Randomly generated content can be a dirty word when applied to some games. Titles where the focus ismeant to be on the plot, world, and lore as a cohesive whole need to have hand-crafted environments to maintain consistency. Roguelikes, on the other hand, are designed first are foremost around gameplay. They want to draw you in first with deep and satisfying mechanics and then offer you essentially endless ways to use it by mixing up the enemies, rooms, and items you find each time you play. It feeds into that same part of our brain that likes gambling; you never know if that run will be the one where the stars align and you get the perfect RNG.
Roguelikes come in so many different shapes and sizes today. Along with Metroidvanias, they are quite popular among indie developers and tend to all be of good to great quality. That said, each one offers a very different experience both in and out of each run. Your character, moveset, and how long each attempt takes is one thing, but the outside progression (or lack thereof) should also be considered. It takes a very careful blending of each ingredient to make a game that you just don’t want to put down. If you need a new roguelikeaddiction in your life, I’ve narrowed down a list of only the most rewarding titles to sink your time into.
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The heart of the cards
I’m starting off this list with Balatro for no other reason than it’s the game I’m currently wishing I was playing instead of working. Beyond my personal bias, this deck-building roguelike is one of the few that I can easily see getting picked up by people who don’t typically play video games. At its base, it uses a regular 52 card deck that everyone knows and understands and follows the rules of poker. That’s enough to get people in the door as it slowly adds in new elements and mechanics, but never to the point that it becomes unrecognizable.
Each round has you play not against other people, but a set score you need to reach by creating poker hands. As you go, you will pick up joker cards that modify things like what hands are worth more and make it easier to make different hands. Each round gets harder and harder, forcing you to take advantage of all your jokers to get the highest score possible. There are different decks and cards to unlock that each slightly change up the way you frame your run to keep you on your toes. It’s the simplicity combined with the dopamine rush of making the perfect hand and watching your points pile up that make Balatro a standout title.
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Bring me back
Rogulikes tend to stay in the low-budget or indie space, but there are a few studios that have shown us what the genre would look like with a AAA budget. Returnal was the first one I found to use its budget and scope appropriately. It doesn’t try to add in a ton of extraneous tasks, a tedious open world, or mindless grinding. Housemarque had never specifically made a roguelike, nor a AAA game before this, but leveraged its intimate knowledge of arcade-style games to lead its design. For a first attempt at the genre, it isn’t perfect, but it gets so much more right than wrong.
The premise and story are actually one of the most delightfully surprising aspects of Returnal. Some roguelikes try to incorporate a story, though most forgo the practice almost entirely since the player is meant to repeat attempts dozens of times. Returnal leans into that gameplay conceit with its narrative that has such smart delivery and twists that I wouldn’t dare spoil for you here. Mechanically speaking, this is a fast and punchy third-person shooter that weaves in bullet-hell patterns and bosses. It sounds disorienting and difficult, which it is, but in the way where you know you can master it if you just try one more time.
3Rogue Legacy 2
A generational experience
Rogue Legacy 2
The first Rogue Legacy was one of the first roguelikes to establish a winning formula for how to handle the macro progression outside of each individual run. Prior, most major games in the genre had nothing carry over between runs. You might unlock more items or weapons to encounter in each run, but no permanent progression. Rogue Legacy introduced a simple but effective upgrade system where you invested gold you collected into upgrades for stats, unlocking new characters, and new buffs. You couldn’t keep all that gold before you started your next run, forcing you to make hard choices on what to spend it on before losing it.
Rogue Legacy 2 adds more of everything to the mix. You have more upgrades, more classes, more secrets, more bosses, and a much bigger map. The generational mechanic, in which you pick a descendant of your character to play as after dying to carry on their legacy, is still a brilliant system that no other game offers. You get just enough random elements to keep every run different and push you to try new things, but also a good amount of choice in how you progress to feel like you have some agency.
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What a wonderful underworld
It’s somewhat funny that the two roguelikes that have the best story both came out only about four months apart. While Returnal is a hard sci-fi tale, Hades is a deep dive into Greek mythology. All the major Gods are there, from the titular Hades to Zeus, Artemis, Hermes, and more. You take control of Zagreous, a lesser-known figure, who is on an endless quest to try and claw his way out of the underworld. Along the way, you will pick up various boons from the other gods that augment your moves and abilities to hopefully make it just a little bit closer to freedom.
What will strike you first about Hades is its art. The lush colors of the world and detailed character art all make even the most desolate and dreadful environments appealing and somehow homey. It is a true testament to the writing and voice cast that you may play dozens of runs and still encounter new dialogue between characters that is as rewarding as the combat. Speaking of which, combat is a flashy dance of colors and spectacle. You start off simple, but quickly craft builds that have you dashing across the screen, leaving behind damaging auras, and shooting out lightning that chains between foes. This is a game that wants you to feel like a god, and it succeeds.
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5The Binding of Isaac Repentance
Back to the basement
The Binding of Isaac Repentance
The Binding of Isaac is the grandfather of the modern roguelike genre, and arguably responsible for the entire genre becoming what it is today. What started as a humble little flash game with gross monsters and a bizarre biblical theme has evolved into a package that arguably has too much content in it. The basics of the game begin as a simple shooter, only swapping out guns or magic for tears (except for certain special characters) in an attempt to fight deeper into the basement. Each floor presents new opportunities to pick up one of the now thousands of items that all stack on top of one another to make endless combinations that can be massively overpowered, or instantly kill you.
If you like variety, you couldn’t ask for more with the latest version of Isaac. The number of items available, things to unlock, new characters, modes, challenges, and everything else can satisfy you for 1,000 hours without exaggeration.
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