The Best Roguelikes of 2025 (So Far)

The prevalence of roguelikes has made it to where it’s almost impossible to find a new game that doesn’t incorporate that structure in at least some way. For every cool new indie title you see pop up on Steam, it’s almost as if roughly half of them include either “roguelike” or “roguelite” genre tags, and truth be told, it seems like players simply can’t get enough of them. Roguelikes are perfect for quick-fix bursts of addictive gameplay, and the best of them combine that addictive gameplay loop with rewarding progression and appealing visuals or music to deliver something that AAA games simply can’t. 2025 has been absolutely flush with incredible new roguelikes across a wide variety of different subgenres, and these are the best ones that have released so far (with more surely on the way).

• Release Date — August 19, 2025
• Developer — Stubby Games
• Publisher — Playstack
• Review Aggregate Score — N/A
• Steam User Score — 91% (Very Positive)
• Platforms — PC (Early Access)

This year has been absolutely jam-packed with incredible new entries in the FPS roguelike subgenre (one that’s been growing by leaps and bounds). But one that seems to have escaped most players’ radars in comparison to games like Bloodshed, Abyssus, or Deadzone: Rogue, is VOID/BREAKER. VOID/BREAKER is much more of a movement-focused FPS than any of the aforementioned titles, making it feel almost like a roguelike version of Titanfall 2 with some incredible shooting and visuals to back up its strong traversal mechanics. VOID/BREAKER is an absolute feast for the senses that has some rewarding progression and perfectly-paced runs, making it an essential pick-up for anyone who enjoys roguelikes, FPSes, or a combination thereof.

• Release Date — August 18, 2025
• Developer — Free Lives
• Publisher — Devolver Digital
• Review Aggregate Score — N/A
• Steam User Score — 97% (Overwhelmingly Positive)
• Platforms — PC (Early Access)

Anyone who’s played some of developer Free Lives’ previous games (Broforce, Anger Foot) probably knew we were in store for something great with Stick It to the Stickman, but it cannot be stressed enough how much fun this roguelike beat ’em up is. Between its hilarious, biting satire and physics-based combat and platforming, Stick It to the Stickman is a game that’s more than capable of eliciting both a smile and some genuine laugh-out-loud moments, but the depth of its combat sandbox is as serious as a heart attack. And it’s hard to think of a better (or more on the nose) metaphor for the corporate rat race than having to literally beat the competition into submission.

• Release Date — September 10, 2025
• Developer — Lizard Smoothie
• Publisher — Neowiz
• Review Aggregate Score — 83% (Generally Favorable)
• Steam User Score — 94% (Very Positive)
• Platforms — PC

The success of Hades inspired dozens of similar action roguelikes with an isometric perspective, many of which happened to release this year in direct competition with the 1.0 launch of Hades II (more on that later). Many of them lack the polish or rewarding progression of something like Hades, but Lizard Smoothie’s Shape of Dreams is one of the rare exceptions. Along with another of this year’s better Hades-likes, Sworn, Shape of Dreams stands out from the crowd thanks to its incredibly satisfying build diversity, rewarding progression, and excellent visual style that sets it apart from the hand-drawn visuals of something like Hades II. Not a lot of people have tried this one yet, so expect it to become one of the year’s sleeper hits for roguelike fans.

• Release Date — August 29, 2025
• Developer — Nikola Todorovic
• Publisher — Nikola Todorovic
• Review Aggregate Score — N/A
• Steam User Score — 95% (Overwhelmingly Positive)
• Platforms — PC

After spending a couple of years in Early Access, roguelike first-person hack-and-slash game Mortal Sin finally launched into 1.0 this year, and it’s now better than ever. What makes Mortal Sin such a blast to play is how well it nails first-person melee combat, somehow landing on a model that outdoes most other games that try by focusing on speed, ferocity, and momentum. Few things are as satisfying as carving through hordes of ghouls with a massive broadsword or battle axe in Mortal Sin. And when it comes to the game’s visuals and presentation, pictures don’t even come close to doing Mortal Sin‘s unique art direction justice — it practically demands to be seen in action to be appreciated.

• Release Date — February 19, 2025
• Developer — Computer Dream
• Publisher — Computer Dream
• Review Aggregate Score — N/A
• Steam User Score — 92% (Positive)
• Platforms — PC

The “roguelike deckbuilder” is perhaps the single most crowded subgenre on all of Steam, which inevitably leads to certain games falling through the cracks, destined to become cult classics or hidden gems. Of all the excellent roguelike deckbuilders to release in 2025, one of the best that seemingly no one has played is Spellhack!!, which mixes in elements of tower defense for good measure and features an incredibly satisfying power curve that makes each run feel like a major step up from the last. Playing Spellhack!! feels like discovering some MS-DOS hidden gem in a 1980s study, something it goes to great lengths to replicate with its presentation and visuals.

