Cobalt Core - How To Let Players End a Rogue-like Game Properly?

Cobalt Core, What Game Is It?

Rogue-like games are about randomness. Randomly generated levels, skills, enemies, and bosses. Everything is randomly generated, so players can have unique experiences in each run. I like the genre and have played tons of rogue-like games (at least 60), but there are only a few that I truly love. If I have to pick some, I would say Chrono Ark and Cobalt Core. Both games share the same characteristic: they have an ending for an infinite-content genre.

I will mainly focus on Cobalt Core instead of Chrono Ark, since it does better in terms of the ending. For context, Cobalt Core is a rogue-like deck builder where you control a spaceship with a crew trapped inside a time loop. One thing I praise, besides the ending, is its music. Cobalt Core manages to achieve seamless BGM changes, which is super impressive and easily pulls you into a flow state. The gameplay itself is also extremely fun, so if you don’t want spoilers, please play it yourself first.

The Most Beautiful Ending

Okay, I hope at this point you have either finished the game or don’t mind spoilers. I am going to briefly explain how the ending works in Cobalt Core. There are six main crew members in the game, and each crew member has three memories that you need to unlock. Every time you beat the game, you can choose to watch one memory. These memories are all about why the time loop happened and why the characters are trapped inside it. After you unlock all of them, you can play the future memory.

The future memory starts with cat.exe, the mysterious program that accompanies the characters throughout their adventure, finally gaining access to the main ship, the Cobalt, after all timelines are connected. Along the way, cat.exe gathers the crew members, and the BGM becomes richer and richer. The lore is slowly revealed, and the crew finally reaches the boundary of the time loop. The Cobalt launches the final attack, and the game ends there. This is one of the most beautiful endings I have ever experienced. I think “beautiful” is the best way to describe it. Huge respect to Aaron Cherof, the composer of the game—the BGM really plays a huge role in this experience, and the motifs can move me every time I hear them.

Why Does the Ending Matter?

But why does an ending matter in a game that can be played infinitely? Based on my observation, there are two outcomes when players play a rogue-like game with no ending. Either they beat it once and never open it again, or they really love the game and continue into endgame content like higher difficulties and achievements. It is sad that most players might only beat it once, even though there are still hundreds of strategies and synergies to discover.

In my opinion, the reason lies in having a goal. After players beat the game for the first time, they suddenly don’t have an official goal anymore. In other words, there is no clear reason for them to continue. This happens to me very often: I beat a game once, but since I don’t want to challenge higher difficulties, I quit. It’s not that those rogue-like games are not fun—it just feels weird to continue.

If there is a goal, everything changes. Cobalt Core lets players see that there are still many memories to unlock. Chrono Ark progresses its storyline each time you beat the game. Hades is another great example—you slowly reveal the lore between gods and goddesses. It doesn’t need to be unlocking lore. Slay the Spire have a secret puzzle on the top left of the screen makes you wonder what will happen if you have all three of the pieces. Many things could served as a goal for player to continue the game. However, these are only a small portion of the genre. I have seen many games that don’t offer anything beyond the main gameplay itself, causing players to quit even after only tasting a small bite of what the game offers.

An ending serves as an obvious goal for players to achieve, making them more willing to play again regardless of whether they love the game or not. Showing a goal in a rogue-like game tells players that the game is not over yet. And after players reach the ending, they know it is time to move on to the next game. Developers, in turn, can be satisfied knowing that everything they wanted to present has been fully delivered. Of course, if players really like the game, they can always come back for higher difficulties and achievements.