Storytelling in Roguelike Games

The topic taker should explore how roguelike games can be used to tell complex stories. Specifically, the topic taker should consider The Binding of Isaac and similar games that use its roguelike mechanics, like unlocking new characters, new powers, or new stat boosters to tell a multi-layered story. For example, in The Binding of Isaac, clearing a run usually unlocks a new ending to the game, and then opens up a new path and/or character for the player to choose.

As always, the topic taker is free to include other roguelike games they know of that use the game mechanics to tell a complex story in their analysis. Things to consider would be as follows:

– The story gets told in various parts, in some manner, as referenced with my example above.

– The roguelike offers a story in some way, so, this excludes things like Brotato, to my understanding.

– The topic taker is free to add in whatever elements they might need for this article. For example, the topic taker, if focusing on The Binding of Isaac may consider looking into how the religious elements in the game tell a deeper story. Or, if the topic taker chooses to include Hades in this analysis, they could include aspects of the Greek Pantheon that highlight elements in the story and/or mechanics.

– The topic taker can consider the merits of comparing and contrasting two different roguelike games to see if storytelling is similar or different between them, but, given the nature of roguelike games, I would advise limiting this article to two games.

Here is a link to the Wikipedia for The Binding of Isaac for topic takers who may not be familiar with the game or its mechanics: (link) Binding of Isaac is,to OS X, and Linux.