• Release Date — May 15, 2025
• Developer — Ant Workshop Ltd.
• Publisher — Wales Interactive
• Review Aggregate Score — 78% (Generally Favorable)
• Steam User Score — 83% (Very Positive)
• Platforms — PC, PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch, Xbox Series X/S

Another of this year’s greatest deckbuilders is actually only partially a deckbuilder, with the other components of its unique genre-blending being puzzle and auto-battling. Into the Restless Ruins is a curious roguelike with a story steeped in Scottish and Celtic mythology, but its gameplay is equal parts Tetris, Loop Hero, and Slay the Spire. You collect cards to build a dungeon, strategically lining up rooms together like Tetrominoes in Tetris to gain access to an ultimate boss room. Once you’ve run out of cards in a turn, you descend into the dungeon and auto-battle your way through it, collecting resources to make your next journey more successful. It’s an addictive loop that immediately pays off and is hard to put down — just what you want from a roguelike.

• Release Date — April 10, 2025
• Developer — Dogubomb
• Publisher — Raw Fury
• Review Aggregate Score — 92% (Universal Acclaim)
• Steam User Score — 86% (Very Positive)
• Platforms — PC, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S

Puzzle and adventure games don’t typically mesh well with the procedural generation and incremental progression of a roguelike, which makes Blue Prince pretty unique. It also happens to be one of the best games of 2025 and a top-tier roguelike, which is all the more impressive. Blue Prince leverages its premise to create an experience unlike any other, where each attempt at uncovering the mysteries of the game’s mansion only leads to further layers being peeled back to reveal more of the labyrinth. That some players have nearly 100 hours in Blue Prince and are still uncovering new secrets is a testament to the care and attention to detail that went into crafting its incredibly intricate puzzles and mysteries.

• Release Date — May 29, 2025
• Developer — FromSoftware
• Publisher — Bandai Namco
• Review Aggregate Score — 77% (Generally Favorable)
• Steam User Score — 86% (Very Positive)
• Platforms — PC, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S

There have been so many incredible games launched in 2025 that it’s almost easy to forget that May gifted us the roguelike take on FromSoftware’s Elden Ring with Elden Ring Nightreign. While Nightreign is a lot more conditional than most of the other games on this list (it’s practically essential to play with friends to get the necessary amount of coordination and strategy to be really successful), when it’s firing on all cylinders, it’s easily one of the most rewarding action roguelikes out there and a perfect twist on the Soulslike gameplay that FromSoftware crafted all those years ago with Demon’s Souls. Elden Ring Nightreign is tough, but the way that the game’s learning curve helps you quickly acclimate to its rhythm and pacing is incredibly satisfying, meaning you’ll be crushing through all the Nightlords before you know it.

• Release Date — September 17, 2025
• Developer — Funday Games
• Publisher — Ghost Ship Publishing
• Review Aggregate Score — 86% (Generally Favorable)
• Steam User Score — 87% (Very Positive)
• Platforms — PC

Out of all the many “survivor-like” or “bullet heaven” games that have been released in the wake of Vampire Survivors, Deep Rock Galactic: Survivor is arguably the best of the bunch and the only one to even come close to scratching the same itch as Vampire Survivors. Deep Rock Galactic: Survivor spent just over a year in Early Access before launching into 1.0 just last month, and it’s easily the best game to follow in Vampire Survivors‘ footsteps, not just because it nails its gameplay loop and addictive progression curve. The “secret sauce” of Deep Rock Galactic: Survivor is how it integrates the mining and resource collecting of Deep Rock Galactic as an integral part of its progression systems, adding a whole other layer to the horde survival gameplay.

• Release Date — October 15, 2025
• Developer — Kenny Sun
• Publisher — Devolver Digital
• Review Aggregate Score — 84% (Generally Favorable)
• Steam User Score — 96% (Overwhelmingly Positive)
• Platforms — PC, PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch, Xbox Series X/S

Take one part auto-scrolling horde survivor and one part block-smashing puzzler like Breakout or Arkanoid, and you pretty much have exactly what Ball x Pit is putting down. Having just released last week, Ball x Pit is already making a splash as one of the more addictive roguelikes ever made, and that’s without most people even mentioning how satisfying and rewarding its in-between mission segments are. There’s a city-building and resource management meta-game that’s just as important to Ball x Pit‘s progression as the within-run upgrades that you get while mowing down hordes of foes. Few roguelikes are equally as fun both within and outside of each individual run, but Ball x Pit manages to pull it off.

