The sequel to Streets of Rogue (opens in new tab), a roguelite/immersive sim hybrid that we quite enjoyed when it was released in 2019; Streets of Rogue 2's Steam page (opens in new tab), 2023 Early Access release window, and a GIF of someone plowing a truck on a farm prominently displayed. Release it now, I say.

Developer Matt Dabrowski packs a lot of new features into the sequel's announcement article (opens in new tab), perhaps the biggest of which is the move to a "massive, persistent, and seamless open world." Whereas in the original game you had to take elevators from procedurally generated level to level, it makes sense to flatten them all into one big contiguous piece of land. Streets of Rogue is one of those games that works best when the AI and systems are given room to collide with each other. There is no other way to achieve this than to push everything onto one map.

Apart from being an open world, "Streets of Rogue 2" will add architecture, farming, and animals. In other words, Stardew-like, but with the bewitching possibility that someone might steamroll your crops in a cargo truck while you sleep.

Perhaps you get the idea, at least. The last significant addition, at least as far as I can tell, is the inclusion of a faction and reputation system: the open world of Streets of Rogue 2 is dotted with towns, outposts, and other communities that you can join by doing good (or by terrorizing them mercilessly). Annoy a community enough, and they will eventually appear on your doorstep, like the angry mob in Frankenstein.

We will know it in 2023. The design philosophy of the original "Streets of Rogue" was my pressure point. It was a game where you didn't care what you did; you could have unlimited power or die in a ditch, depending on your skill, creativity, and the whims of the artificial inhabitants. Plus, you could play as a gorilla. It was great, too.