Roguelike Dev Interviews at PAX West 24

Can you imagine a dystopian world where overlords are oppressing you through communication networks? Where your friends skitter in the shadows to sell you trinkets and spikes erupt through the floor to maim you? We’re talking Reignbreaker this week, not your average trip downtown in 2025. The recently released Hades-inspired action game puts you in control of muscle mommy Clef as she seeks to break the reign of the Queen of Keys. An interesting blend of javelin throwing, fist punching mayhem, join us as we each try as strained of a Cockney accent we can muster and free our dear rat friends. Custom RSS Apple Podcasts Spotify YouTube Music Transcript 1:10 - game stats 3:25 - one sentence description 29:28 - our story begins 1:10:55 - rankings and final thoughts 1:17:54 - similar games Next episode: Path of Achra Contact us at [email protected]! https://grogpod.zone Intro music: Pat Metheny - Calvin’s Keys Outro music: Djerv - Reignbreaker

Ordo ab Cubo! It’s a mad, mad, mad, mad world out there so what better way to celebrate than with Cube Chaos? The solo-dev effort of thousands of different units, synergies, and mayhem all warring in a hybrid RTS auto-battler filled with arena destruction, lasers, ants, stomach acid, warrior plants, snow knights, and yes repli-crabs. A truly unique experience, come listen to how its maybe was TOO unique for some of us, while the others frantically battle waves of clay anomalies and curious moils! Custom RSS Apple Podcasts Spotify YouTube Music Transcript 1:23 - game stats 2:14 - one sentence description 23:20 - our story begins… actually what IS this game? 1:11:03 - community correspondence 1:15:16 - rankings and final thoughts 1:25:32 - similar games 1:28:19 - listener letter and listener request week! Next episode: Reignbreaker Contact us at [email protected]! https://grogpod.zone Intro music: Dave Brubeck - Autumn in Washington Square Outro music: Cube Chaos OST

The club of overwhelmingly positive roguelike deckbuilders is a small one, but bolstered with Diceomancer! The late 2024 release features a unique mechanic of allowing you to re-roll any number you see on the screen. Just imagine being able to re-roll your podcast subscriber amount from 6 to 14! The possibilities are limitless in this Cozy Vibes(tm) aesthetic where you can finally exact your revenge on all those geese that have hissed at you on the park bench with an infinitely reloading crossbow. Exactly what those noodle neck monsters deserve for delaying your fishing trip! Custom RSS Apple Podcasts Spotify YouTube Music Transcript 1:49 - game stats 3:30 - one sentence description 13:26 - our story and tutorial begins 1:15:08 - rankings and final thoughts 1:22:36 - similar games Next episode: Cube Chaos Contact us at [email protected]! https://grogpod.zone Intro music: Sun Ra - Purple Night Blues Outro music: Diceomancer OST - The Woods

You have angered the gods! Listener request week returns with a Holy Mountain of Finnish roguelike games - Noita: the platformer where every pixel is either on fire, radioactive, glowing with mana, or doused in whiskey. Developed by an Avengers-level collection of devs from Crayon Physics Deluxe, The Swapper, Baba Is You, and others, Noita starts with a bang. Be it the bangs from the exploding environment, banging your head against the wand and spell system, or the banging soundtrack, this one is certain to polymorph you into a fan. Or a sheep with devil wings, which is taxonomically the same thing. Custom RSS Apple Podcasts Spotify YouTube Music Transcript 1:41 - game stats 4:02 - one sentence description 23:38 - our story begins and spoiler alert warning 1:22:35 - rankings and final thoughts 1:33:04 - similar games Next episode: Diceomancer Contact us at [email protected]! https://grogpod.zone Intro music: The Five Corners Quintet - The Devil Kicks Outro music: Noita OST - Daddy Long-Leg’s Surprise

Ah… I can see into your mind… So you like mystery dungeons? You like obscure JRPGs don’t you? Psycho Mantis can see that you enjoy Konami games, which is why we’re talking Azure Dreams! A 1990’s monster collecting game that was maybe too ahead of its time for its own good, we talk town building, relationship drama, the extreme price of eggs, and just what awaits us at the top of a 40-story monster tower. Custom RSS Apple Podcasts Spotify YouTube Music Transcript 1:52 - game stats 6:42 - one sentence description 30:40 - our story begins 1:06:38 - !!spoiler alert!! top of the monster tower and ending 1:34:08 - community correspondence 1:42:57 - rankings and final thoughts 1:54:49 - similar games (thumbnail art by dhbs90) Next episode: Noita Contact us at [email protected]! https://grogpod.zone Intro music: Cannonball Adderley - One Man’s Dream Outro music: Azure Dreams OST - Tower Theme No.1

This week in “wait, that’s not a roguelike!” we tackle the Souls-like shooter Remnant: From the Ashes! A lot of high-budget games that aren’t rogue-first have been coming out with rogue modes and Remnant is no exception with it’s DLC-based mode: Survival. Join us to complain about getting bodied by bosses, watching out for archers, and trying to figure out just how much chocolate you need in a cake before you call it a chocolate cake. Custom RSS Apple Podcasts Spotify YouTube Music Transcript 2:18 - game stats 3:54 - one sentence description 13:29 - our story begins 1:07:55 - community correspondence 1:16:04 - rankings and final thoughts 1:25:25 - similar games Next episode: Azure Dreams Contact us at [email protected]! https://grogpod.zone Intro music: Kenny Dorham - I Had The Craziest Dream Outro music: Remnant OST - Black Wolf and Bloodshed

