The Best Roguelike Games Where Exploration Changes Every Playthrough

Roguelike games have become increasingly popular in the last few years. When it comes to this genre, no two playthroughs are the same. Reminiscent of tough-as-nails classic arcade games, roguelikes capture the addicting compulsion of wanting to do better and better with each playthrough.

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By  Harry Ted Sprinks

Whilst most roguelikes commonly offer endless replayability via mechanics such as procedurally generated environments or other unpredictable elements, there are several games that stand out on top in terms of keeping things interesting. These games actively encourage exploration, adding new elements to every run and rewarding a player's curiosity.

7 Hades

Greek Mythology Hack And Slash

Hades

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Action RPG

Roguelite

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10 /10

Released

September 17, 2020

Developer(s)

Supergiant Games

Franchise

Hades

Platform(s)

PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, Switch, PC

Genre(s)

Action RPG, Roguelite

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Hades stands out as one of the finest examples of the roguelike genre and is now often cited as one of the greatest video games of all time. So what makes it one of the best roguelikes, if not best games of all time? The game was developed after Supergiant Games wanted to explore telling a video game story via a procedural narrative. This is a design technique where story elements are fragmented and can be discovered in various different ways and orders. Turns out, a roguelike is the perfect way to do this.

Playing as Zagreus, the son of Hades, the game sees players rebel against the forces of hell in an attempt to escape the Underworld and reach Mount Olympus. Each run through the ever-changing dungeon layouts will see the player meet new enemies and allies, as certain gods will help Zagreus on his mission, bestowing him with new abilities to make escape attempts easier. So, not only could exploration reward players with new story elements to keep them intrigued by the plot and characters, but it could also ensure a successful playthrough!

6 Returnal

Time Loop Space Shooter Shenanigans

Returnal

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Third-Person Shooter

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10 /10

Released

April 30, 2021

Developer(s)

Housemarque

Platform(s)

PC, PlayStation 5

Genre(s)

Third-Person Shooter

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Similar to Hades, each run of third-person sci-fi shooter Returnal sees players potentially discovering new elements of the plot, unveiled in a nonlinear and psychological horror fashion. Players control Selene Vassos, an astronaut stranded on the alien planet Atropos. And if being stranded on an alien planet wasn’t bad enough, Selene finds herself stuck in a time loop too.

This setting serves as the basis for a unique roguelike, and Returnal could have easily been just another story-driven action game set in space but adding the roguelike element made it the award-winning stand-out it is. The game is fast-paced, with shifting landscapes, upgradable weapons, and bullet-hell bosses. Luckily for struggling players, The Ascension update added online co-op multiplayer, so two players can help each other escape the planet together.

5 Loot River

Top-Down Tetris Meets Dark Souls

Loot River is a roguelike like no other as it uniquely combines dark fantasy dungeon crawling, soulslike combat, and Tetris-style jigsaw puzzling – all presented in top-down pixelated but highly detailed graphics.

Adding a puzzle aspect to the gameplay may sound odd, but it fits in perfectly and doesn’t slow the game down, as each wooden platform that the player character walks on can be moved across the river of the dungeon. This adds an extra strategic element to the combat, as players can use it to their advantage and shift the platform away from dangerous foes. It also determines how gamers navigate the procedurally generated areas and, of course, how they reach any loot.

4 Dead Cells

Roguelike, Metroidvania-Style

Like Loot River, Dead Cells also uses a high-detail pixel art style to present its world, this time as a 2D side-scrolling Metroidvania, or “Roguevania” as some have called it. The player character is known by many names: the Prisoner, the Fallen One, or The Beheaded. This character is an immortal amorphous blob creature that can possess dead bodies. This means that every time players die in a runthrough, the creature returns to the start to possess another body. Each run of the game sees gamers try to escape an island full of mutated monsters, with the ultimate goal of slaying the “King” of the island. This is decided as the amnesiac Prisoner learns more about the island, meeting both bosses and item vendors that exchange permanent abilities for Cells.

Whilst the player character does not speak, more is learned about the overarching story via vendors, bosses, and through the Prisoner’s thoughts. Every aspect of the gameplay feels satisfyingly fast-paced and fluid, from platforming to the combat, and as part of the Metroidvania aspect of the game, players are actively encouraged to explore as much of the changing levels as possible in order to unlock and choose from a diverse range of weapons and abilities. Some of these abilities stay permanently, whilst other weapons and bonuses last for one run only, making every playthrough a different challenge. Players can only carry a handful of the vast amount of weapons and abilities, so choose wisely.

3 Enter The Gungeon

Dungeon Crawling Bullet Hell

Enter the Gungeon

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Roguelike

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8 /10

Released

April 5, 2016

Developer(s)

Dodge Roll

Platform(s)

PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One

Genre(s)

Roguelike

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Yet another pixelated style roguelike, Enter the Gungeon combines procedually generated dungeon crawling with top-down arcade shooter bullet hell. The game’s diverse range of enemies, traps, and secrets combined with its variety of guns and items ensures that the exploration in each run through the shifting dungeon rooms is kept interesting.

Players can choose from four different characters; the Marine, Convict, Hunter, or Pilot. Collectively known as the Gungeoneers, each starts out with their own unique weapons. Whatever character is chosen, players are tasked to dodge, hide behind cover, and shoot their way through to the bottom of the Gungeon in order to find a magical gun that can kill the past.

2 The Binding Of Isaac: Rebirth

Biblical Roguelike Remake

Originally created using Adobe Flash, The Binding of Isaac was remade with a more advanced game engine in order to escape the limitations of Flash and was reborn as The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth. This allowed it to be ported to almost every console and portable consoles too. It also allowed for extra content, gameplay features, and three expansions that added more gameplay modes and even user-created content.

With its mixture of cartoonish graphics and gore, the Zelda-style dungeon crawler is regarded as one of the best roguelike games of all time, selling over five million copies. The game features hundreds of items, randomized enemies, and unique unlockable characters. It also features a curse system that can drastically change the gameplay, affecting rooms and runs with extra elements, such as randomly moving the player character to different rooms or hiding item information. With all this combined, every run of the game can result in vastly different exploration.

1 Risk Of Rain 2

A Roguelike Sequel That Takes The Leap To 3D

Risk of Rain 2 shows how much roguelikes could potentially change between sequels as the second installment graduates from the 2D original to a fully 3D experience. The series' evolution from side-scroller to third-person shooter has paid off, as the game received positive reviews upon its release in 2020 and has now been released on current-gen consoles as of August 2024.

Choosing between several characters, known as survivors, players must escape a hostile alien planet. Each character has unique abilities, ensuring that, alongside a wide variety of items, power-ups, and increasingly difficult enemies. Similar to Binding of Isaac’s curse feature, Risk of Rain 2 features optional modifiers in the form of “artifacts” which allow the player to change aspects of the game such as randomizing enemy types and items. With all these factors considered, exploration will be very different with each playthrough.