Recommend me some indie games with procedural generation.

[Drathnoxis]

I have 50 games in my backlog, but I don't feel like playing any of them. I always feel like I want to play the same sort of game but don't know any new examples of it. I want something procedurally generated, with an emphasis on exploration and looting/gathering, but without too much tedious crafting or pouring over item stats. I'd like it to be pretty challenging, permadeath is good. I'd like the game to form it's own story organically, but have a way of finishing the game and winning. I want some depth to the mechanics, but not so much complexity that you can't pick up the game and start playing without spending a couple hours in tutorials, even if you don't fully understand the mechanics.

I would say I'm looking for a roguelike, but I don't really think I want one of the old style literal 'like Rogue' games like ADOM or Tales of Maj'eyel (which I tried recently and was bored of within an hour). The modern state of the roguelike genre seems dominated by fast paced action focused games like Enter the Gungeon and Dead Cells and the like, which I'm not exactly looking for. Though I'm not ruling games with action out, I'd like it to not be the sole focus.

Basically what I want is Nethack crossed with Don't Starve, or at least how those games made me feel, anyway. I'd like something like Cataclysm: Dark Days Ahead, if the developers were actually interested in making a refined and fun game instead of Apocalypse Simulator 2022. Even something in the vein of Rimworld might be ok.

Ok, so you have my nebulous desires before you, what are your suggestions?

Edit: Anything that's still on Early Access I'm automatically ruling out. I'd rather play wait a couple years and play the finished game than burn myself out on the unfinished version.

 

[Worgen]

This one is an action game but a bit more methodical then Enter the Gungeon or Dead Cells, plays a bit more like darksouls where you have to think about attack time and when to swing and such.

 

[Worgen]

There is also The Last Stand: Aftermath. Its action but more about scavenging supplies and weapons and exploring the environments for said supplies then just slaughtering the undead.

 

[Worgen]

The Flame in the Flood might also be something that would scratch that itch.

 

[meiam]

I'm gonna assume you played the slay the spire/darkest dungeon/Issac/factorio/FTL.

How about something like battle brother? A bit like mount and blade but with random map.

Maybe Chasm, its a random metroidvania, so so looting though.

Convoy is mad max roguelike, its okay.

Crying sun is fun and fairly easy to picku up, but has a stronger focus on a set story than most roguelike.

Cryptark is pretty brutal but use fairly simple mechanic.

Dungeon of endless is a mix roguelike and tower defence, its pretty brutal though.

Everspace is a roguelike space sim, its gets a bit repetitive over time though.

Halcyon 6 is a space JRPG, it has pretty nice turn based combat.

Hand of fate has great presentation but pretty boring combat.

Horizon gate is not roguelike (not random map) but strong exploration and I just push that game on people whenever the occasion arise.

Mainframe defender is a fun little tactics with some looting element, not really any exploration.

Metal unit is a robot 2D side scrolling, pretty relax with good weapon variety.

Would something like they are billions work? Not much looting trough.

Stoneshard seems perfect... except its not finish and won't be for a decade at this rate.

Wizard of legend is maybe too fast paced, but it's super fun and easy to pick up.

 

[Drathnoxis]

I'm gonna assume you played the slay the spire/darkest dungeon/Issac/factorio/FTL.

You'd be entirely right in your assumption, oddly specific as it is.

How about something like battle brother? A bit like mount and blade but with random map.

Maybe Chasm, its a random metroidvania, so so looting though.

Convoy is mad max roguelike, its okay.

Crying sun is fun and fairly easy to picku up, but has a stronger focus on a set story than most roguelike.

Cryptark is pretty brutal but use fairly simple mechanic.

Dungeon of endless is a mix roguelike and tower defence, its pretty brutal though.

Everspace is a roguelike space sim, its gets a bit repetitive over time though.

Halcyon 6 is a space JRPG, it has pretty nice turn based combat.

Hand of fate has great presentation but pretty boring combat.

Horizon gate is not roguelike (not random map) but strong exploration and I just push that game on people whenever the occasion arise.

