in the core design are features, not flaws.
Deck builders follow in Magic The Gathering’s footsteps: you never need to fully balance it. Ever. The random draw mechanisms, combined with a deep inventory of resource and item/creature/action cards, make it unlikely that a player gets an overpowered hand all the time. Pepper a few ridiculously overpowered cards in there, and it just feels more fun. Plus, if you keep the gravy train going with regular add-ons, the lack of balance is even further masked by all the possible choices. And yes, some player will min/max a deck at great personal expense and wipe the floor with their opponents because it was never fair in the first place, and doing so is a feature.
arstechnica.com
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