7 Rogue-Like games on Steam you’ve been looking for.
7 Rogue-Like games on Steam you’ve been looking for.
Image courtesy of Steam.
Looking to be aggravated but in a fun way? With permanent deaths and no checkpoints, rogue-like games are one of the most stressful gaming genres, but also one of the most addicting and rewarding.
Read below to find the best rogue-like games on Steam for any and every mood.
Overwhelmingly Positive (98%) | Single Player | $24.99
Loved by the gaming community, Hades is one of, if not the, most popular games in the Rogue-Like game genre.
As Zagreus, the song of Hades, you go on a quest to escape from home, the Underworld, but to escape you must fight past angry lost souls. As in most games of this genre, death is permanent, sending you back to Hades’ palace where you must start again. In each attempt, you grow stronger, meet a variety of Greek gods, and gain powerups to eventually escape your father’s clutches.
This game features an original score, beautiful art done by Jen Zee, and a hack-and-slash combat style. Early access to Hades II on Steam was released in the spring.
“Hades is a one-of-a-kind rogue-lite that does a brilliant job of marrying its fast-paced action with its persistent, progressing story through a vividly reimagined Greek mythological underworld.” 9/10 – IGN on Steam
Hades is available for purchase on Steam here.
Overwhelmingly Positive (97%) | Single Player | $24.99
With another impressive list of awards, Dead Cells is a 2D-style action-platformer inspired by the Metroidvania subgenre, think Hollow Knight style gameplay.
Inspired by Castlevania, you’ve been imprisoned on a cursed island and stuck inside a never-ending castle you must fight your way out of. This task proves difficult as your character is a cripple, which means you have to possess corpses to do the fighting for you.
In the spirit of the Rogue-Like genre, this game has no checkpoints, so when you die you begin again and must find a new corpse to take over. You maintain some progression with each death, allowing you to unlock new paths and weapons.
With nonlinear progression, you’re free to take whatever path through the game you want. There’s a complicated lore and plot, but in short, your end goal is to escape the castle.
Whether you decide to buy the game or not we strongly recommend you listen to the game’s soundtrack done by Yoann Laulan, specifically the song “Credits.”
Steam has issued a mature content warning for this game.
“[...] The game smartly dissects what’s so exciting about Metroidvanias (exploring labyrinthine levels packed with variety, unlocking new abilities that re-contextualize areas you already passed through) and reassembles those things around a compulsive roguelike core.” -- Kotaku on Steam.
Dead Cells is available on Steam here.
Very Positive (93%) | Single Player/Online PvP/Online Co-Op | $24.99
Adding a different element to this list, Risk of Rain 2 is a third-person shooter done in the style of cel-shading, giving it a unique appearance.
As a member of the UES: Safe Travels crew on a mission to find UES: Contract Light, you must defeat countless aliens in an array of locations. Your goal is to defeat the final boss, but along the way, you can unlock up to 11 playable crewmates, and over 110 items to change up gameplay.
This game can be played solo or with up to 3 friends, bringing a fun new spin to gameplay.
It is unnecessary to play the first Risk of Rain in order to understand this one, so there’s no need to worry about jumping straight to Risk of Rain 2.
Again even if you decide not to play this game we recommend you listen to the game’s soundtrack done by Chris Christodoulou, specifically the song “Risk of Rain 2.”
“This game makes 2 hours feel like 10 minutes.” -- RΞBΞCCA on Steam.
You can buy Risk of Rain 2 on Steam here.
Overwhelmingly Positive (97%) | Single Player | $24.99
As the oldest game on this list, 2014 The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth is a pixel-style action rogue-like game, with an odd little main character goob.
In this game, you play Isaac whose mother, to prove her faith, has been commanded by God to sacrifice Isaac. Because of this, he escapes to his house’s basement where he must fight to survive.
Based on the biblical story of the same name, it includes over 500 hours of gameplay, multiple endings, 450+ items, “poop physics,” and more.
This is the remake of the original The Binding of Isaac, which has three expansions, Afterbirth, Afterbirth+, and Repentance, for tons of extra gameplay.
“Gameplay is addicting and repetitive allowing for mastery, the art style and themes are dark yet appealing, and offers greater and greater challenges that lie waiting for you when you're equipped with the skill to tackle them.” Harris on Steam.
The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth is available for purchase on Steam here.
Very Positive (89%) | Single Player | $39.99
The newest game on this list, Witchfire, is an FPS rouge-like dark fantasy game with strong Van Helsing vibes. The easiest way to grasp the vibe of this game is to listen to the game’s main menu theme which feels like a mix of Disney World’s Pirates of the Caribbean ride mixed with Catholicism.
In a war between the church and witches, you play as a Preyer, an undead church-anointed witch killer fueled by witchfire, whose goal is to kill the Wicked Witch of the Coast.
You can customize your loadout with a wide selection of weapons, spells, and artifacts, to aid in defeating the witch’s army. With each encounter your Preyer grows stronger, upping your chances of defeating the witch.
With stunning graphics, vast biomes, mysteries to uncover, powerups to attain, and enemies to take down, Witchfire has the potential to become a rogue-like classic.
Steam issued a mature content warning for this game.
“They managed to take a lot of quality concepts from games like Destiny, Hunt Showdown, and from various roguelites, and add it to a fantasy RPG shooter without making it feel at all derivative. It's a cohesive mishmash of so many cool ideas, and it's fun as hell to play.” Blitzkowicz on Steam.
You can buy Witchfire Early Access here on Steam.
Overwhelmingly Positive (97%) | Single Player | $14.99
In this deck builder, you’re encouraged to play illegal poker hands using your choice of 150 Jokers, 15 distinct Decks, 5 variants of each Joker, 22 Tarot cards, 11 Planet cards, and 32 Voucher cards.
With a synth-wave soundtrack and colorful pixel graphics, your goal in this one-of-a-kind, slightly chaotic, card game is to mix combinations and secure victory.
“One of the best roguelikes I've ever played. I can even say that this game has no downsides, except that it's addictive…” MW21 on Steam.
Balatro is available for purchase on Steam here.
Very Positive (93%) | Single Player/Online Co-Op | $19.99
With what one reviewer called a “Borderlands via Kung Fu Panda vibe…,” Gunfire Reborn is a level-based game of many elements including RPG, FPS, and of course rogue-like.
Choose between twelve animal heroes with different abilities and play through randomized levels alone or co-op with the end goal of defeating the final boss.
As each level is randomized, each play-through brings new weapons, checkpoints, items, and combat, allowing for continued replays. New playable characters are also periodically released.
“Can't recommend this game enough, super fun. I play mostly solo and have over 4,000 hours at this point, it's super addictive and mastering all the classes makes it almost endlessly replayable. Amazing value for the price!” Pig Farmer on Steam.
You can buy Gunfire Reborn on Steam here.
Let us know if we missed any below!