Mainframe defender is a fun little tactics with some looting element, not really any exploration.

Metal unit is a robot 2D side scrolling, pretty relax with good weapon variety.

Would something like they are billions work? Not much looting trough.

Wizard of legend is maybe too fast paced, but it's super fun and easy to pick up.

Jesus, what a huge list! I'll give a shot to Chasm, Crying Suns, Halcyon 6, and Horizon's Gate, I think.

Stoneshard seems perfect... except its not finish and won't be for a decade at this rate.

I actually bookmarked that one a couple weeks ago, and it seems pretty interesting, but like you said it's not finished so I'll wait on that one.

 

[Dwarvenhobble]

My recommendation

A Robot Named Fight - It's a procedurally generated metroidvania where the world is made up basically of selections of tiles than can be assembled in different orders and you may well end up with different powers / solutions to the problems the game presents

 

[Specter Von Baren]

Ring of Pain

One Step From Eden

Crown Trick

Ring of Pain is similar to Slay the Spire, One Step From Eden is similar to the Megaman Battle Network games, and Crown Trick is similar to mystery dungeon style games.

You'll likely die a lot when you first start playing Ring of Pain but it's very easy to get back up and try a new run. One Step From Eden requires a lot of awareness of what's going on in order to enjoy, otherwise you should abuse the pause screen to keep track of what's happening. Crown Trick is a fun game but it's very much about completing the game, once I finished the storyline I felt satisfied with the game.

Ring of Pain has a unique artstyle and strange but also disturbing artstyle and the speed of your decision making feel good for repeated playthroughs. One Step From Eden is great for nostalgia of Battle Network and it's clear that the creators put a lot of love into it. It's got a unique gameplay style that hadn't been replicated since the Battle Network series. Crown Trick has a fairy tale like artstyle and I like how much variety and difference there is between its weapons and elements.

 

[Gergar12]

I want this, but 3D, and not called No Man's Sky.

Edit: No rogue-likes.

 

[Dwarvenhobble]

Adding this one because I forgot about it


It's a Rogue-lite game. Some level of procedural ship generation and mission generation and even character generation.

It kind of really does let you shape your own playstyle how you like and give you a sandbox universe to play in.

Want to be a stealthy assassin? Ok do it
Want to be a tech ghost who moves through ships unseen? You can do it
Want to be space John Wick and take down everyone onboard with pure firepower? You can do it

And no approach feels especially easier than any other.

The Rogue-lite idea is you unlock new space stations to dock at and weapons and equipment in them. Each character that's generated will have a story and your work helping the revolution against the corporations is to pay for the money to get the intel so you can complete said characters goal. Sometimes the game will even generate missions related to your previous failures. Played through as a military veteran dude trying to steal a high tech weapon, died during the mission then later a woman turns up with the same surname and a mission "get revenge on the person who killed my husband". If you get capture you might later find a mission to rescue your previously captured character.

When you retire a character having managed their goal you also get to choose one of their items to pass on which can then become a special legendary item often with extra abilities like longer range or recharging ammo.

 

[Drathnoxis]

Ring of Pain

One Step From Eden

Crown Trick

Ring of Pain is similar to Slay the Spire, One Step From Eden is similar to the Megaman Battle Network games, and Crown Trick is similar to mystery dungeon style games.

You'll likely die a lot when you first start playing Ring of Pain but it's very easy to get back up and try a new run. One Step From Eden requires a lot of awareness of what's going on in order to enjoy, otherwise you should abuse the pause screen to keep track of what's happening. Crown Trick is a fun game but it's very much about completing the game, once I finished the storyline I felt satisfied with the game.

Ring of Pain has a unique artstyle and strange but also disturbing artstyle and the speed of your decision making feel good for repeated playthroughs. One Step From Eden is great for nostalgia of Battle Network and it's clear that the creators put a lot of love into it. It's got a unique gameplay style that hadn't been replicated since the Battle Network series. Crown Trick has a fairy tale like artstyle and I like how much variety and difference there is between its weapons and elements.

