This is a selected list of roguelike video games. Roguelike games are those that incorporate elements of role-playing games with procedural generation, following the formula of the genre's namesake, Rogue. Due to the large number of variations on this concept, roguelikes are normally classified as either being a classical roguelike with qualities that meet the "Berlin Interpretation" for roguelikes, or as hybrid roguelikes, roguelike-likes, roguelites, or procedural death labyrinths, which possess some but not all of these qualities.
Early dungeon crawler with several key features of later roguelikes, including permadeath, turn-based simple combat, top-down view, and a typical dungeon layout based on networks of corridors and rooms.
One of the earliest commercial Apple II games. It predates Rogue and was much simpler, but supported a low-resolution graphical display in addition to the text version. It was ported to the IBM PC in 1983.[1]
Features a rich, persistent and quirky world and multiple endings. In addition to the classic character/classes, you can "play as yourself": after answering a set of questions about yourself, matching stats are derived.
Large graphical multi-zoned world featuring multiple classes, complex item interactions, crafting, quests, and numerous skills, abilities, powers, and effects.
Features a pseudo-3D game screen based on SSI's Eye of the Beholder series. It uses the rules and mechanics of AD&D 2nd Edition.
1993
Quenzar's Caverns
Pulse Ventures Ltd.
Fantasy
WIN
Shareware game designed to be completed in under an hour. It was often included in collections of Windows 3.x games, along with games like Solitaire, Minesweeper, and Pipe Dreams.
Based on the PernBand variant of Angband, and thus on The Lord of the Rings. The original author no longer maintains it, but a separate maintenance branch repository exists.[8]
In addition to traditional roguelike features, TomeNET has MMORPG features: real-time gameplay, PvE in group, PvP, an economy system (players, shops, and housing), etc.
Retrofuturistic, post-apocalyptic science fantasy game heavily inspired by classic SF such as Dune, as well as RPGs such as Gamma World. Features a "procedurally handcrafted" and fully simulated (à la Dwarf Fortress) overworld, as well as static geographical and worldbuilding elements which are uniquely detailed and populated for each run. Can be played in ASCII or with a minimalistic built-in tileset.
Part of Chunsoft's Mystery Dungeon series.[11] Originally released for the Wii, it received an enhanced port to the Nintendo DS and later to the Nintendo Switch and PlayStation 4.
A "seven-day roguelike" that was selected for demonstration at IndieCade, E3 2010. It attempts to implement a high level of artificial intelligence for a single type of enemy.[14]
3D First-person dungeon crawl with randomly generated floors, items, and creatures. Movement is tile-based[16] and gameplay is similar to Dungeon Hack.
Tile-based movement on a hyperbolic plane. Focused on movement and zone gimmicks utilizing the unique geometry rather than player levels and inventory management.
Graphical rewrite of the author's earlier Tales of Middle Earth. Turn-based role-playing game based on its own fantasy universe. Players must unlock most classes, story threads are available, and elements have been taken from MMOs to significantly change the combat.
Top-down, 2D, turn-based, open-source action-strategy roguelike with pixel art graphics, 26 dungeon levels, 4 classes, 5 areas, 5 bosses, and the goal of obtaining the Amulet of Yendor.
Non-combat-focused roguelike about exploring and deciphering an intellectual conspiracy to rewrite history. Set during the Renaissance/Scientific Revolution.
Tactical stealth-heavy roguelike in which the player controls a robot able to build and improve itself from thousands of parts found within its environment.
Open-worldsurvival horror roguelike set in a procedurally generated, post-apocalyptic simulation of New England. Mainly focused on survival and combat, with an incredible amount of variety and depth that can be attributed to its open-source community. Turn-based, permadeath, 2D with a few Z-levels, and significant role-playing elements.
Turn-based, 2D dungeon crawlRPG based in the Sword of the Stars universe. Players are able to collect equipment, weapons, armor, and ingredients for crafting. 30 levels to explore and death is permanent.
Turn-based, 2D side-scrollingdungeon crawlRPG. Players are able to collect equipment, weapons, armor, potions, and scrolls while combating enemies and starvation. Fights and levels are random and death is permanent.
Multiplayer online variant of Angband with advanced graphical tileset and 57 fantasy races; combines the complexity of roguelike genre and social features of MMORPG: group PvE, PvP (on demand), housing, trading, anti-cheating mechanics and advanced real-time gameplay – game become semi turn-based when your character is injured.
Turn-based infernal dungeon crawl. Procedural level generation, permadeath, inventory. The main goal is to escape from Hell by navigating through 14 randomly generated levels.
