Once every few years I find myself dumping many many hours into Nethack (the open source successor to rogue). Never once have I beaten it, despite playing usually with several tabs open to various wikis and guides. Eventually I die while on a super long run (by my standards) and totally give up in frustration, beginning the next several-year dormant period until the next time I play.

To any game developer planning to call their game with random upgrades a "rogueli[tk]e": play Nethack. Your favorite roguelike was almost certainly created by someone who did.

I'm thinking of making a mobile game that's a clicker or something completely not roguelike, naming it "Roguelike Roguelike", and ensuring that the word "roguelike" appears in every sentence of the description. I'll make tens.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rogue_(video_game)#At_UC_Berke...

Rogue has been under a BSD license since 1986, so Nethack’s predecessor is also F/OSS.