• Release Date — May 23, 2025
• Developer — Sad Socket
• Publisher — Hooded Horse, Instinct3
• Review Aggregate Score — N/A
• Steam User Score — 92% (Very Positive)
• Platforms — PC (Early Access)

Despite being in Early Access still, 9 Kings already has what feels like a feature-complete experience that seemingly never gets old. In 9 Kings, you begin by choosing one of several different available Kings (with more planned to come in the game’s development roadmap), each of whom has different building and unit types to support them. Using cards, you deploy buildings and troop types to a grid, periodically expanding and leveling up as you wage war against your neighboring kingdoms. Encounters play out in a mix of auto-battling and Scorched Earth-style projectile tossing, and a full 30-year reign takes only about 15 or so minutes to get through, making it all too easy to whittle away dozens of hours before you’ve even noticed.

• Release Date — September 18, 2025
• Developer — vedinad
• Publisher — vedinad
• Review Aggregate Score — 87% (Generally Favorable)
• Steam User Score — 93% (Very Positive)
• Platforms — PC

Along with Ball x Pit, Megabonk is a newer roguelike that’s been making quite the splash over on Steam, generating tons of hype for its unique take on the budding “survivor-like” or “bullet heaven” subgenre that Vampire Survivors popularized. Rather than utilize a top-down, 2D perspective like similar games, Megabonk is in full 3D, making it feel like a cross between Vampire Survivors and Risk of Rain 2 in the best way, and offering up a gameplay loop that’s about as addictive as both of those legendary roguelikes. Megabonk is immediately satisfying and features just enough rewarding progression to inspire that perfect “just one more run” feeling that the best roguelikes do.

• Release Date — May 21, 2025
• Developer — Shiny Shoe
• Publisher — Big Fan Games
• Review Aggregate Score — 87% (Generally Favorable)
• Steam User Score — 95% (Overwhelmingly Positive)
• Platforms — PC, PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch, Xbox Series X/S

When it comes to the “hall of fame” roguelike deckbuilders, it’s pretty much a toss-up between Slay the Spire and Monster Train for which game sits at the top of the pile, and Monster Train 2 absolutely belongs in the discussion as well. Gameplay-wise, Monster Train 2 improves upon its predecessor in just about every way, offering up new unit types, more rewarding synergies and combinations, and just a better all-around experience when it comes to progression and upgrades. Monster Train 2 would easily be the best roguelike deckbuilder out there were it not for Slay the Spire, which makes the wait for that game’s upcoming sequel even harder. Until then, you’ve got hundreds of hours of potential gameplay waiting for you in Monster Train 2.

• Release Date — October 9, 2025
• Developer — Guard Crush Games, Supamonks
• Publisher — Dotemu
• Review Aggregate Score — 87% (Generally Favorable)
• Steam User Score — 94% (Very Positive)
• Platforms — PC, PS4, PS5, Nintendo Switch

One of this year’s greatest surprises, and a game that’s sure to go down not just as one of 2025’s best roguelikes but one of the year’s best games period, is Absolum. This hand-drawn beat ’em up comes to us from the same team behind Streets of Rage 4, which should tell you all you need to know about how solid its combat mechanics are. But Absolum is much more than just your typical beat ’em up, blending in elements of RPG progression and branching pathways that make it feel like a modern-day version of the Capcom classic Dungeons and Dragons: Shadows Over Mystara, or even the legendary Sega Saturn title Guardian Heroes. Absolum is something special, and it’s one of the small handful of roguelike games that is a legitimate Game of the Year contender.

• Release Date — September 25, 2025
• Developer — Supergiant Games
• Publisher — Supergiant Games
• Review Aggregate Score — 94% (Universal Acclaim)
• Steam User Score — 96% (Overwhelmingly Positive)
• Platforms — PC, Nintendo Switch, Switch 2

Speaking of Game of the Year-worthy roguelikes, Hades II finally launched into 1.0 this September after just over a year in Early Access, and it’s already proven itself to be a worthy follow-up to the now-legendary Hades. As a character, Melinoe admittedly isn’t quite as interesting to get to know as Zagreus was in Hades, but she’s arguably infinitely more satisfying to play as, with the combat sandbox in Hades II being impressively more varied and complex than it already was in its predecessor. And, as you’d expect from a Supergiant Games project, Hades II has a level of polish that outdoes a lot of AAA games. It’s insane that you can get a game with as much content value as Hades II for less than $30.