Vlambeer's absolute master work of a twin-stick shooter rogue-like. Ruthlessly difficult, requires fast thinking and even quicker reflexes. Extreme sense of style, every weapon feeling more satisfying than the last.

Probably the most influential modern rogue-like, and for good reason. Rebirth is a well supported remake of the original, with expansions making it probably one of the most content-rich games, like, ever. Has stood the test of time, a must play.

Not only did Slay the Spire popularize the deck-building rogue-like subgenre, it is also still the best at it. Really understands the right combination to create a fun, balanced, consistently engaging experience every run.

The mastercrafted sequel to the original I did not know I needed. The jump from sidescroller to third person character action works out beautifully. Incredibly fun moving, shooting and looting to a banger soundtrack.

A modern classic which hasn't really been done before or since coming out. A spaceship combat management game with pause-on demand combat, sounds weird and clunky, but is anything but. The main tactical puzzle and overall strategy puzzles both are excellent. Good soundtrack too. Played this for hours with my best friend as pilot/co-pilot, discussing the best next move.

HELL FUCKING YEAH MY DUDE

Supergiants breakout hit quickly rose up in the charts, even bringing new players into the genre, and for good reason. Incredible character action gameplay, excellent visuals and sound, and a gripping story rarely seen in the genre. If you have never played a rogue-like, start here.

The first first person roguelike on the list, and what a fun ride it is! There is always a new combination of weapons and abilities to get excited about, and the combat is fast and fun. Check this one out if you like movement shooters! Don't check this out if you hate grinding to gain an advantage, I personally didn't mind it. The meta-progression keeps powering up both you and your enemies, pulling me back in as soon as I thought I had learned everything there was.

From the studio that brought you the masterpiece Mark of the Ninja comes a turn-based tactics rogue-like stealth game?! Oh and it also fucking slaps! If you think you might like this one, you will!

Hand of Fate 1 established a concept and main gameplay loop that was fun and, it turns out, had a lot of potential for experimentation. Hand of Fate 2 uses this potential to its fullest, with improved systems at many places to boot. It also doesn't fall into some of the frustrating traps the first one does. I recommend playing both.

Monster Train is a lot to take in at first, a mischmasch of systems and ideas that fit together quite well in the end. A deck-building turn based tower defense roguelite...and a great one at that. Definitely Check this out if you liked Slay the Spire!

It's Risk of Rain, but a bit better! And a lot more playable for modern sensibilities. Risk of Rain is awesome, and so is this remake.

The original Risk of Rain stood the test of time in my opinion, its sequel basically copied the main difficulty/time/reward mechanic for good reason. Really cool pixelart and I like the soundtrack even more than that of Risk of Rain 2

From the developers of FTL comes a mecha tactics roguelike that is pretty much entirely deterministic. Can't fucking believe they made Chess 2

downwell, but up!

Downwell is a game about jumping down a well with gunboots strapped to your feet. Every feature here seems to serve multiple purposes, which you will need to survive this hell of a well. Also available on mobile!

Roll dice! Roll Slice!

Ever wanted to feel stressed because you didn't find enough stuff in the mine today to keep the demons at bay? No? Well here you go!

So you need to fight for your soul in a tarot game where the cards are snippets and stories out of your past life? Tough luck buddy, at least the game is really fun until you have to actually fight the damn card dealer. Can't believe how many times he kicked my ass

This also is a deck building tower defense rogue like, only this time you have to protect a town of rat people. The weirdest thing is that it takes place in real time, so at some point you have to repeat playing the same cards so fast that it turns into more of a bad rhythm game. To beat a stage you also have to find one of the many broken combinations, which I find incredibly fun actually

A deckbuilder, but make it with dice. Very smart puzzles with a lot of spins and variants to tickle the brain. Iconic aesthetic too.

The premise of this game reminds me of classic flash games: simple controls, an absurd premise, cool upgrades and an overall goofy tone. Very fun killing all the monsters that come at you which essentially make this a bullethell game. Surprisingly easy to die if you don't pay attention

Playing this goes down as smooth as butter. Fun, fast, immediatly responsive. Feels like the concentrated result of every Rogue like before it, as simple as possible while still giving you interesting decisions.

Move, shoot, upgrade, repeat. Move, shoot, upgrade, repeat. Move, shoot, upgrade, repeat. Move, shoot, upgrade, repeat. Move, shoot, upgrade, repeat.