Welcome back Wizard, to the ruins of the universe! This week we pick up the coffeebreak hit of the traditional roguelike space Rift Wizard: a solo-dev effort by Dylan White, in which we skitter about pondering orbs of memory and battling all sorts of spritely monsters and mages. Armed with a spellbook a mile long and wild passive skills to boot, we will finally exact our revenge on the evil red wizard Mordred for waking us up from our nap. Custom RSS Apple Podcasts Spotify YouTube Music Transcript 2:46 - game stats 3:48 - one sentence description 31:14 - our story begins and spoiler alert warning 1:12:04 - rankings and final thoughts 1:21:09 - similar games Scott’s source code dump of all the Rift Wizard spells and skills google sheet can be found here. Next episode: Remnant from the Ashes Contact us at [email protected]! https://grogpod.zone Intro music: Jerry Granelli - I Put a Spell on You Outro music: K. Hoops - Rift Wizard main menu theme

Season 3 is here and we’re turning up the heat levels with the infernal hack-n-slash / visual novel / dating sim Hades! The crown jewel of indie darling developer Supergiant Games, we follow Prince Zagreus and his journey to fight out of the Greek Underworld with the aid all your favorite characters from Greek mythos including a wise-cracking skeleton, a timid snake head housekeeper, an ever-happy smiling boulder, a zombie boat man, among many others! Oh and I suppose there are Olympian gods in there too, each one more ripped and romance-worthy than the last. Maybe you can escape the fires of Asphodel, but what about your fiery passions for your co-workers? Custom RSS Apple Podcasts Spotify YouTube Music Transcript 1:34 - game stats 3:03 - one sentence description 23:18 - our story begins and spoiler alert warning 1:32:28 - rankings and final thoughts 1:42:43 - similar games Next episode: Rift Wizard Contact us at [email protected]! https://grogpod.zone Intro music: Charles Mingus - When Your Lover Has Gone Outro music: Darren Korb - Out of Tartarus

The winter special episode is here! This week we turn back the clock 3 months to a number of interviews Scott did with developers and panelists at PAX West here in Seattle. A ton of fun, he got to talk to a lot of really cool and fun people who entertained my nonsense questions. With so many great games played and talked about, we’re already penciling out plans for next year’s possibilities! Check the timestamps below for interviews with friends of all sorts and their games and studios. Custom RSS Apple Podcasts Spotify YouTube Music Transcript 4:18 - Live on the streets! 9:11 - Vampire Survivors tournament champion interview with Alan 14:58 - Slay the Spire board game playtest with Nathan and Erin 22:17 - Barony with Josiah Colborn from Turning Wheel Games 33:56 - “What is a rogue-like?” with Jenna Stoeber and Anica Cihla, see their “What Defines A Soulslike?” panel VOD here 41:30 - Rogue Climber with Christian and Eric from Imaginary Game Studios 46:04 - AO: Containment Breach with Jules aka Prismatix- 49:52 - Ultra Mega Cats 54:36 - Let’s Build a Dungeon with James Barnard from Springloaded 1:02:07 - Rogue Waters with Mateusz Pilski from Ice Code Games 1:07:48 - “What is a game publisher?” with Matthew Palacio from Hooded Horse Games 1:14:24 - ctrl.alt.DEAL with Gwen from Only By Midnight Ltd. 1:17:37 - Show wind down Next episode: Season 3 kicks off with Hades! Contact us at [email protected]! https://grogpod.zone Intro/outro music: Vince Guaraldi Trio - O Tannenbaum

Season 2 has come to an end with an impressive slate of top-tier rogue games! If you’ve never listened to the show before, these recap episodes are a great place to start. This year we see how well our new #1 overall rated game of Slay the Spire will hold off contenders like Vampire Survivors and Balatro. We revisit some oldies and goodies with games spanning releases all the way back to 2003! We have some great listener comments sprinkled throughout, including some of the devs from games that we’ve covered. So go get a corndog (grogdog?), a #1 fan foam finger or two, and strap in for our longest, and therefore best podcast episode to date. Our finalists include: Balatro DoomRL Heat Signature Into the Breach Inscryption Jupiter Hell Risk of Rain 2 Slay the Spire Slice & Dice Star of Providence Vampire Survivors World of Horror Who will take the ultimate prize of the GROGPOD Omegabowl??? ! The full tournament bracket with spoiled results can be found here Custom RSS Apple Podcasts Spotify YouTube Music Transcript 1:54 - Tournament plan, categories, and games 7:04 - Wildcard 1: Risk of Rain 2 vs Heat Signature 13:42 - Wildcard 2: Slice & Dice vs Star of Providence 23:48 - Wildcard 3: Balatro vs DoomRL 30:06 - Wildcard 4: Inscryption vs World of Horror 38:57 - Division 1: Slay the Spire vs ??? 44:40 - Division 2: Vampire Survivors vs ??? 56:20 - Division 3: Jupiter Hell vs ??? 1:03:44 - Division 4: Into the Breach vs ??? 1:14:40 - Semi-finals 1 — possibly the REAL omegabowl finals here — 1:35:32 - Semi-finals 2 1:43:10 - Grand finals 1:58:24 - Show wind down Next episode: Roguelike developer interviews from PAX West 2024! Contact us at [email protected]! https://grogpod.zone Intro music: Scott Schreer - NFL Fox Outro music: Clark Aboud - Battle with the Champ