i think i just fundamentally don't like roguelikes anymore, which bodes ill for the next few months now that Hades 2 exists.
see for me, i need a game to have some kind of plot or story to draw me in and keep me going - whether that be one the game tells, or one the game sets me up to create. it needs to have some sort of arc, one that progresses as i continue deeper into the game. it doesn't need to be anything amazing (corn kidz 64's story is one example - it's not the most amazing plot, but it's there and the writing is charming enough to make it work) but it needs to be something. raw mechanics alone rarely keep me engaged long enough on their own.
i do think it's more than that though. it needs to have a story that a) progresses as i accomplish goals and progress through the world/levels/etc and b) doesn't have critically long periods of emptiness between story beats. roguelikes do not lend themselves to this at all. not even the darling child that everyone props up as the best roguelike ever, Hades, accomplishes either of these. the first time i got a full on story beat past the introductory stuff in my time with that game was about 5 hours in1, after failing a run that was not particularly stand out in any way. the pacing was utterly glacial, and the story just kind of... happened with no major reason; it felt almost tacked on without much thought.
also don't even get me started on how utterly formulaic it began to feel even after only 5 hours of gameplay--
anyways. all of that to say that i'm not looking forward to the however many months of Hades 2 early access it takes for that game to run its artificially inflated course through the social consciousness.
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and no, the tiny little tidbits of interactions with the other gods/characters during or in between the runs do not count as story lmao