What are the best roguelike games?

Michael Wade

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Dec 18, 2019
Looking to compile a list of the best modern, old and obscure roguelikes for a friend that plays all kinds.
 
Real life
A ex-crackhead once described his former lifestyle as IRL video gaming.

I've only played these roguelikes.
  • Azure Dreams (PS1) - Pokemon roguelike with some minor dating sim and town building aspects. Has a randomizer.
  • Cataclysm DDA - Not so much a dumpster fire as a landfill fire. Has a built-in modding system, is open source, is buggy as hell, is infested with every sort of degenerate known to man, and honestly pretty fun to play at least for a while. Notably lacking an ending, NPCs, non-environmental storytelling, a plot, and character development.
  • Pixel Dungeon (Mobile and Steam) and it's various forks - Decent little roguelike/lite, with about 8 forks that do various things. Pretty fun if you're on the toilet or shirking work.
 
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The Binding of Isaac is bad. It used to be good, but many balance changes and shitty expansions toned the quality down.

I now play Touhou Endless Dreams which is a nice combination between Isaac/Touhou.

Our Darker Selves is also an Isaac clone, but never made it big. It's superior, imo.

You can never go wrong with Enter the Gungeon. Pots TBOI to shame.

If you like tactical games, Into The Breach is a nice tactical roguelite/xcom combo.
 
Tower of Guns (Steam) - FPS Roguelike, lots of secret rooms and rewards for exploring with different stuff and effects, the gun and baseline ability choices are very impactful, it makes very strong use of the unreal engine.

TavernRumble (Android) - cute little card based roguelike in early access, its good fun and i like the art style, though the monetization is still, very obviously, not worked out properly.

If you really like Spelunky, you can download Frozlunky which lets you import community designed levels, the really good ones are top quality.
 
Enter the Gungeon, Slay the Spire, Crypt of the Necrodancer, FTL, Loop Hero, Risk of Rain, Spelunky 1 & 2. I guess I like roguelikes more than I thought I did.

I like Isaac quite a bit, Dead Cells is great too.

Tower of Guns (Steam) - FPS Roguelike, lots of secret rooms and rewards for exploring with different stuff and effects, the gun and baseline ability choices are very impactful, it makes very strong use of the unreal engine.

TavernRumble (Android) - cute little card based roguelike in early access, its good fun and i like the art style, though the monetization is still, very obviously, not worked out properly.

If you really like Spelunky, you can download Frozlunky which lets you import community designed levels, the really good ones are top quality.
Guys guys guys, those aren't real Roguelikes, the only true & real Roguelike is Minecraft in hardcore difficulty. I mean let's face it:
  • It's permadeath.
  • It has randomly generated worlds.
It's so obviously a Roguelike so why did noone of you ever mentioned it like for reals. *sigh*
 
I like Streets of Rouge, it's top-down, and kind of like a pixel deus-ex. The goal is to reach the final level and get the mayor's hat, and become the new mayor. One of the ways to do it is making him friendly, and taking the 1/3 chance of him just giving it to you.
 
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If your friend enjoys the classics like Angband, Zangband, Rogue, ect, then tell them to try out Tales of Maj'Eyal.
This is the correct answer.

ADOM
Brogue
Chess Rogue
Dungeons of Dredmore
Imbroglio
Cinco Paus
Guild of Dungeoneering
Slay the Spire
Dwarf Fortress

CataclysmDDA (depending on how autistic you are, but this is Kiwi Farms after all)
The Touhou/Chocobo/Pokemon/Shiren the Wanderer Mystery Dungeon games
Spelunky

Elona is fucking weird

Oh, and this unknown indie gem called Demon’s Souls (but not fucking Dark Souls)


Also, just checkout roguebasin, they have a ton of lists. Don’t rely on Kiwi Farmers.
 
Crying Suns is drop-dead gorgeous and an all-time favorite of mine. FTL is awesome too, although much more micro-managing than I’d prefer.

Looking to try other space exploration rouge-likes. I have a list somewhere of titles I wanted to check out…
 
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