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Roguelike is a sub-genre of role-playing games featuring turn-based gameplay. Players take control of a hero navigating inside a dungeon fighting various monsters, solving puzzles, avoiding traps, and looting treasures.
Roguelike games involve grid-based movement through procedurally generated levels. These levels include stairs connecting different parts of the dungeons. Most of these games narrate a story based on fantasy and are heavily inspired by table-top role-playing games like Dungeons and Dragons.
Players have the option to explore these dungeons in multiple ways and often, they are provided with equipment, helping them to do the same. Most Roguelike games have the ultimate goal of collecting a specific item either from the deepest part of these dungeons or by defeating a monster at the end.
Some of the most iconic Roguelike games
1) Hades
Developer - Supergiant Games
Hades is a rogue-like game that follows the dungeon crawler model. Players get to control the son of Hades as he tries to escape from the underworld to reach his destination. In his journey, the players face a lot of challenges while getting rewarded equally.
It is presented in an isometric view while the player is in control of the character. Combat in this game is based on hack and slash. As the game starts, players have to fight their enemies through a number of rooms.
2) Risk of Rain 2
Developer - Hopoo Games
Risk of Rain 2 is one of those roguelike games based on third-person shooting. Players control a character stranded on an alien planet, surviving amidst a hostile environment and wildlife.
The game has a multiplayer mode where four players team up to kill alien enemies and progress through the game. Killing aliens rewards the player with XP and in-game currency. The game features several characters from the first game but from a 3D perspective.
3) Enter the Gungeon
Developer - Dodge Roll
Enter the Gungeon is based on fast-paced shooting and gunfight dungeon crawling. This game has a co-op mode, allowing a second player to join and continue their adventures inside the dungeon.
Four adventurers descend into a dungeon to find a time machine with some exceptional power. The player gets to choose one of four protagonists, each having different abilities.
4) Dead Cells
Developer: Motion Twin
Dead Cells is a roguelike game inspired by games based on two-dimensional side-scrolling. The player gets to play as a creature taking control of a corpse in a dungeon, finding a way out of it.
Each level in the game consists of procedurally generated levels connecting different parts of the world. Enemies and items are found randomly inside the levels and frequent player-character death is a fundamental part of the game. Combat of the game is often compared to the Souls series.
5) The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth
Developer: Nicalis
The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth is an indie roguelike game based on action RPG shooting. The player takes control of Isaac along with 16 other characters that can be unlocked later. Isaac is trying to escape his mother’s basement while gaining superhuman abilities along the way.
The game is similar to a multidirectional shooter, allowing the player to move the character around the screen. The character will find healing items and other treasures throughout the dungeon.
Apart from the games mentioned, there are a ton of roguelike games in the market to choose from and enjoy. Some of the honorable mentions:
- Slay the Spire
- Darkest Dungeon
- Don’t Starve
- Into the Breach
- Downwell
