Roguelikes are a subgenre of video game where dungeons are more like a sandbox and will change at every attempt. How things are handled from from that point is up to the game. Initially, roguelikes had to have procedurally generated levels, be turn-based, and result in permadeath, but that’s not so much the case for modern games.
Hades made waves as a gorgeous, Greek mythology-based roguelike. Hades banks on the player failing its ever-changing dungeons over and over in order to get through its complex story. For fans of this gorgeous masterpiece, there are plenty of other roguelikes out there to scratch that random map dungeon crawler itch.
10 Binding Of Isaac: Rebirth Drives Home The Hopelessness
Binding of Isaac: Rebirth is just the base game, with the Wrath of Lamb an expansion that adds a few more characters, spaces, and other bits. Binding of Isaac a freaky little roguelike with a massive learning curve despite its relatively cute appearance.
However, Isaac’s expression is only the first hint to realizing something is really very wrong with the setting. Turns out, this is a story of neglect and abuse with Isaac finally breaking down enough to attempt escape.
9 Darkest Dungeon Amps Up The Creepiness
Darkest Dungeon amps up the creepy factor in this gothic RPG roguelike about the psychological stresses of adventuring. Not only do the adventurers have to explore a world that constantly changes, they also have to go up against unimaginable horrors, starvation, disease, and their own minds.
Darkest Dungeon manages to do all of this in a sidescroller style, which just adds to the impressiveness of the game as a whole. Not to mention the game itself is gorgeous in a dark sort of way, which is a little reminiscent of Hades.
8 Dead Cells Is About A Monster Trying To Escape
Dead Cells takes a unique twist as its protagonist is a monster possessing corpses in an attempt to escape from the dungeon they started in instead of being an adventurer coming in. The premise feels much like Hades in that regard, as the point of both games is to escape rather than battling in.
Each platformer-style level is unique due to the roguelike nature of the game. The player has to gain cells in order to get upgrades to help them out during their escape.
7 Diablo I & II Were Many Fans’ Introductions To Roguelikes
Diablo was originally one of those games everyone knew about and was likely many modern player’s first entry into the world of roguelikes. The series used to be debated on whether or not it counted as one due to not being turn-based, but it has since set a clear standard.
The player has to explore and face ultimate evils in dungeons that are never the same twice, making it so some games were just infinitely harder or less profitable than others. Luck helped a lot as the dungeons changed, and Diablo was one of few games where personal skill really mattered at the time.
6 FTL: Faster Than Light Never Has The Same Escape Route
FTL: Faster Than Light follows a big crew of refugees trying to make it to safety throughout the stars, complete with holding sensitive documents to warn of the upcoming attack.
Nothing is ever identical and death is permanent, making for one really difficult game if the player happens to be unlucky. There’s also a number of endings based on how well the player does, which is a neat little addition.
5 Moonlighter Runs A Shop In The Day And Dungeon Crawls At Night
Moonlighter is a game that lets the player be the shopkeeper to a bunch of NPCs by day, and in order to get stock, go through various dungeons and fight for their life at night.
The first row of inventory space is safe if the player fails during a run, but everything else gets dropped. Moonlighter also never holds the player’s hand when deciding what to price items at, forcing the player to guess based on relation to similar items and customer reaction while they try to revitalize the town, their shop, and rake in the cash.
4 Noita Even Has Pixel Physics
Notia is a little roguelike that made waves due to the fact it includes pixel physics. Every single pixel on-screen can be manipulated, destroyed, or used in order to proceed through the uniquely generated levels.
Notia sounds like a lot of fun until the player has managed to blast away all hope for completing the level, or watches as a poorly-placed attack brings the whole dungeon down on top of their heads.
3 Risk Of Rain I & II Are Gorgeous Roguelikes
Both of the Risk of Rain games are gorgeous roguelikes where the point is to escape from dangerous alien planets. One of the best things about them is that they push hard into permadeath territory, forcing the player to build their skills or risk losing everything.
Not only do enemies randomly spawn, but so do the bosses, meaning that the player can just get extremely unlucky in their escape attempt. Chances are, there will be tons of failures as skills are built up, but it’s alright because every inch of these games are beautiful and worth exploring.
2 Tales of Maj’Eyal Is A Great Top Down Dungeon Crawler
Tales of Maj’Eyal is a cute fantasy turn-based roguelike that has tons of unique races and character customization options down to their classes and stats reminiscent of other, older titles. It’s received raving reviews, praising it for not falling into the same traps as other roguelikes.
Tales of Maj’Eyal is complicated and endearing, as the dungeons constantly reshape and change, requiring a lot of effort from the player to actually explore thoroughly, gather all the treasure, and make bank doing it.
1 Wizard Of Legend Is Just An Awesome Quest
The player is in control of a wizard trying to build up their fame, skills, and reputation to become the Wizard of Legend in this adorable roguelike. They are tasked with battling through procedurally generated 10 levels of a dungeon, learning a whole swath of new spells, fighting monsters, slaughtering bosses, all while leading up to one final boss.
The interesting thing about Wizard of Legend is while most roguelikes focus heavy on melee fighters, this one explores its own kind of magic while providing a genuinely fun experience that will never be the same twice.
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