5 roguelikes we want to play on mobile

The game Rogue came out in 1980, and it's generally considered to be the birthing pond for a great many modern RPGs.

The genre has been taken to all kinds of new and exciting places over the years, but some developers are sticking doggedly to the old format – and still producing some fantastic games.

In case you're unclear, a roguelike is a game that features a randomly generating map and a character with experience and skills to level-up.

Most roguelikes also feature permadeath – meaning you lose your save file and character when you die – and turn-based combat. As you go back through the years, you can expect to see a lot of ASCII graphics as well.

Now that Sid Meier’s Pirates! has been released on iOS – with a significant graphical update – current mobile gamers have been getting reacquainted with this old friend.

Here are some roguelike games we’d love to see revived on iOS and Android.

First released in 1997, this game is still being updated under the subtitle Stone Soup.

You can pick from one of 22 different species, all with different statistics and proficiencies, and there 27 different classes to play as. The mathematically rigorous amongst you will have already noted that this results in 594 combinations. That’s just the amount of ways you can start the game.

Dungeon Crawl is almost limitlessly replayable as a result, and – maybe with a new tileset, since ASCII graphics are not ideal in the handheld world – would make an excellent transition to the phone.

Occasionally, in playing a game you'll impress yourself by doing something amazing.

Whether breaking into a base without alerting a single guard or taking down an entire level in Angry Birds with a single red, there's a certain satisfaction you get in doing something so cool you didn’t even think it was possible.

Dwarf Fortress plays like an unbroken sequence of these events.

You can hit an orc so hard that he flies half a mile away and then explodes when he hits a wall. You can decapitate the 100-feet-tall bronze golem charging towards you by throwing a rabbit at it. You can put 30 trapped giants in your backpack, carry them over a mountain, and sell them to a caravan.

This game is limitlessly entertaining and would be perfect on a tablet.

When this game came out a lot of players regarded it as a completely destructive adaptation, like remaking Back to the Future as a gritty horror film. The genre seemed to be completely at odds with the mood of the game.

Somehow, though – through good design or simple wizardry – the developer managed to condense the mingled senses of fear and confidence into a turn-based RPG.

Because of the AI constantly trying to surround you, you feel boxed-in. You feel like you’re playing Doom.

Since we know that id Software is currently developing a port of Doom Classic, this would be an excellent chance to show new players that roguelikes aren’t necessarily hard to get into.

Everything you see in the FPS Doom you see in the roguelike Doom (with extra stuff added occasionally, too, like the Bigger F Gun).

Angband is probably the only serious roguelike on this list, as the genre does tend to value humour.

Angband is lifted straight from Tolkien - the title itself refers to Morgoth Bauglir’s fortress. A lot of LOTR games in the past have been very linear, usually with you playing one the fellowship, so it’s refreshing to be able to create your own character in that world.

Angband has the unfortunate burden of being linked to a franchise, however, and is probably not something we’re likely to see soon. If the lawyers can get it together, though, it’s a must-play game for any LOTR fan.

Just so you don’t think we’re all pining for days long past, here’s an example of a more modern adaptation of the roguelike genre.

This game doesn’t have a defined class system, but rather you get to pick a set of skills at the beginning of the game – anything from Archery to Viking Wizardry.

This game is most notable, however, for the dialogue and item descriptions. Dungeons of Dredmor manages to be repetitive whilst never being boring.

There plenty of better-designed or nicer-looking games out there, but few in which you'll have this much fun.