Roguelike (or rogue-like) is a subgenre of role-playing computer games traditionally characterized by a dungeon crawl through procedurally generated levels, turn-based gameplay, grid-based movement, and permanent death of the player character. Most roguelikes are based on a high fantasy narrative, reflecting their influence from tabletop role playing games such as Dungeons & Dragons.
In this article, Gurugamer.com is going to showcase the top 5 best roguelike games on PC in 2022.
1. The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth
In essence, the Binding of Isaac: Rebirth is a rogue-like RPG where you play as Isaac (or one of the other unlockable characters) and you must traverse the basement of your house to escape the wrath of your mother, who hears from the voice of God and is told that you must be sacrificed. This premise sets the tone of the game being very creepy and unsettling as you defend against all manners of your lost brothers, sisters, creatures, and other grotesque monstrosities. Eventually leading to a showdown with your own mother as well (and even beyond that if you get good at the game and carry on).
What makes The Binding the Isaac such a great title comes from its solid gameplay elements. The gameplay itself is very easy to understand at first but becomes very deep with the inclusion of the upgrades via the rogue-like elements (easy to understand + difficult to master + luck of the draw + perma-death = Isaac in a nutshell).
In order to get far into a run, you will need upgrades and a lot of them. Isaac by default will only be able to fire his tears at the enemies in only the four cardinal directions, but many different upgrades can alter his tears or give them new effects. This is what can make or break a run in Binding of Isaac. Be warned, not all the upgrades are positive, which adds to the rogue-like elements, as some are ultimately poor or are only used in certain situations and can ruin a run, resulting in failure (high risk and high reward situations are the nature of the game).
2. Hades
Hades is a 2D isometric hack and slash roguelike where you play as Zagreus, son of Hades. Your goal is to escape the underworld and its inhabitants are not going to make that easy for you.
The art style is beautiful with brilliant character designs. The soundtrack is excellent, the voice acting is spot-on and the sound effects are great too. The story is interwoven with your repeated deaths, progressing multiple plot threads and relationships on every run.
The gameplay though is the stand-out star here. Supergiant has perfected their recipe with this title; isometric, fast-paced combat that takes cues from Bastion and Transistor, but dialed up to 11, with the branching narrative of Pyre but with tons more replayability as the insane numbers of weapon upgrades, boons/perks ensure that every run is different. The runs themselves last about 30-60mins but the story and dialogue just keep on going. Fail the first time and come back stronger, unlock skills and so much more to make your next run much easier, and for those who like it difficult have the ability to crank it up a notch once you have completed your first run.
3. Spelunky 2
It's hard to recommend Spelunky 2. Not because it is a bad game, but because it can be frustrating. As with most roguelikes, dying means going back to the beginning. In Spelunky however, nothing carries over to future runs. All you get to bring into your next run is your own experience and knowledge; And when half the things in the game kill you instantly or stunlock you to death, having a great run end in a quick death can be damaging to one's will.
Thankfully, your own experiences count a great deal towards your progress. Most hazards and enemies in Spelunky 2 have a very simple and predictable behavior. But keeping track of everything on the screen is still a challenge. Enemies and traps will also work together (or against each other) and still bring your demise somehow. Either by bumping your helplessly stunned body into other enemies and traps, or enemies having their own flaming corpse launched towards you and your flammable jetpack. It's actually quite funny sometimes. A good deal of entertainment can be had by recording your own amazingly nonsensical deaths.
Spelunky 2 improves upon Spelunky HD's gameplay by adding split paths, which allow for more variety and decision-making in your runs while staying true to the feeling and style of previous entries. It also adds a back layer to each level, allowing for more secrets to be kept. After successfully completing your first run, you can try to discover these secrets and find hidden bosses and areas and even different endings!
4. Slay the Spire
Slay the Spire is a deckbuilding roguelike. You start the game with a very simple 12 card deck, gather cards as you climb up and fight battles/go through events/rest at campfires/shop at... shops, and then hopefully the deck grows into something cohesive enough to challenge the bosses of the Spire. Mechanically, it's quite simple - deal enough damage to reduce the enemy's health to zero, use Defend cards to protect against incoming attacks, and your deck reshuffles when you go through the whole thing.
However, the game uses this mechanical simplicity as a rock-solid foundation to build complexity and depth. Cards like "Draw a card. Discard a card." can become the absolute foundation of a deck, while a card like "Deal 32 damage" can be an absolute dead draw... depending on your other card picks. Relics, passive bonuses to your character, add another layer to consider. You have a relic that lets you keep drawing cards when you empty your hand - should you focus on 0-cost cards and eliminate your higher cost ones, when removing cards from your deck is a rare and expensive service?
The game's art style is unique, and while it may not appeal to everyone, it's at least refreshing and fun. It's a funny game without leaning too hard into humor, it's a cute game without leaning into weeb cuteness, overall everything is at the least well-made.
5. Faster Than Light
In Faster Than Light, the player takes on the role of a starship captain whose singular goal is to defend the Federation from a rebel threat. The concept is simple, you have to make it through seven grueling sectors to face the mammoth rebel flagship which will mercilessly put your nerves and skill to the test. It employs a tough but fair school of design in which you will dearly pay for every single mistake you make, no matter how small. You may not even realize your mistake until it is too late.
You start with a barebones crew and equipment which you'll want to heavily upgrade by the time you reach the end. You'll achieve that by traveling through the galaxy, doing quests, fighting or aiding other ships or just buying whatever you can afford. This is a roguelike so every playthrough is completely different with randomized quests and loot drops. Sometimes you may feel slighted by the item drops or the difficult situations you find yourself in, but almost every piece of equipment is useful in some way and there's almost always a way out of a sticky situation.
Being a roguelike also means that if you die, you have to start all over again. The sense of urgency is further heightened by the oncoming rebel fleet which won't allow you to roam the galaxy however you wish. Absolutely everything in Faster Than Light is subject to careful forethought and planning, otherwise, you might just back yourself into a corner.
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