Turn-based 2D RPG. Procedural level generation, permadeath, dungeon crawl elements. Streamlined UX for mobile devices, 10 minute coffee break roguelike.
2023
Full Gear
Dieuwt
Fantasy
WIN
Turn-based, 2D, story-driven dungeon crawl, procedural generation, perma-death (with optional progression). Roguelike about an engineer in a steampunk dungeon using Drones, Gadgets, and Cogwheels to survive.
2023
Dungeons of Shadow Imps
Piotr Raczek
Fantasy
WIN, LIN
Turn-based, easy GUI, morialiked. Available on GitHub.
Hybrid roguelikes
These are games that feature elements of roguelike games but not necessarily all of the features as defined by the Berlin Interpretation. Terms like "hybrid roguelike", "roguelike-like", "rogue-lite", and "procedural death labyrinth" are used to distinguish them from traditional roguelike games. In most cases, hybrids feature common elements like procedural level generation, randomized item and adversary placement, and permadeath.
2D top-down real-time exploration of a world made of randomly generated floors. Features randomized items and permanent death (although it has multiple lives).
Random universe generation; turn-based starmap exploration; pausable real time combat. Full graphics, sound and music; plays to completion in 20 minutes or less.
Random universe generation; turn-based starmap exploration; pausable real time combat. Full graphics (OpenGL), sound and music; sequel to Strange Adventures in Infinite Space; plays to its conclusion in less than 30 minutes.
2D action-adventureplatformer without save points that has four increasingly difficult areas with exclusive features that are divided into multiple randomly generated levels. Each level might contain access to area-specific secret areas.
2D Dungeon explorationTop-down shooter without save points inspired by The Legend of Zelda, but with semi-randomly accessed floors with exclusive features that have randomly generated rooms of various types potentially including random items.
2D real-time strategy styled after space travel. Players move from system to system avoiding a trailing horde of enemies as they participate in side-quests, with the ultimate goal of entering the last area.
2D action-adventure. Players are able to harvest plants, build traps to catch animals and craft items. Fights and levels are random and death is permanent.[18]
2D side-scrolling platformer, action-adventure. Players are able to collect gold, food and potions while combating enemies. Fights are random. Each character has its own unique abilities. Characters level up and change every time player dies.
2D side-scrolling action platformer; a single play through goes through six levels that are randomly selected from pre-generated layouts but with randomized object placement, and the game's difficulty increases based on how long the player remains alive.
An unforgiving procedurally generated platformer, in which players must climb/jump/fly and swim up through increasingly difficult levels. The game is divided into multiple sections each with their own unique theme and challenges.[19][20]
A tactical turn-based strategy RPG with a focus on stealth. The player must maneuver agents through several procedurally generated levels in a limited amount of in-game time.
TinyKeep, a top-down procedurally generated dungeon escape game with permadeath. Master the frantic physics-based combat, lure enemies into traps or make them fight each other for dominance. [promotion?]
A hybrid roguelike / tower defense game, where the player must guide heroes through randomly generated, under-powered facilities to move a crystal across the map.
A collectible card game-based roguelike, where the game's dungeons and encounters are drawn from a customized deck of cards, while combat takes place in an action/fighter-based minigame.
Random universe generation; turn-based starmap exploration; pausable real time combat. 3D graphics, full sound and music; sequel to Weird Worlds: Return to Infinite Space; plays to completion in 20–45 minutes.
A gothic, role-playing, dungeon-crawl-based game centered around having the player make tough decisions in dire situation, goaded into their decisions with difficult enemies, limited resources, and managing sanity and personality quirks.
"break into spaceships, make terrible mistakes, and think of clever ways out of them. You take a mission, fly to the target ship, sneak inside, and make clever use of your gadgets"
2018
Heroes of Hammerwatch
Crackshell
Fantasy
WIN, LIN, NX, PS4, XOne
A single or multiplayer rogue-lite action-adventure game. It has procedurally generated levels, an upgradable city, a fountain which provides buffs and debuffs, item and monster attunement, and permadeath for mercenary characters.
2018
KeeperRL
Michal Brzozowski
Fantasy
WIN, LIN, MAC
"a turn based dungeon building game that can be played both as rogue-like and realtime strategy"
2018
Lost Labyrinth DX
Johan Jansen
Fantasy
WIN, OSX, LIN
Features graphics and sound; plays to its conclusion in 10–40 minutes. (Enhanced edition remake of Lost Labyrinth)"
2018
Aura of Worlds
Cognitive Forge
Fantasy
WIN
2D roguelike platformer with procedural levels. The game emphasises multitasking between different abilities (such as grappling ropes, reflective shields etc.) as well as manipulating the environment and enemies to the player's advantage.
