“You all meet in a tavern…” is an opening as old as role-playing games themselves. Even after decades of evolution in playing styles, settings and even formats, Ye Good Olde Inn still is the number one meeting place and quest hub. If you think about it more closely it actually makes sense: Lots of different folks coming together, being in a talkative mood either because they are naturally chatty or because they have been quaffing just one ale too much. An ideal atmosphere for sharing information and lending a helping hand. Where else can you speak so openly about all of your troubles to total strangers? Where else are you going to make hasty promises based on alcohol fuelled solidarity and overconfidence? Some might say it is a rather cheap hook, some might wish for a more personal character motivation and some might want to draw more attention to their elaborate backgrounds. Others might just create an excellent game about it, a game like Tavern Crawler.
In the history of CRPGs, the Wizardry series should give every old school gamer a chill of ecstasy. The series began already in the early 80s and ended only in 2001 with Wizardry 8: Destination Dominus, but under licence, it has multiple further spin-offs. like Wizardry Online, primarily in Japan until the year 2012. An icon of game design called D. W. Bradley created the huge worlds of Wizardry V: Heart of the Maelstorm (1988), Wizardry VI: Bane of the Cosmic Forge (1990) and finally Wizardry VII: Crusaders of the Dark Savant (1992) for the company Sir-Tech before jumping ship and founding his own software company. D. W. Bradley even surpassed himself and created the (in my view) only legitimate successor to Wizardry 7, namely Wizards and Warriors, already one year before Wizardry 8.
What constitutes a revolutionary advance? The answer is really a matter of perspective. If you move only within the confines of a genre which exists in its own little bubble, apart from the rest of the world, what may appear as small changes to outsiders may be considered a big revolution already. Enter Brogue!
Even containing Rogue in its name, it should be instantly clear what kind of game this is: (initially) lone hero enters a randomized dungeon levels, pushing deeper and deeper in turn-based fashion and taking on gradually greater challenges on the way to retrieve the powerful Amulet of MacGuffin. In order to then rise up again (being pursued by a particularly deadly guardian) or dive even deeper to gain more treasure. Looking at the screenshots, you won't necessarily notice anything groundbreaking, either. Abstract character tiles representing the world and its inhabitants… seen it all before, haven't we?