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Guides & Editorial
You’ll never play the same game twice with this selection of the finest procedurally generated adventures available on PlayStation Store.
Action roguelikes
Experience death-defying runs that get your heart racing
Unravel a cosmic horror story in this third-person roguelike shooter that traps an astronaut in time loop on an ever-changing planet.
Work your way through a series of stunning alien landscapes full of fearsome monsters and powerful loot, fighting both scaling difficulty and the always-ticking clock.
Form a unique bond with an upgradable station wagon in this first-person driving survival game.
Hack and slash your way out of Hades to defy its namesake, the lord of the underworld – who also happens to be your dad.
Roguelikes are games characterised by levels that are procedurally generated - that is, created by clever algorithms rather than manually designed - meaning that no two playthroughs are ever the same. Level layouts, enemy placements and the weapons or upgrades you encounter change every time you restart, creating an irresistible challenge that demands hundreds, if not thousands of replays.
The name pays tribute to Rogue, an early dungeon crawler from 1980. The game used procedural generation to create an entirely new dungeon for every playthrough, meaning players could never anticipate the dangers ahead. Through this, Rogue also introduced the enduring concept of ‘permadeath’.
There’s a lot of debate on this. Purists argue that a roguelike must mirror Rogue’s turn-based, dungeon crawler RPG approach to qualify.
Another school of thought is that a roguelike can refer to any game with procedural elements that will reset your progress completely after each playthrough, whereas a rogue-lite retains some elements of character progression, such as upgraded stats or unlocked weapons and abilities. Because of this, some consider that a roguelike is about the journey, whereas a rogue-lite is about the destination.
There are plenty of roguelikes that can be enjoyed with other players as cooperative experiences. Some of the games that support multiplayer in this curated selection include Spelunky 2 and Enter The Gungeon.
Classic roguelikes
Perfect your escape strategy across diverse environments.
A sequel to the classic indie cave crawler, Spelunky 2 lets you loose on a hazardous underground world teeming with loot, enemies and traps.
Join Dave, a professional diver, as he catches unique and delicious fish by day and serves hungry patrons at a seaside sushi restaurant by night.
Become an immortal blob capable of possessing the bodies of dead prisoners and fight your way out of a plague-ridden island kingdom in this lightning-fast action experience.
This multi-award-winning time-survival experience mixes minimalistic gameplay with rogue-lite elements to deliver compelling one-more-run appeal.
Vampire Survivors is released for PlayStation 4 and PS5 in 2024.
Take control of a series of heirs attempting to navigate ever-changing dungeons in this sequel to a rogue-lite classic.
Genre-pushing roguelikes
Explore the boundaries of the genre where no playthrough is the same.
Blending deckbuilding with roguelike gameplay, escape-room-style puzzle mechanics and psychological horror, Inscryption is a uniquely dark experience.
Play illegal poker hands, discover game-changing jokers and trigger outrageous combos in this roguelike deckbuilding strategy experience.
Play as a lamb saved from annihilation by an ominous stranger and subsequently made to repay their debut by building a loyal cult following in his name.
A fusion of card game and roguelike, this single-player deckbuilder is set in a unique fantasy world and offers compelling risk-versus-reward gameplay.
PS VR2 roguelikes
Get even closer to the action in roguelikes designed exclusively for VR.
This magic-infused shooter sends you on an atmospheric journey to defend humanity from encroaching forces of darkness.
This neon-soaked arcade rogue-lite tasks you with striking down legions of magic-infused monstrosities across ever-changing runs.
Play as a pioneering prospector exploring randomized networks of ancient mines and perilous caves in this single or multiplayer VR adventure.
Enter a hostile, surreal world and overcome its deadly defences using telekinetic powers and a range of tactile weaponry in this roguelike first-person shooter from award-winning studio nDreams.
Explore expertly curated guides to the genres you love.
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