If you enjoy Roguelike games then this is the place to be, as we take a look at the Best Roguelike games on Steam that you can play right now. Each game contains a ‘to the point’ mini-review, along with high resolution 4K 60p gameplay video, for you to see exactly what the game is all about, before you buy.
For those not too familiar with the genre, Roguelike is a sub-genre of role-playing games characterized by a dungeon style crawling/shooting/hacking through procedurally generated levels, either with real time or turn-based gameplay.
One of the main features of Roguelike games is its permanent death (perma-death) mechanic of the player character, where if you die (which you will), you have to restart from the beginning level again. In most Roguelike games on this list, each attempt does however give you permanent upgrades to your character and/or weapons, allowing you to grow more powerful with each run, thereby progressing through the game.
The genre has really evolved a lot of the years, as developers have become really creative in making their Roguelike game unique in some or other way, so there are plenty of great games to choose from and enjoy.
With that said, let’s get started!
Best Roguelike Games 2020
Colt Canyon
Release Date: 16 June 2020 | Developer: Retrific
Colt Canyon is a real time, top down shooter, with rogue-like elements, all wrapped in some stylish 2D pixel art. Set in a punchy, atmospheric Western environment. You play a no BS gun-slinging cowboy, (or one of the many other unlockable characters), in pursuit of ruthless bandits, who kidnapped your partner.
To save her and bring her back home, you will need to shoot your way through a hostile canyon full of hidden weapons, treasures, obstacles and all sorts of enemies. While you might start your adventure with only a revolver, you quickly pick up many guns along your way including shotgun, airguns, rifles and even some TNT to blow up enemies in hordes, as blood splatters everywhere in your wake.
Ammo is a rare resource in Colt Canyon, which needs to be managed well otherwise you will soon find yourself with none. Ammo drops from enemies as well as barrels and chests that you break open. The amount of ammo that drops from enemies is based on how many shots they have already fired at you, so the quicker you kill them the more ammo you get for their kill.
Reloading your ammo is a micro management mechanic that influences combat a lot, due to enemies easily closing distance on you, while you unexpectedly find yourself short on ammo. You then have to quickly dodge and roll out of the way, giving you a few vital seconds to reload, before blasting back at them with a full chamber.
Ammo reload speeds and amounts vary greatly between guns. The revolver naturally has 6 bullets the reload really fast, while the shotgun can only reload one bullet at a time. Other guns like the airgun reloads four bullets simultaneously, but causes your movement speed to become really slow while reloading.
Along the way you also rescue civilians who grant you common roguelike style upgrades to elements such as health, increased reload speed times etc. One great upgrade is for them to become a companion and follow you on your rescue mission. You give them the gun in your hand after you rescue them and off you go, as they share your ammo resources. By design these AI followers aren’t the sharpest shooters, although they do a good job at killing some enemies for you and keeping them busy. You can stack as many of them as you find.
If you want some better help, then join a co-op game with some other players for some serious face paced action, as the game scales up accordingly as Colt Canyon offers both keyboard/mouse as well as controller support.
This is one great roguelike game that you should definitely try.
- Neodymium magnets and 40 millimeter drivers for powerful, detailed...
- Closed ear design provides comfort and outstanding reduction of...
- 9.8 foot cord ends in gold plated plug and it is not detachable; 1/4...
Skul: The Hero Slayer
Release Date: 19 February 2020 | Developer: SouthPaw Games
Skul: The Hero Slayer is a quirky pixel art game that takes a lot of influence from Dead Cells in terms of its gameplay and even its one shop character being called the ‘Collector’ as well.
Skul does however fall short of Dead Cells in terms of fighting combos and animation delivery. However, Skul is still in Early Access and has only been out for 3 weeks as of writing this, so i’m sure that in time it too will grow into a much better game, much like Dead Cells did.
