Roguelike games are incredibly fun to play from start to finish. These games are designed to keep the player hooked by providing consistently challenging gameplay, which can be incredibly rewarding and
frustrating at the same time.
If you’re a fan of roguelikes or are just getting started with the genre, here are the 6 best roguelike games to play in 2025.
10 Amazing Roguelike games to try out this year
Risk of Rain 2
Risk of Rain 2 offers a surprising change to perspective from the original Risk of Rain. Instead of being a 2D sidescroller, the sequel is a third-person action game.
At the start of every new run, you’re teleported to a procedurally generated alien planet where you’re tasked with eliminating enemies and finding a teleporter, which will take you to the next arena. The game can be played with co-op and I’ve had a lot of fun playing it with my friends.
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Hades
Hades is a no-brainer pick for the best roguelike games to exist yet. We expect this record to be broken once Hades 2 releases from early access.
The game has fast-paced action with an amazing story that explores themes and stories from Greek mythology. The game has an amazing art style that is soothing for the eyes, challenging for the brain, and pleasing to play through.
You take control of the immortal Zagreus, who is the son of Hades, trying to escape the underworld. The game offers a realistic reason for its roguelike nature and the player gets to enjoy some witty one-liners.
Returnal
Returnal is one of the most polished and unique roguelike games I’ve played. The game is set on the Atropos planet, where astronaut Selene Vassos crashes her ship and finds herself stuck in a time loop that restarts every time she dies.
Returnal is a brutal third-person shooter that offers a lot of unique twists as well as various arenas to fight entities in.
Not just that, the game also has horror elements that add a spooky effect. If you have a PlayStation 5 or a PC, Returnal is a game that you need to play.
The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth
As a fan of roguelike games, I refuse to believe that you have not played The Binding of Isaac. But, if you’re new to the roguelike genre, this is a game that you need to play.
The game is a roguelike dungeon crawler that has you shooting your way through several procedurally generated dungeons.
While that doesn’t sound like a new concept, it was introduced with The Binding of Isaac first. I recommend playing the newer Rebirth, which is the sequel.
Enter the Gungeon
Enter the Gungeon is a combination of a bullet-hell shooter and a roguelike that uses procedural generation and a multitude of weapons to create an experience like no other.
There are several characters you can play and hundreds of weapons you can experiment with. During your play-through, you make your way through the Gungeon while frantically dodging and fighting your way through some of the most creatively designed enemies I’ve seen in a game.
The gameplay has some fun quirks as well. You can flip a table sideways to use as cover or shoot a chandelier to drop it onto an enemy.
Cult of the Lamb
This cutesy title combines dungeon crawling and town management with roguelike
elements to create a unique experience.
After being used as a sacrifice by four prophets, you get resurrected and go on a mission to create your community to go on a journey to discover the secrets of the five main regions of the game.
You’re tasked with cleansing the non-believers and building a new structure in the world. The art style and the story are incredible and combine to create an engaging and unique experience.
Hades II
We have already talked about Hades on this list, but we cannot leave out the second game, which was released in early access last year. This roguelike has not yet been fully released, but it gets frequent updates with new content and expansions.
Hades II is a proper sequel to the story of Zagreus, and makes players step into the shoes of Melinoe. She is the sister of Zagreus and the Princess of the Underworld. The plot has her chasing after Chronos to exact revenge for wronging her.
Melinoe does not play like Zagreus, she is a witch and has her own unique strengths and weaknesses. She gets a number of new weapons and a bunch of spells.
The Rogue Prince of Persia
Prince of Persia is one Ubisoft’s oldest action-adventure IPs, before they started focusing on Assassin’s Creed specifically. In 2024, the developers released a sidescrolling metroidvania game in the Prince of Persia IP, which breathed fresh life into the games.
The side-scrolling aspect was a throwback to the original Prince of Persia games, as well as some of the mobile spinoffs that came out of the games. Looking at how popular the game got, Ubisoft published another sidescroller in the franchise named The Rogue Prince of Persia.
Presently, the game is actually in early access, slated to release soon. The plot doesn’t follow the same Prince we have known for years. You’ll have to play to find out more about this new character.
Balatro
No one would have guessed that a roguelike would ever become one of the most discussed games. It even became nominated for some of the most prestigious awards in the video game industry.
The most surprising part about this is that we are not talking about the regular side-scrolling action games. If you have never heard about this game before, then I have to tell you that we are talking about a card game.
Balatro is the most brilliantly designed card-deck-builder roguelike that we have ever seen. You have got to try it out for yourself, as at first it may seem like the most boring idea to hype up a game like this. But the more you play, the more addictive Balatro gets.
Elden Ring Nightreign
We all know about From Software, the developer that literally created a new action sub-genre with their popular Dark Souls series. At the present day, there are countless action games that use the Souls-like formula in their games.
The last big game from the company was Elden Ring. It went on to win awards as one of the best games of 2022. The developers also released an expansion for the game, which was highly praised.
Little did we know that From Software was planning to send players back to the world of Elden Ring in 2025 with the release of Elden Ring Nightreign. But this time, things are different; it’s not just a Souls-like game, but they have successfully cracked the formula of a Souls-like game designed to be a rougelike.
