Erosion preview: the best thing to happen to roguelikes since Hades
Nearly six years after its release, Supergiant Games’ Hades remains a landmark achievement in narrative-driven roguelikes, proving that the genre could weave compelling stories across repeated runs despite historically minimizing bespoke narratives. While many subsequent roguelikes have adopted Hades’ storytelling model, few have meaningfully innovated beyond it.
Erosion, an upcoming roguelike from Plot Twist Games (developer of The Last Case of Benedict Fox), appears positioned to become the next significant evolution in roguelike storytelling. Rather than simply replicating Hades’ formula, the game is designed to emphasize emergent choices, allowing player decisions to organically shape the narrative arc rather than relying solely on predetermined story beats delivered across runs.
Based on a recent hands-on demo, Erosion demonstrates promising potential to advance how roguelikes approach narrative design, offering an innovative balance between emergent gameplay and structured storytelling that could meaningfully influence the genre’s future direction.