Skul does however have a far better and very comical storyline, where you play the creature called Skul, also known as ‘Littlebone’ to his fellow Skeletons. Your quest is to set out and save the Demon King, ‘His Majesty’ from the evil human invaders, led by the one called ‘First Hero’.
Your first friendly encounter is the ginger haired Witch, trapped in a cage who you must quickly rescue, before she transforms into a cat and you travel to her castle, where she gives you a scroll that you pop into your body by taking off your skull, like the trunk of a car! Hilarious! This scroll then basically becomes your inventory.
You then set out to attempt to save the King, but as you will ultimately fail your first run in any Roguelike game, you quickly die and return to the Witch again. She then becomes the NPC to whom you deliver Dark Quartz to, in exchange for permanent Trait passive upgrades such as increased basic attack damage, more HP etc.
Combat wise, there are no weapons in Skul, but rather your abilities depend on the skull you are currently wearing on your body. These skulls are found in a pile of bones in a separate level that appears after a every few levels of combat. You are given Test Dummies to try a new skull out, to see if you like it, if not just swap back to your other one. You can actually wear two skulls at any one time, and swap between them using RB, allowing you to line up some combos. Some skulls have two special abilities while others just have one.
During my hour long gameplay I saw many skulls including a werewolf, mummy, warrior, archer, jester, spear skull, gargoyle, minotaur, genie and the best one ever, the flaming skull rider who jumps onto a motorbike and plows all enemies down in epic fashion. This was definitely a very rare skull and I think I got very lucky rolling it on my second run.
Further on in the game you rescue the very ungrateful Fox, who gives you a random starting skull at the Witch’s castle at the beginning of each run. Once you’ve unlocked him the ‘Headless’ joins the shop room as well.
You can also equip up to 6 passive, temporary items to upgrade your stats during your run, which are bought in exchange for Gold from the ‘Collector’ or drop from boss fights. You also have a single Quintessence slot that gives you a limited usage, bonus utility attack or buff. These also drop in game or can be bought from the ‘Quintessence Artisan’ in the shop room.
Last but not least are the mini boss fights which are randomly generated. My first encounter was with the ‘Rookie Hero’ who I found more challenging than Chinuk, Regretshya and Isabella. I finally encountered a bigger boss called Yggdrasil who gave me a solid beating
Skul: The Hero Slayer is a great little Roguelike game with plenty of future potential and hilarious quote references such as “Leeeeroy Jenkins!” from WoW and Meow jokes from Super Troopers. Check this one out.
- The world's most advanced processor in the desktop PC gaming segment
- Can deliver ultra-fast 100 plus FPS performance in the world's most...
- 8 Cores and 16 processing threads bundled with the AMD Wraith Prism...
Adore
Release Date: 18 February, 2020 | Developer: Cadabra Games
I originally bought Adore for my Best Pokemon Alternative games list, but soon found out that it wasn’t actually about pet collecting, but rather about temporary pet taming per run.
The tamed pets become your skill abilities in a game which, as a long time League of Legends player I really liked and felt right at home with the Q,W,E,R keybinds, as I unleashed my new, temporary tamed pets onto other wilder animals.
While you unfortunately cannot keep, collect and breed your tamed pets right now, I did email the developers about this idea and they responded very quickly saying they really liked the idea, so I’m sure this will come in the near future, which I cannot wait for. Also great to see devs respond to emails, it’s not often that actually happens.
That aside, the pet gameplay mechanics are really enjoyable, especially when you discover the recall mechanic, which becomes vital to master the timing of, in order to prevent your pets from not taking damage before you send them out for another attack.
Each level clear provides you with Essence which gives you one of two options, to temporarily boost either Health, Movement Speed or Stamina. When you have collected 3 Essences, you can offer one of them to a shrine to receive a temporary buff to a pet of your choosing.There is also fruit drops that heal your pets.
As Adore is still in Early Access, it is a bit rough around the edges, but devs are releasing patches and updating more than once per week which is great to see. They are also very active on Discord allowing you to have some input into how you want to see the game evolve.
