I've never met a roguelike that I didn't desperately but unsuccessfully want to love. I'm fascinated by games like Hades, Returnal, and Dead Cells, but they lose me with the amount of procedurally generated repetition you're practically forced to endure if you want to play through the full story. It's to my surprise and delight, then, that beloved film director Guillermo del Toro, of all people, has outed himself as a fellow roguelike skeptic.
At least, that's what I got from a recent IGN interview (thanks, PC Gamer) in which del Toro talks about some of his favorite games. As it turns out, the 61-year-old auteur knows ball. "I love Left 4 Dead," he says. Great choice. Some of my fondest memories from college are mowing down zombies with my friends. "Death Stranding made me cry," continues del Toro with another banging mention. "Shadow of the Colossus made me introspective about so many intangible things. There's not only one. BioShock, it's a world I could get lost in for ages."
