Shiren the Wanderer's simple graphics disguise a systems-dense roguelike full of the emergent stories I love the genre for

Shiren the Wanderer art.

Shiren The Wanderer didn't quite invent the traditional roguelike genre, but this long-running, rarely localized Japanese series sure as heck came to define it:

• Environments have to be grid-based
• Everything must be scavenged from monster-filled dungeons.
• And above all else, a true Shiren game (and thus a true old school roguelike) must be challenging, and its players must suffer