I would humbly suggest that the author is misinformed. Understandably so, after all the greatest game of all time hasn't even had its first release. I refer, of course, to mushroom patch simulator, the only known fifth generation roguelike game.
I envision the progression of roguelike games somewhat like this: rogue is like a paleolithic cave painting, much like the works found at the Cave of Altamira; nethack is then comparable to the work of a High Renaissance master, say Michelangelo; mushroom patch simulator (MPS) would then be like some hyper-modern work of unparalleled genius whose medium and modes of expression are yet inconceivable to artists alive today.