The best roguelikes and roguelites on PC
The best roguelikes and roguelites on PC
The PC is the perfect platform for roguelikes and roguelites, and in this article we celebrate the best of the best.
This is like a random list.
There's hades. There's vampire survivors. There's FTL.
Those are radically different games.
Would have been better to call it a list and broke it into subgenres.
It feels like a list for fans of "run based games" as it were, with Qud being the outlier.
I am strongly biased towards TOME but think any list that doesn't reference Stoneshard at this point is doing a disservice. It is probably the most accessible "lite rogue like" at this point and should be on basically every list
Hades and FTL are rougelites. You're expected to do them in one sitting, they have randomly generated levels and minor progression carrying over playthroughs. Vampire Survivor is an odd one out that's just plainly not a roguelite.
Noita is the one I keep coming back to. It’s like if the powder game was a roguelite with wizards and monsters.
Noita is just fantastic. It's mind-blowing to realize for the first time just how expansive the game is. Like, a new player can definitely "win" the game without even seeing 95% of it, or knowing it's there. It's not until you get curious and brave and start exploring off the "easy" path that the sheer scope of it is apparent. (This was absolutely my experience.)
Noita should absolutely be on this list. The only explanation is that the author never played it.
That list was surprising light on Roguelikes.
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"Roguelite" isn't really a genre, but a catchall for many types of game that use some elements that are common in roguelikes, but aren't really roguelikes.
I mean, Nova Drift and Inscryption are roguelites, but they just aren't in the same genre of game at all. One's an action Asteroids-like game, and the other a turn-based deckbuilder.
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I'm one of the weirdos that liked Into The Breach more than FTL but I've been meaning to give FTL another shot.
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Shout out to Caves of Qud. Mobbin' it right now and its like playing Fallout for the first time. I had to switch from classic I was dying so much.
I bought a USB numpad for my laptop to play Qud more efficiently lol
Latest update even makes it playable fully with a controller very nicely. I've been enjoying it on the Steam Deck. It's surprising how well it works, considering the complexity of the game and its controls. (It was playable with a controller before that update, but they massively re-worked the default control scheme to be much better and more efficient.)
It's not on the list because it's not done yet, but oh boy! I'm kinda excited for Dwarf Fortress Adventure Mode!
I can't fucking wait. I'll generate a world and just get lost in Legends mode for a while and never even start Fortress mode. I can't wait until I can actually explore those areas.
I'm pretty new to DF, but the game continues to blow my mind. It's unbelievable. So glad they added the pixel graphics, because the ASCII was the one thing holding me back before.
Anyone have some for Android? I'm playing Shattered Pixel Dungeon right now but haven't found more
Edit: Dungeon not hero
I've been playing Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup. It's a port from a PC version so the controls are a little clunky, but I find it a nice change of pace from SPD.
There's a lot more complexity in the game and at least one tutorial says to focus on minotaur berserker to simply learning the game.
Dicey dungeon is pretty good.
inhales: EEEEEEENTER THE GUNGEON!
I have that game on multiple platforms now and about 1500 hours total of game time.
Such a addictive fun game that keeps me going back for moar!
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It doesn't scale, the game can be quite though in the beginning. First time I've beaten the game it took me hundreds of tries.
Now I can almost always complete every run with each character.
Late game enemies tend to have more health and cursed enemies have double or triple the health but it's always the same.
There lots of weapons, passives and synergy's that upgrades your damage.
If you unlock l something like the make shift Canon it can one shot bosses straight away.
The game does have a damage cap but with enough synergy's and passives you can even break that.
Backpack Hero is my latest and greatest. Too addictive, if you like inventory management as the main highlight (not simply as a side necessity). Depending on how you place items into your, expanding, bag, rotating and reorganizing them as you go, determines how bonuses will be applied to the other items in your bag, as you battle your way through short-medium dungeons, visiting your home hub after each trip. It can still get tricky with the management, and it does suck your time, at least for me, but...too much fun!
I keep hoping that one comes to Android. It would be perfect for me beside Peglin and Slice & Dice.
If you like roguelikes and want to ruin the scope of all other games for you for a while, try CDDA.
My gamer brain is in shambles.
Probably one of the greatest games of all times, i'm always amazed at the sheer amount of possibilities. I did a throwing-focused character last time, stripping car batteries for that sweet sweet acid, making molotov cocktails with gasoline and homemade grenades with commercial fertilizer. Next time maybe I'll do a pirate living in a lighthouse, strapping cannons and guns to a boat. The vehicule building is out of this world, so much fun...
Dwarf Fortress's adventure mode is, by far, the best rougelike I've ever played. It's too bad it isn't yet in the Steam version. The classic version is still free on the website tho.
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Great list! Saved.
The fact that it's missing Noita is criminal though.
I'm playing Irarus, lord of the dead lately. It's very similar to darkest dungeon, but easier.
Thea (1 and 2) is noticeable for being a 4x roguelite. It's also the slave mythology, so quite original in that regard.