This is the smaller free demo for 20 minutes till dawn, and already very fun in its own right. If you're a cheapskate try this demo!

Bullet hells are just fun to navigate, and The Void rains upon her Heart has a lot of content to dive into

SNKRX takes the most annoying aspect out of auto-battlers: other people. But to be serious, I think we might have another pioneer on our hands here. Auto-battlers and Rogue-likes seem to be a combination harder than crack

This just makes me want to play diablo II

I probably like Mana Spark more than most people, the initially awkward combat reveals itself to be a great source for tension.

A spin on the deck-building genre about paying your rent using a slot machine. This game focuses entirely on the aspect of finding a combo that is strong enough to make the number high enough, which can be surprisingly difficult. Quite fun and addicting.

Heat Signature does not really do much with its roguelike elements or the overall progression, but the main idea of giving you a toolkit of sci-fi weapons and gadgets to capture a ship is really well made. If you like "immersive sim" games (the most poorly named genre) than check this out. Also, teleporters

This is really more of a game about making a number go up real high, but I listed it anyway because I need to recommend it to people who liked that aspect in luck be a landlord.

Rampage Knights turns the Beat'em Up genre into a roguelike, and does so relatively well. Also fun in co-op.

Very well executed tower defense roguelike where you build everything including the path, the defenses and all the annoying stuff in between that obstructs your future plans. Great art direction too!

You are a pirate with a hookshot. Delivers on the promise of being a pirate with a hookshot.

The original flash Isaac has all the techical flaws a flash game can have, it feels kind of barebones to rebirth to be honest. But still: Isaac established THE formula for good reason. Even my sister got hooked, and she usually does not have time for videogames. Also the originals soundtrack is iconic

This is just Roguelike asteroids. Works pretty well in my opinion

Ziggurat is a FPS roguelike that is quite a bit of fun. Feels a bit clunky at times. Haven't tried the sequel yet, I hope that delivers on a lot of Ziggurats potential.

UnExplored is mostly revered for its smart procedural generation, which I'll admit is pretty cool. Found the game pretty hard to get into though.

Rogue Legacy was one of the first of the genre that I played, and its focus on grinding upgrades for future runs didn't seem weird to me then. Has a bit of the appeal of those throw a guy and then upgrade your stuff flash games, only you actually need to put in some effort to get any money

This is a Tower Defense take on the genre. Starts strong with interesting decisions and a fun challenge, however the balancing is a bit off and the end of a run if you succeed feels exceedingly tedius.

I think I liked this FPS bullethell roguelike more than most people, maybe I just am a big fan of towers. I still think Tower of Guns has a lot of potential as a concept, maybe Returnal delivers on that IDK I sadly couldn't play that so far

Heavy Bullets is far slower and more punishing than its FPS roguelike peers, but the deliberate playstyle it demanded from me had its own charm.

A movement shooter voxel FPS roguelike that apparantly had some kind of controversy with the developer? I found it fun for a while anyway.

I liked the Idea of this game far more than actually playing it. The core idea is really interesting and fun, but is bad for replayability without finding something new every time. Would have been far better if it wasn't designed around taking 40 hours to complete, faster progression badly needed.

As a big fan of the endless games I was curious when I first played. Felt crushed by the difficulty, turns out you need to farm before moving on which isn't really explained well.

Every time I played this I wanted to play Nuclear Throne instead. I just didn't feel very powerful, and most deaths also came out of nowhere to me. And not because the game is fast, my character was just slow and enemies didn't stick out from the background most of the time. The cursed relic trade-in for items mechanic is a great idea though.

Idk I like chess but this really didn't click for me

The main combat loop in this game feels just weird. You can dash around like a maniac, but you just end up dashing into another attack you didn't see coming from the other side of the room. There's no hitstun so whacking enemies feels like it has little in terms of impact

This has so much stuff, so many mechanics and they work together... fine? It really failed to communicate the threat any enemy poses.

Played this like twice. Probably a bit better than I give it credit for.

Not my kind of jank.

The main gameplay loop is genius for a mobile game and this would be way higher if it wasn't for the hard pay2win aspects and unfun grinding

a minimalistic classic roguelike. not much to say really, but neat.

The premise seemed really cool to me first, however the glacial pace of For The King threw me off. Wouldn't recommend.

Why does the combat feel so fucking terrible????

Archero, but worse

Archero, but much worse