I'll give a shot to Crown Trick.

 

[Specter Von Baren]

Dandy Dungeon

A relatively simple game. It's mostly about preparation, the goal for each dungeon floor is to choose a path for your MC to go along in an attempt to successfully gain as much loot, and kill as many enemies as you can. The plot is also very silly so the overall feel of the game is something you shouldn't take too seriously.

Void Terrarium

A combination of traditional mystery dungeon and "pet" raising sim. You're a tiny robot trying to work together with an AI to keep the last living human alive in a post-apocalypse underground world. It has a somber but still hopeful tone to it. You go into "dungeons" to retrieve materials to help take care of the human and try to keep her condition healthy. There's actually a decent amount of depth to the mechanics and builds you can do.

 

[Terminal Blue]

I'd like something like Cataclysm: Dark Days Ahead, if the developers were actually interested in making a refined and fun game instead of Apocalypse Simulator 2022. Even something in the vein of Rimworld might be ok.

So it's not procedurally generated, just randomized loot and enemy spawns. But have you considered Project Zomboid?

The best analogy I've heard is that Zomboid is to CDDA as Rimworld is to Dwarf Fortress. It's still pretty harsh with the learning curve, but it does have variable difficulty and a very active modding scene so you can kind of tailor the experience. Also, it is in early access but is fairly feature complete (it just got a major patch which added multiplayer, if you feel like getting murdered by humans as well as zombies).

Also, while it's not procedurally generated, the map is huge enough to get extremely lost on.

 

[Drathnoxis]

So it's not procedurally generated, just randomized loot and enemy spawns. But have you considered Project Zomboid?

The best analogy I've heard is that Zomboid is to CDDA as Rimworld is to Dwarf Fortress. It's still pretty harsh with the learning curve, but it does have variable difficulty and a very active modding scene so you can kind of tailor the experience. Also, it is in early access but is fairly feature complete (it just got a major patch which added multiplayer, if you feel like getting murdered by humans as well as zombies).

Also, while it's not procedurally generated, the map is huge enough to get extremely lost on.

I'll keep an eye on it in the future, but generally my policy is not to play anything in early access. It does sound kind of interesting, but the lack of proc gen is a pretty big con.

 

[meiam]

I'll keep an eye on it in the future, but generally my policy is not to play anything in early access. It does sound kind of interesting, but the lack of proc gen is a pretty big con.

It's been EA for like 10 years or something. Most big update are like expansion rather than adding feature that needed to be in the first place.

 

[Drathnoxis]

It's been EA for like 10 years or something. Most big update are like expansion rather than adding feature that needed to be in the first place.

Looking at their description on the Steam page they estimate they are 75% of the way finished for a full release (whenever that was written). I can wait another 2-3 years to play a better game. I find the problem with playing games that are still in development is that I don't really enjoy going back to games after I've already sunk 40-100 hours in them to see the changes. Even when I return to games that have had additional years of development and a big long list of changes and additions I find myself feeling that I've already played most of it already and the changes don't revolutionize the experience enough to make it feel fresh for me.

 

[Dirty Hipsters]

Void Bastards seems pretty cool. I've had it on my steam wishlist for a while but haven't gotten around to trying it. I have too many other games in my backlog as is.

It checks most of your boxes though. It's a procedurally generated rogue-like. It's more actiony than what you described you wanted, however from the footage I've seen it's not nearly as fast paced as something like Enter the Gungeon, and claims to have been inspired by System Shock.

 

[Catfood220]

You could try Turmoil: The Heat is On, the surface area never changes but under the surface in procedurally generated so no two areas are the same or the amount of money you make. Addictive, one more level type fun.

Also, Rogue Aces, a fun little shoot em up where you are a fighter pilot in a war at some point, the levels are randomly generated and so are the missions. Again, addictive, one more go type stuff.

 

[Gergar12]

I want this, but 3d. Also not No Man's Sky.

 

[Drathnoxis]

I want this, but 3d. Also not No Man's Sky.

Edit: No rogue-likes.