World shortcuts and additional starting equipment options become available as the game progresses.
[23][24]
2018
A Legionary's Life
Alessandro Roberti
Historical
WIN
The player character is a Roman soldier in the years of the Second Punic War. Roguelike elements include permadeath as well as randomized enemies, items and small maps used for foraging missions.
An action-adventure game viewed from a top-down perspective. The player-character is a "tiny warrior exploring the depths of a remote island". The game is about exploration, though that goal is contingent upon the character's survival.
2019
Emberlight
Quarter Onion Games
Adventure
WIN, MAC, LIN
Emberlight is a turn-based strategy roguelite dungeon crawler.
An action-adventure game where the player character is a witch who creates and casts spells in a world where every pixel is physically simulated.[25][26][27]
Griftlands is a turn-based, deck-building game with multiple paths to a single objective. It features permanent death and each death counts as a run. The further a player progresses in a single run, the more points they earn and the faster they unlock improvements that can be utilized to make reaching the objective more attainable.[28]
Hades is a roguelike dungeon crawler in which the player defies the god of the dead and hacks and slashes their way out of the Underworld of Greek myth.[30]
Arboria is a 3D dark fantasy rogue-lite in which, as a Yotun warrior, you descend into the procedurally generated dungeons of Durnar. A range of Symbiotic Weapons and Bio-Mutations makes you stronger.[31]
Rogue Party is a tactical roguelike that allows players to explore in Solo mode, Duo Mode (2 characters) or Party Mode (up to 4 characters). An open-ended multiclassing system adds to replayability. Conforms to all elements of the Berlin Interpretation except the need to identify items.
Rakaza Dungeon is a tactical roguelike about saving the princess Milasa II from Razaka devil king after an aghast war between the royal army and dark division.
A rhythm-based FPS with rogue-lite elements taking place in series of tile-based procedurally generated dungeons with Norse myth embedded in dungeon, enemy and character design.[32][33]
Returnal is a third-person shooter video game featuring roguelike elements and falling under the psychological horror genre. In a futuristic science fiction setting, the player controls Selene Vassos (Jane Perry), a space pilot, equipped with a suit and armed with high-tech weapons, who is stranded on the alien planet Atropos and stuck in a time loop.
Action 2d top down. permadeath, roguelike, management simulator where you must form a mighty cult and harvest their devotion as you take your crusade into the Lands of the Old Faith to clear out the false prophets so that your God can reign supreme.
^Sawyer, Brian (1981). "DUNGEON". In Jeffries, Ron (ed.). PET Fun and Games. McGraw-Hill. p. 75. ISBN0-931988-70-5.
^"Dungeon". CBM Software-Database entry for Dungeon.
^Pitts, Russ (2006-06-06). "Secret Sauce: The Rise of Blizzard". The Escapist. Archived from the original on 2014-02-11. Retrieved 2007-12-24. [The idea for Diablo] was modified over and over until it solidified when [Dave Brevik] was in college and got hooked on ... Moria/Angband.
^src/games/larn/. NetBSD CVS Repositories. Accessed January 18, 2008.
^Provo, Frank (Sep 21, 2006). "Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Blue Rescue Team Review". Gamespot. Archived from the original on 2009-11-20. Retrieved 2010-08-03. Pokémon Mystery Dungeon has more in common with a litany of dungeon hacks than it does with any of Nintendo's traditional Pokémon role-playing games.
^Hatfield, Daemon (July 1, 2008). "Final Fantasy Fables: Chocobo's Dungeon Review". IGN. Retrieved 2010-08-14. Mystery Dungeon and "roguelike" games make up a niche genre that spans the difficulty range from the unforgiving Shiren the Wanderer to the more breezy Pokemon [sic] Mystery Dungeon titles.
^Goergen, Andy (March 4, 2010). "Shiren the Wanderer". Nintendo World Report. Retrieved 2010-08-14. The series of Mystery Dungeon games, of which the original Shiren on SNES is a founding member, are referred to as roguelikes amongst their fans, a reference which dates back to an early 1980s computer game called Rogue.
^Bailey, Kat (2009-09-06). "Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Sky Preview". 1UP. Archived from the original on 2012-07-20. Retrieved 2010-08-14. Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Sky is the latest iteration of Nintendo's cuddly take on the roguelike genre.
