Summary
In general, being cautious is usually a relatively good trait to have. Being cautious of surroundings, for example, can lead to someone staying safe in a situation where they typically wouldn’t be. In video games, however, the ‘safety’ of caution depends on the game itself. Some games absolutely reward players who cautiously make decisions, while some other games will punish those very same players.
Roguelikes, in particular,tend to be very punishing games. One wrong move in a lot of these games can lead to the end of a run, which can be devastating. So, a lot of people’s natural reaction when playing a game in this genre is to play cautiously. However, that won’t always benefit them, so let’s take a look at some of the best examples of roguelike games where this playstyle is actually more of a consequence than it is a benefit.
First up has to beRisk of Rain 2, the game where every second matters. Not only is being too cautious inRisk of Rain 2deadly in terms of movement (not moving usually leads to death) but it’s also deadly in terms of difficulty. The longer one takes in aRoR2run, the harder the game gets. In fact, there’s a whole long-running argument among theRisk of Raincommunity about whether it’s better to fully clear each map of all chests or set a time limit before starting the teleporter.
And to top it all off, the game actually even has a chest in the fourth stage that, if players don’t reach it fast enough (10 minutes), it won’t open. So, it’s safe to say thatRisk of Rain 2is probablyone of the best examples out thereof a roguelike that punishes the player for being too cautious.
Ravenswatchis another roguelike that, similar toRoR2, punishes players for their caution in terms of time. The wayRavenswatchis set up, players only have a certain amount of ‘days’ before each level forces them into fighting the stage boss. This can be adjusted with in-game modifiers, but the design essentially forces players to play less cautiously in an attempt to gain as many levels and items as possible before going into the boss fight.
Granted, players can still go throughRavenswatchvery cautiously if they so choose, and caution during combat is warranted (to an extent) with how much damage enemies can do on hit, but too much caution and players will just end up too weak to beat any boss without dedicating 10+ minutes to the fight without getting hit.
Skul: The Hero Slayeris a roguelike that not enough people know about. This delightful little game puts players in control of a tiny little skeleton boy, named Skul, with the ability to switch heads and gain different abilities by doing so. However, despite how adorable the game might seem at first glance, both its difficulty and story are anything but. In truth,this game is absolutely brutal in terms of difficulty, with a complete run taking anywhere from 40 minutesto an hour and a halfdepending on how cautiously people take each screen.
However, regardless of how cautiously one approaches the boss fights inSkul, they’re almost assuredly going to take damage during said fight. There are just too many attacks happening and too much going on in some of the later boss fights to avoid every hit, so at a certain point, it becomes a DPS race of sorts. Playing too cautiously in these scenarios just means that the player will have to live for longer and avoid more brutal attacks, and the vast majority of the time that’ll just lead to an early death more than it’ll lead to a cleared run.
Astral Ascentis another fantastic roguelike that isn’t popular enough. It’s similar toSkul: The Hero Slayerin the sense that, as the player progresses further and further in their journey to escape this Zodiac-inspired space prison, the more over-the-top the boss fights get. It’s a lot more possible to go through the boss fights in this game without getting hit, but it’s still incredibly difficult.
So, for much of the same reason asSkul, being too cautious in this game will typically only lead to an early death, unless the player’s execution of said caution is ‘perfect’. However, when progressing through the stages leading up to the bosses, caution and even over-cautious play are absolutely fine, as there are no real ‘time gates’ in this game that punish the player for taking too long.
Dead Cellsis our last example here of a 2D platformer-type roguelike where caution is usually more detrimental than beneficial and for a lot of the same reasons.Dead Cellsis an incredibly difficult game, especially given the whole Boss Cells aspect of the game that can make subsequent runs (and eventually leads to the final ending) even more difficult. And a lot of the time inDead Cells, at least in our experience, fighting enemies too cautiously usually leads to more damage and more lost runs in the grand scheme of things than it does lead to more progress.
To elaborate on this a bit more, fighting a tough enemy inDead Cellsvery cautiously, such as going in for a poke and then backing far away, is usually a worse idea compared to swinging multiple times after an attack and rolling through to the other side of the enemy (AKA staying in close range). This isn’t the case for every enemy, boss, or situation in DC, but typically offense-focused gameplay works better than defense-focused gameplay in this roguelike.
Moonlighteris an interesting inclusion to have on here, as this is a roguelike game that’s only a roguelike half the time. During the day inMoonlighter, players will be running their own store while at night they’ll be adventuring in the dungeons to obtain items to sell in said store during the day. Because of this, the sort of core gameplay loop ofMoonlighterconstantly has players questioning if they should push a little further to get more items oreven clear the dungeonor if they should exit and head out with the loot they already obtained.
If players choose wrong and proceed further only to run out of health, they’ll lose all the gear they had collected up to that point, and this makes progressing the game with new weapons, gear, and upgrades more difficult since they have less product to sell and therefore less money to spend. So, at its core,Moonlighteris a game that is designed to make players second guess themselves when it comes to playing cautiously, which is exactly why it’s on here.
And finally,let’s talk aboutDarkest Dungeon. Both the first and secondDarkest Dungeongames fit in this list for many reasons. Similar toMoonlighter, the core design of both of theDarkest Dungeongames is sort of built around making the player question if they should keep progressing or turn back. However, when things start going bad in aDarkest Dungeongame, they tend to keep getting worse and worse, which is a big part of why these games are known for being so brutal. In Moonlighter, being overly ambitious can sometimes lead to losing all that hard-earned gear. But inDarkest Dungeon, being overly ambitious can lead to all of the player’s characters going insane, killing each other, failing to clear the dungeon, and more.
These are games that are meant to punish players for every decision and for those same players to then understand and adapt to these punishments. Of course, sometimes being overly cautious works out in these games, but often times it just leads to losing out on progress, gear, or character levels.
