This month definitely seems to be something special if you like your worlds procedurally generated, your tunnels filled with loot and monsters and your deaths sudden, violent and educational. In addition to major updates to TOME and the graphical re-launch of Doom: The Roguelike, there’s been no shortage of other notable releases in the past few days and weeks. Here’s the best of the rest – a trio of more complex titles – just in case those other games haven’t quite got you hooked yet.

February 4th: Rogue Survivor Alpha 8 Released.

Previously thought dead, this remarkably in-depth zombie survival horror roguelike has been dusted off and is happily shambling around the internet again. If you’ve never played it before, just think along the lines of Project Zomboid, but turn-based. Simple tile-based graphics and a rather clunky interface, but there’s a lot to like here. The next version looks to be bringing a sanity system to the table as well, where your state of mind can be negatively affected by witnessing various disturbing scenes, such as waking up in a hospital, only to see one gore-splattered nurse devouring another, as shown in the screenshot above.

February 16th: Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup 0.10 Released.

The heir to Nethack’s crown continues development at a brisk pace, bringing new tweaks, tunings, new dungeon areas and trimmed fat. In fact, a whole wing of the dungeon got the snip this update, along with the long-standing Mountain Dwarf race! Controversial. In the place of the (admittedly rather generic) dwarves comes something just a little different – Octopodes – a playable race of land-bound cephalopods, incapable of wearing armor but able to catch prey in their many wiggling tentacles, and even wear a single magical ring on each of their 8 limbs. Given that the previous new race were cats with 9 lives, I approve of this new and weird direction of development!

February 28th: The Unreal World V3.14 Released.

The only commercial game in this little roundup. The Unreal World has been kicking around for a very, very long time. A realistic RPG simulation of day-to-day survival in the frozen nordic lands of iron-age Finland. Hunting, skinning, tanning and fishing are your bread and butter, but there’s also bandits to worry about, townsfolk to trade with and the ever-encroaching winter to race against more than anything. As with all previous releases, you can buy this build and the next few surrounding it for around $5, although a lifetime subscription (and at this rate, it WILL be a lifetime) to the game weighs in at $50 – only for long-term supporters, really. It’s also a very complex game – previous Roguelike experience highly recommended!

All three of these are definitely more advanced games in the genre, although Dungeon Crawl does at least offer a comprehensive tutorial and walkthrough mode to introduce new players. For those less willing to jump in at the deep end, check our news-posts from yesterday, and give Doom: The Roguelike or TOME a spin. Much more newbie-friendly. Still, it’s good to see the genre going from strength to strength! There was a time not too long ago where it seemed like the entire concept had stagnated. Good to see that just isn’t the case. Here’s to a great many more years of dungeon crawling and spectacular deaths!

[Rogue Survivor, Dungeon Crawl, Unreal World]