While theroguelitegenre can be less challenging than theroguelikegenre, there is no shortage of stellar titles within it. The games can range from fun-filled adventures to dark journeys into the depths of the Earth. They all offer a range of worlds, levels, and dungeons to navigate with the hopes of collecting as much as you can before falling.
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You’re encouraged to take risks that might reward you with many permanent unlocks, which will let you have an easier time later on. There’s such diversity in all the weapons, items, skills, and powers you’re able to find in these games, with certain titles offering a great mix of variety on difficulty, too.
10Rogue Legacy
The bonds of family can be so strong that a mission can be passed down from generation to generation. This is the sentiment inRogue Legacy. As a tough warrior, you’re heading into a castle that has been taken over by hordes of monsters.
You’ll face a number of dangers including traps, elite opponents, and powerful bosses that guard the door to the king’s chambers. Should you fall into the castle, you get the option to choose a successor to continue your mission. Make use of their different class abilities and quirks as you upgrade your gear between runs.
9Steamworld Dig
Although steam technology is cool, it’s quite impracticable. Despite this, a whole society of robots operates on this inSteamworld Dig. You play as the old-school mining robot Rusty, who has arrived in a desert town low on water. The town is slowly decaying as a result, so you’ll need to restore it by digging right below to look for water, materials, and anything else of value.
Go further with each dig in hopes of gaining upgrades and brand-new digging tools to dig through tougher rocks and deal with tougher enemies. The more you succeed, the more the town benefits, and they’ll be more than willing to help you out.
8Moonlighter
The idea of running a nice shop in a small town is something many people dream about doing. Whether it’s entered your mind, you’re able to experience what it’s like inMoonlighter. As the young merchant Will, you have to restore your shop to its former glory so that you can help restore the town.
In order to provide products to sell, you’ll need to do some dungeon diving and collect as much as you may in your comically large backpack. Take what you can back to town to sell and make new gear so that you can go back and reach deeper levels. Slay the boss that lies at the bottom and challenge yourself to clear the other dungeons that unlock.
7Shovel Knight Dig
Shovel Knightis one of the most well-known knights in gaming, with adventures spanning multiple genres. The blue excavator takes on a roguelite challenge in Shovel Knight Dig. After the villainous Drill Knight appears and steals Shovel Knight’s bag of powerful swag, SK decides to pursue him underground.
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The environments, enemies, and hazards will change the deeper he goes with branching paths to switch things up. Drill Knight’s Hexcavators will stand in your way, but you’ll also find plenty of power-ups and allies as you keep digging. Between runs, you can talk to folks at base camp to unlock new skills and change up your armor based on what you expect to encounter.
6Undermine
Mining still remains a popular gaming subject, and it’s unknown if anything is going to undermine it. Well, that is unless you count the game Undermine. Taking place in an ever-changing mine, you’re a miner who comes to seek their fortune the only way they can:by mining. However, they’ll also need to learn to fight as there are far more subterranean creatures than one would expect.
Luckily, there are some bright parts of the mines, specifically the areas that hold people to befriend and artifacts to find. Return to base to ask your new friends for your help and use the artifacts you’ve found so that you can take on the tougher parts of the mines.
5Darkest Dungeon
There’s more going on beneath the surface of adventurers than you might realize andDarkest Dungeonshows that. This RPG has you guiding a group of explorers through of series of dungeons before challenging the darkest one. There are riches and magic to be found in these twisting mazes, but beasts, monsters, bandits, traps, and darkness itself stand in your way.
If things keep going poorly, your explorers will become stressed, which can lead to irreparable harm. Make use of the town outside the dungeons to improve your skills and gear to give the adventurers a fighting chance.
4Gunfire Reborn
You shouldn’t bring a sword to a gunfight, but it makes sense to bring guns to a dungeon fight. InGunfire Reborn, gunfire is the first and last line of defense in the levels that unfold before you. As one of several mystical warriors, you’ll enter a series of chambers and arenas and unleash bullets and projectiles in every direction.
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This is because enemies will not hesitate to overwhelm you with sheer numbers the further you go. Still, it’s worth it to reach the rewards that can boost the individual skills of characters while also giving you more passive bonuses and weapons to select.
3Noita
If there’s a game that shows just how delicate andprecise pixelscan be, it’s Noita. This pixilated adventurer takes place in a world where everything is made of individual pixels that fall apart at the slightest prompt.
Since you have powerful magic that you can craft yourself, you’ll be able to carve your own path through the world. Just remain aware of your surroundings, or you’ll quickly get buried. Should that happen, or you fail in another way, the magic you’ve gained on your adventure can be reused to your advantage.
It’s a bad idea to disturb the gods, but an even worse one to disturb dead gods. It’s no surprise that because of doing the latter, the hero in theCurse Of The Dead Godsgets a pretty bad curse. Even so, they’re not deterred from exploring a place that the gods wanted people to stay away from, even in death. But how could one resist?
This place is full of ancient riches and relics ripe for the picking. Unfortunately, vicious monsters and powerful magical beings are there to stop you from lining your pockets. If they don’t stop, the curse might as it gets worse the further you go, but getting kicked back to the hub can let you power up with all you’ve gained.
1Streets Of Rogue
Imagine a procedurally generated city with a vast number of quests and sim-like qualities, and you’ll likely end up with something close to Streets Of Rogue. As one of several citizens in anever-growing city, you’ll be able to explore, fight, manage, and complete quests however you want.
As the city grows beneath your feet, use your character’s inherent abilities to get started and earn rewards for your need to progress and grow. With such freedom, you can play the game the way you want with each problem having multiple solutions. You never know how the city is going to evolve, so contribute to it in whichever way makes the most sense to you.