With that said, comparing Adore to other Roguelike games on this list, I have to say that it does still fall short in some areas.
Firstly, as this a Roguelike game, time spent playing needs to be rewarded after each death. Unfortunately there isn’t much on offer here, other than handing in some Fragments to a tree, which I could only unlock a time slow down ability. There are no permanent stat upgrades or new weapons to discover and buy with your Fragments, like you would in other Roguelike games on this list such as Children of Morta, Skul and Hades.
This makes you feel like you’re not progressing at all, as you are as powerful in your 1st run as you would be in your 20th, defining the point of Rougelike gameplay and any intent to play it for longer than an hour or two, killing its replayability.
I also suggested that the devs implement a basic auto attack into the the characters arsenal, as many times you find yourself out of Stamina (which is used to cast pets and dodge roll) only for you to be running around with nothing to do while you wait for it to regen. Here an auto attack would come in very handy to fill the downtime while dealing some damage. Staves could then be used as weapon drops and another source of upgrades, which could include the elements into them, which would really fit the theme.
Melee pets are far too difficult to play at the moment as their chance to die is too high due to too little HP/Armor, therefore ranged pets are a much better choice to progress through the game.
Other than that, I think this game has a lot of potential and is a lot of fun, its just missing the progression at this right now, so will be keeping an eye on it. Definitely give it a go and support the devs while you at it
- ADOBE MEMBERSHIP: Get a two-month membership of Adobe Creative Cloud...
- INNOVATIVE V NAND TECHNOLOGY: Powered by Samsung V NAND Technology,...
- BREAKTHROUGH READ WRITE SPEEDS: Sequential read and write performance...
Roguelike Games 2019 & Older
While 2020 is certainly panning out to be a great year of Roguelike Games, there are plenty of others from 2019 and before, that are well worth checking out as well.
Hades
Release Date: 10 December 2019 | Developer: SuperGiant Games
Hades is an insanely cool Roguelike game, mixed with hack and slash action! This action Roguelike is created by SuperGiant Games who are the same developers behind other very popular games such as Bastion, Transistor and Pyre.
Hades’ comic book art style graphics, combined with stunning and faced paced animations are just glorious to play and gave me a serious adrenaline rush, followed by me wanting more and more.
You play as Zagreus, son of Hades, a British accented teenager, with a bunch of comical attitude, who doesn’t have much love for his dad, thus wanting to leave home (Hell), but Hades refuses to let him leave.
Zagreus decides to escape, but finds that this is not as easy as he initially thought, as he is faced with many demons out to kill him, at his dad’s bidding. You are also given very little in terms of HP regen, all pointing to your undeniable demise.
As you are already in Hell, you cannot really die, so once dead he has to start all over from his dad’s chambers and bedroom.
In your attempt escapes, you set out to clear as many chambers (levels/rooms) as possible before dying and starting over.
During your escape attempts you get many temporary boosts from other Greek Gods such as Artemis, Poseidon, Athena, Dionysus, Ares and even Zeus himself.
Charon, the Boatman of very little words, is in one of the chambers who runs a small shop, from where you can either buy some more temporary upgrades using Gold, or exchange it for other currencies to use to permanently upgrade yourself.
The other currencies such as purple gems give you permanent boosts to your character’s abilities as well as passive gains, when used in your bedroom mirror, as well as Chthonic Keys that unlock more ability boosts.
Chthonic Keys also used to unlock the other weapons, but I quite liked his starting blade actually.
You can also get mixed colored gems that upgrade your room with new features, as well as wine drops that you can give to other characters in the game, who then give you items to equip in return, with passive bonuses, that can also be leveled up as you play.
Story wise, it actually gets rather interesting, which i wasn’t expecting from a rogue-like hack and slash game. I was pleasantly surprised and drawn into how it unfolds after each time that you die and speak to more characters, who are all very well voiced over.
