[ryani]

I think the following characteristics define "roguelike" games:

* Permadeath / "ironman mode", generally enforced by the game

* Procedural generation of game levels/encounters

* "Progression" elements, where the encounters get more difficult but the player is gaining resources to allow them to overcome those challenges (as opposed to simply gaining mechanical skill at the game)

These three elements combine to make a game where you lose early and often, but starting over gives you the opportunity to experience the game differently, due to the procedural nature as well as because you have the opportunity to invest your resources differently, hopefully making better decisions.

I don't think they need to be strictly RPGs, but the progression elements are key. Those elements are present in FTL, for example, if you consider that the ship itself is the main character.

[mcv]

Careful calling it an RPG, because to fans of actual RPGs, roguelikes don't involve any actual roleplaying. It's just the hack & slash and level progression elements.

Just like there are people who care about the definition of 'roguelike', there are people who care about the definition of 'rpg'.

[krapp]

There's the so-called Berlin Interpretation[0] which attempts to codify exactly what a roguelike is, basically, according to that definition, if it isn't a turn based gridlike hack and slash in randomly generated dungeons with permadeath, it isn't a roguelike. Of course, /r/roguelikedev will point out that the most popular roguelikes all deviate from that in one way or another, and people do seem to disagree[1] with the definition.

I personally don't think the distinction matters that much, except to pedants and purists.

[0]http://www.roguebasin.com/index.php?title=Berlin_Interpretat...

[1]http://www.gamesofgrey.com/blog/?p=403

[yxhuvud]

I would use that definition for "roguelite", precisely because because they are not top-down RPG.

[ryani]

The distinction I make is that roguelites are designed around metagame progression rather than / in addition to the in-game progression used by roguelikes.

For example, Rogue Legacy is almost entirely focused on metagame progression between runs, whereas your character barely develops at all mid-run. Classic rogue-lite.

[yxhuvud]

The problem is that roguelike is a very old and established genre, and it is topdown RPG with permadeath. I don't see why meta progression is a feature worth of its own genre - you could easily add it to a roguelike like nethack without any change of genre.