The Rise of the Roguelite

James Cartlidge is a post-doctoral researcher with a background in philosophy, specializing in phenomenology, existentialism, post-structuralism, and the philosophy of video games and virtual worlds. He has held fellowships at the Slovak Academy of Sciences (Bratislava), the Institute for Human Sciences (IWM, Vienna), the Vita-Salute San-Rafaelle University (Milan), and teaching positions at the Central European University (Vienna), and the Eötvös Loránd University (ELTE, Budapest).

1) Introduction: The Rise of the Roguelite. 2) When Darwin Met Lovecraft: Generating Mystery and Discovery in The Curious Expedition . 3) What Makes a Good Roguelite?. 4) Roguelites and the Problem of Ludonarrative Dissonance. 5) Players’ Will and Characters’ Deeds: Agency and Legacy. 6) The Chain of Power: Foucault’s Philosophy and Vampire Survivors-like Roguelites. 7) Historicising the Roguelite: The Legacy of Neoliberalism and the Dawn of Social Media. 8) Edit Wands Always: Experimentation, Modding and Metagaming in Noita. 9) Simulation Gaps, Failures, and the Potential for Queer Game Design. 10) Roguelites, Romance, and the Power of Genre-Bending in Boyfriend Dungeon11) Hades, the Queerness of Roguelites, and the Recursivity of Trauma . Appendix: Roguelike Research: A Short Introduction and Guide. Glossary. Index.