For any studio, garnering enough interest and success in a video game to the point where a sequel is justified is a commendable feat. And yet, when you're navigating a space that's growing ever more saturated--such as the case of roguelikes and roguelites--a sequel can become a necessary evil rather than a cherished opportunity to further explore existing ideas.The roguelike genre is brimming with creativity, and the efforts of small studios over the years have led to a plethora of dedicated communities. Popularity broke containment years ago, with bigger industry names giving the genre a spin. Some have introduced modes separately from the main experience, including Prey: Mooncrash, God of War Ragnarok: Valhalla, and the Freelancer mode for Hitman: World of Assassination, to name a few examples. Others, like Returnal and Elden Ring Nightreign, introduced themselves as AAA productions of these concepts.As more developers continue to push boundaries in the space, whether that is Balatro and Buckshot Roulette kicking off a wave of engrossing gambling-inspired games, or studios still trying to capitalize on the Vampire Survivors formula, there has been a steady trend that, in some ways, is holding developers back. Put simply, the space is being overcrowded by sequels.Take, for example, Spelunky 2, Hades 2, Rogue Legacy 2, Monster Train 2, Slay the Spire 2, Risk of Rain 2, Darkest Dungeon 2, Wizards of Legends 2, Enter the Gungeon 2, Streets of Rogue 2... and the list goes on. This is starting to extend to blockbuster productions, too, with Housemarque, developer of Returnal, revisiting the concept with Saros.While it makes sense that developers want to capitalize on success, there's also the missed potential that comes with more and more studios deciding to bank on a trend rather than pursuing other creative ideas and genres, not wanting to let go of that safety net. From the outside, it'd be easy to dismiss the argument as a "suffering from success" scenario, but there are substantial drawbacks to this.For starters, it's one thing to have worked on a game with a concept or design approach that was novel at the time when the genre was slowly re-emerging and taking new shapes--like the map in Slay the Spire, for example--but by the time these studios start to work on sequels, the landscape is already different, sometimes facing plenty of other games who drew inspiration from the original work.Of course, every developer puts their own spin on the concept of a sequel. Some are more of a refinement to previous foundations, like Rogue Legacy 2 and Hades 2, while others, like Darkest Dungeon 2 and Risk of Rain 2, are bolder from the get-go. And yes, one can assume that a sequel for an indie studio that was lucky to get a hit release is a safer bet than a new game altogether. But the pressure to recapture that momentum is hard to contend with, especially when you veer from fan expectations.Darkest Dungeon 2Such was the case of Darkest Dungeon 2. The sequel, which launched in early access in 2021, was quickly met with criticism by the community from the first game. While the predecessor is a roguelike dungeon crawler with a lite town-management sim aspect, Darkest Dungeon 2 was presented far more in line with your usual modern roguelite, focusing mostly on doing runs where you choose from different paths to get as far as possible.A year later, developer Red Hook Studios released a community update, addressing feedback from players. This was substantial, as the developers ditched the preexisting roadmap and adjusted their processes to release smaller, yet more frequent updates. They also focused on reworking several of the mechanics and features present in the sequel.These massive undertakings are sometimes the nature of the beast when it comes to developing games in early access. The problem is that, between updates and community feedback, studios can spend years upon years working on the same title. The prospect of bringing ideas back from the initial drawing board is enticing, and a sequel presents a second chance in every sense of the phrase. But with it comes its own creative stagnation, and the risk of being tangled in expectations that can never be fully satisfied.The Binding of Isaac is still getting DLCs, despite lead creator Edmund McMillen repeatedly saying that "next one will be the last," like a rock band announcing its third farewell tour. All the while Mewgenics, a project McMillen announced back in 2012, has been repeatedly pushed back.Dead Cells, one of the most popular roguelites in the last decade, had 35 updates in its lifecycle and years in early access. After the 1.0 launch, the game got four paid expansions, as well as substantial updates afterward. Developer Motion Twin relegated the post-launch content to another studio, Evil Empire, which provided support for five years, while it went out and started to explore other ideas.In a way, both developers got lucky. Evil Empire's farewell post is bittersweet, but the excitement over taking that new accrued knowledge into new projects is palpable. The studio went out to work on roguelite The Rogue Prince of Persia, which shares quite a bit of DNA from Dead Cells. The same applies to Motion Twin and fellow roguelite Windblown. While different from its seminal work, the spirit is always present in some way.Yet, not every studio is lucky enough to garner the success of a game like Dead Cells, becoming financially secure enough to be able to break the norm. For some, revisiting ideas that have worked in the past is the safer path. Sticking closely to previous foundations can make for less risky development processes, but how many developers would rather be working on something completely new instead?A promotional image for Dead Cells 2As we approach 2026, which is set to be another prominent year for the rogue subgenre, studios are seemingly at an impasse. Jumping on a sequel means becoming inevitably tangled in expectations imposed by developers' previous work, and the ever-growing ideas introduced by other studios. With so many examples colliding with one another, it's getting increasingly harder to present something novel for the first time. Attempting to iterate on other games' ideas, however, can yield mixed results, compromising the essence that initially drew players' attention to a project.Meanwhile, an overreliance on players' expectations can also be troublesome. Following the previous throughline, there can be a loss of agency and the final result of a project can look quite different than what developers initially envisioned. But there's also the time factor, and the exhaustion that can come from working within the same universe for a long time. Returning to Darkest Dungeon, the Steam Early Access launch for the first game took place in 2015. Ten years later, the developer continues to release updates for its sequel.The joy of roguelites is to learn a new vocabulary, to inhabit a new world for long enough until the minutiae of systems become second nature. Yet, it's the surprise factor that keeps the genre enticing, basking in the promise that, even while familiar, every new run will be different. Now, it seems that developers are unable to break that loop, stuck in a place where they risk to become too similar to their previous work to play it safe, compromise their existing visions in favor of trying to appease player feedback, or play all of their cards right and just be engulfed by the increasing saturation of a trend that might not be able to hold the same excitement by the time a studio finally wraps up development.