Hades is still in early access, so see a lot more coming to this epic Roguelike game.
Don’t miss this one!
- Aluminum body (3mm). Clean interior – Hidden PSU/HDD/Cables. RGB LED...
- Magnetic Tempered Glass Panels on hinges. Quick release panels for...
- Phanteks Premium fans 140mm. 26mm cable management space + additional...
Children of Morta
Release Date: 3 September 2019 | Developer: 11 bit studios
Children of Morta is a story-driven action RPG game, set in a Roguelike RPG game, driven by one of the best stories I played in a game in a long time. You play as one of various members of the Bergson family, who are the custodian guardians of Mount Morta, which is now in a state of corruption, which you need to vanquish.
The Developers behind Children of Morta, 11 Bit Studios are one of my favorites, creating other fantastic games such as Frostpunk, This War of Mine, Moonlighter, Beat Cop and the Anomaly series.
To be quite honest, I am not the biggest fan of pixel art graphics, as I prefer realism in my games, but wow! Children of Morta made me a believer, as it drew me into its ultra immersive storyline and smooth gameplay from the get go.
While you start the game off with a selection of two characters, being the Father John (shield melee fighter) or his daughter Linda (ranged archer), you do unlock four more members of the Bergson family to play as, as the story progresses.
The first level of this amazing Roguelike game takes you to the Silk Caverns, where you must defeat skeletons, bats,spiders and some demons as well, before facing the boss spider who will definitely kill you the first time you encounter it.
Once the Sanctuary’s Celestial Shard Crystal brings you back to life, you are given some options to upgrade your character’s passive fighting skill using the Gold that you collected, at uncle Ben’s Workshop or magical passive buffs using Margaret’s Book of Rea.
There is also a skill tree per character, that is upgraded based on XP gained form gameplay, which further enhances your character’s power. As each character requires leveling up, there are also passive unlocks in this tree that apply to all Bergson family members, allowing them to be more powerful once you start playing them as well.
As you can see, the upgrades are vast in this game, giving it a gfantastic RPG feel, as your character becomes just a bit stronger with each run through, as the story further evolves with superb narration between each death, making you want to play more, just to find out what happens next.
Children of Morta is one of my favorite Roguelike games on this list so make sure to play this one.
- ✔️ 【VERSATILITY】: Keeping everything you need well-organized &...
- ✔️ 【DURABILITY】: Large one-piece solid desktop with textured...
- ✔️ 【FLEXIBILITY】: Use the elevated/detachable monitor stand...
Dead Cells
Release Date: 7 August 2018 | Developer: Motion Twin
Dead Cells is one amazing action Hack ‘n Slash Rougelike Platformer that keeps you at the edge of your seat, making you stay there for “just one more run”.
Motion Twin, the developers behind Dead Cells, took inspiration from both historical Roguelikes such as Rogue Legacy, Binding of Isaac, Enter the Gungeon, combined them with another legendary classic, Castlevania, as they sprinkled some of Dark Souls in the mix, to bring us the action paced, winning formula now known as Dead Cells
Dead Cells features rich pixel art style graphics to accompany its ultra smooth animations and gameplay, easy enough for anyone to pick up and play, which complex enough for the hardcore the master. You play as ‘The Beheaded’, a mysterious shadowy, gas-like substance, with a glowing crystal inside that possesses the headless bodies of prisoners, from the prison where you start each run.
As with many of the other Roguelike games on this list, Dead Cells offer numerous temporary and permanent stat and weapon upgrades to make your character more powerful with each death/run.
In Dead Cells, your permanent upgrades come in the form of weapons, which are unlocked via blueprints that drop randomly throughout the game. If a blueprint drops, you do however have to finish the level you are on, to hand in the blueprint to ‘The Collector’ in order to secure it permanently. If you die before handing it in, you lose it together with your Cells.
