This is admittedly not that big of a deal I guess but it drives me nuts how often modern games describe themselves like: a zelda-esque soulsborne roguelike metroidvania- or something equally indecipherable to anyone outside of the entrenched Gamer demographic. I am thoroughly "search action"-pilled...we really gotta use words better!
I’ll accept metroidvania because it’s specific enough to differentiate it from “combat sidescroller” without using too many words, but when it gets too wordy that’s silly.
“Roguelike” is different in that it doesn’t describe gameplay directly but rather replayability so that also gets a bit of a pass
cries in traditional roguelike fan
There was a sliver of time there when roguelites were becoming a thing but the term didn't exist yet, and people were calling them "roguelike-likes" and I think about that a lot
I always liked "roguelite" to describe a game with procedural elements that deviated away from the grid based RPG stuff.
My understanding was that what distinguished roguelite from roguelike was progression across runs.
Roguelikelikes should have won. In 20 years when indie hipsters rediscover and reinvent the genre, we'd know exactly what to call them - roguelikelikelikes. And that rules.