You can only equip two main weapons at any point in time which come in one of 3 colors, Red (Brutality – Melee weapons), Purple (Tactics – Ranged weapons) and Green (Survival – Shields). Some weapons will have a mixed ratio of two colors, such as Valmont’s Whip which is a 75% Brutality and 25% Tactics weapon. You can also equip two ‘Skills’, ‘Powers’ and/or ‘Grenades’, which are two more utility attacks to accompany your main attacks.
Mutations are the other permanent upgrade your character collects, also via blueprints drops and killing bosses a certain amount of time. Once unlocked, you can chat to Guillain to temporarily add a mutation’s passive upgrade to your run. You can have a max of 3 mutations active at any time and can pay to reset them should you wish. Mutations follow the same 3 color scheme as weapons do and thus apply to them as well, letting you customize your damage play-style.
Temporary upgrades can be collected from Scrolls of Power during gameplay which allow you to upgrade both DPS and HP of a certain color stat.
If you finish a level faster than the allocated time, you get to access a secret door that unlocks a choice of a weapon equip, some Gold and most importantly, Cells. Gold is used to buy temporary weapons or open up some doors, while Cells (blue orbs) are your in game upgrade currency, which are used to upgrade weapons, health potions, mutations, and increase drop quality percentage (via the Blacksmith after each boss fight) and much more. Cells also drop from killing enemies in game.
There are also 8 Runes to collect in Dead Cells which give you a permanent skill upgrade to help you navigate the maps and access hidden areas and bosses unreachable without them. The first rune you will find is the Vine Rune.
While a very short game, Dead Cells’ strengths lie in its replayability, making it one of the top games on this Best Roguelike Games list, so make sure not to miss out.
No products found.
Deep Rock Galactic
Release Date: 28 February 2018 | Developer: Ghost Ship Games
Deep Rock Galactic is an action Roguelike game which supports up to 1-4 players in an Online Co-Op FPS, featuring some badass space Dwarves that are sent to explore the dark caves on the dangerous planet Hoxxes IV.
Deep Rock Galactic offers you the choice of 4 dwarven classes to play, including the Gunner, Driller, Engineer and Scout. Each dwarf has his own unique set of weapons and abilities including two default attack weapons and a third utility weapon, as well as a special device. They are also given grenades, a pick-axe, flares (to see in the dark) and body armor, all of which can be upgraded using credits.
There is also a perk tree, which allows you to put points into some passive upgrades and further upgrade your dwarven power, as well as cosmetic wardrobe items to unlock from missions
The art style is semi 3D pixelated/Minecraft, and much like Minecraft this also means brings 100% destructible environments which are procedurally-generated, together with an endless horde of alien monsters to fend off, as you mine for rare crystals, gems and creature eggs to finish your missions and take them back to the surface.
The more you bring back, the more Credits you are compensated with, which are used to upgrade your weapons, armor and your drone called Bosco. You are also given another robot called the MULE (aka MOLLY), which is where you deposit your findings. Anything not deposited into the MULE does not count towards your findings/rewards.
The MULE is also your navigation back to the dropship at the end of each mission when you have to escape as hundreds of alien creatures try to kill you on the way there, so stay close and look out for his navigation markers.
Deep Rock Galactic is a very entertaining game, which Roguelike mission style game, beautifully combined with exploration, destruction and FPS action.
Definitely check this one out.
- Ultra Quality: 4K60 HDR10 capture and passthrough
- Instant Gameview: power your workflow with superior low latency...
- 240 Hz Passthrough: enjoy your dual-PC setup without compromise
Conclusion
I hope you enjoyed my list of the Best Roguelike Games on Steam. I will continue to update this article, as more rogue-like games become available.
If you enjoyed this content and found it useful, please share it on your favorite social media pages such as Facebook, Twitter and Reddit.
Happy Gaming
Ozarc (¬‿¬)
Check out these other best of gaming lists