The best roguelike games of all time: 16 roguelites to play in 2026
Sixteen runs worth repeating a hundred times, from Hades II to Balatro, with what makes each one special and where you can play it today.
By The Path of Orren team
A great roguelike makes losing feel like progress. You die, you learn something, and the next run is a little different and a little better. These are the best roguelike games of all time, sixteen of them across every platform, from the action games that defined the genre's comeback to the deckbuilders and tactics games that reinvented it. Prices are regular US prices on the day we checked, and every card links to the store.
We are a small team making a party roguelite, so these are the games we keep going back to, and argue about.
Roguelike vs roguelite
The two words cause endless debates, but the difference is simple. A roguelike, in the strict sense, starts every run from nothing: when you die, you lose everything. A roguelite keeps something between runs, such as new characters, permanent upgrades or story progress. Hades and Dead Cells are roguelites, Spelunky 2 and Noita are much closer to true roguelikes. In practice, players and stores use "roguelike" for both, and so do we.
Quick picks
| If you want | Play |
|---|---|
| The best roguelike to start with | Hades, then Hades II |
| A card game you can't put down | Slay the Spire, Balatro |
| Pure tactics | Into the Breach |
| Co-op with friends | Risk of Rain 2, Spelunky 2 |
| Something on your phone | Balatro, Dead Cells, Vampire Survivors |
| The hardest challenge | Spelunky 2, Noita |
| A free party roguelite for phones, coming soon | Path of Orren (ours) |
Our game
Path of Orren
- Free, coming soon to iPhone and Android
- Join the waitlist
Full disclosure: this one is ours, so it isn't ranked with the others. Path of Orren is the game our small team is making, a free dark-fantasy party roguelite for iPhone and Android: you gather a party of unlikely heroes, set them on the field and lead them down a road of fights, forges, treasures and strange events, and the battles play out on their own while your choices decide who makes it to the end. It is a roguelite where you lead a whole party instead of one hero, and each run builds a different team. It isn't out yet, and you can join the waitlist to play it first.
Action roguelites
1Hades II
- Not on phones
- PC: $29.99
Supergiant's sequel left early access in September 2025 and immediately took its place at the top of the genre. You play Melinoë, a witch-princess fighting through the Underworld and up toward Olympus, with boons from the gods changing your powers every run. The combat is faster and deeper than the first game's, and the story keeps moving with every death.
2Hades
- Not on phones
- PC: $24.99
The game that brought roguelikes to a huge new audience. As Zagreus, son of Hades, you try to escape the Underworld again and again, and every failure moves the story forward. Its writing, voice acting and fluid combat still set the standard. It is no longer on phones since Netflix removed it in July 2025.
3Dead Cells
A fast 2D action-platformer through a castle that rearranges itself every run. You find weapons and mutations as you go, and runes permanently open new routes, so the map grows with your skill. It is also one of the best action games on mobile.
4The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth
- iPhone: $14.99, no ads
- Not on Android
- PC: $14.99
A twin-stick shooter through randomized basement rooms, with hundreds of items that stack into absurd builds. It is grotesque, strange and endlessly deep once you add its expansions. On phones, it is on iPhone and iPad but not on Android.
5Enter the Gungeon
A bullet hell where you dodge-roll and flip tables through floors of a gun-themed dungeon, full of joke weapons that turn out to be very good. It came to phones in August 2025, free to try before an unlock.
6Risk of Rain 2
- Not on phones
- PC: $24.99
A third-person 3D shooter where items stack without limit while the difficulty rises with time. The longer you survive, the more absurd your character gets, and so do the monsters. Up to four players can play together, which makes it the best co-op roguelite here.
7Returnal
- Not on phones
- PC: $59.99
A third-person bullet-hell shooter in which the astronaut Selene is stuck in a time loop on a hostile alien planet. It is the most cinematic game on this list and one of the hardest. It is on PS5 and PC.
8Spelunky 2
- Not on phones
- PC: $19.99
A platformer dive through caves where every system interacts with every other: shopkeepers, traps, animals and explosives. It is very hard and very fair, and the community has been finding secrets in it for years. Its online co-op is chaos in the best way.
9Noita
- Not on phones
- PC: $19.99
Every pixel is simulated: fire spreads, liquids flow, walls crumble. You build magic wands out of spells and blast, burn and flood your way down. It is the most inventive and the most punishing game on the list.
Deckbuilders and strategy
10Slay the Spire
- iPhone
- Android
- $9.99, no ads
- PC: $24.99
The game that defined the roguelike deckbuilder. You climb a spire with a small deck, add cards after almost every fight and collect relics that bend the rules. Years of imitators later, it is still the best. Slay the Spire 2 has been in early access on PC since March 2026.
11Balatro
- iPhone
- Android
- $9.99, no ads
- PC: $14.99
Poker hands, score targets and Jokers that multiply everything. Balatro took the deckbuilder's drafting and synergies and wrapped them in a game everyone already knows, and it became one of the biggest indie hits of recent years. Runs are short, which makes it dangerous.
12Into the Breach
- iPhone
- Android
- With a Netflix subscription
- PC: $14.99
Small turn-based battles on eight-by-eight grids, where every enemy shows its next attack before it happens. Your mechs have one turn to push, block and redirect those attacks, and a perfect turn feels like solving a puzzle. On phones it is included with a Netflix subscription.
13FTL: Faster Than Light
- iPad only: $9.99, no ads
- Not on Android
- PC: $9.99
You command a starship fleeing across a galaxy, managing crew, power and repairs in pausable real-time fights and short text events. It came out in 2012 and still feels like nothing else. On mobile, it is on iPad only.
Survivors-likes and newcomers
14Vampire Survivors
You only move. Your weapons fire on their own, the screen fills with monsters, and level-ups combine your weapons into evolutions. It made the survivors genre popular, it costs very little on PC and consoles, and it is free on phones, with optional ads.
15BALL x PIT
A brick-breaker crossed with a survivors game: you bounce balls into enemies walking toward you and fuse balls into new ones with combined effects. Between runs you build a town that unlocks new characters. It is one of the best new roguelites of the last year, on every platform including phones.
16Cult of the Lamb
- iPhone: Only with Apple Arcade
- Not on Android
- PC: $24.99
Half action roguelite, half cult management. You crusade through dungeons, then come home to build your base and keep your followers fed, faithful and, sometimes, sacrificed. It is cute and very dark at the same time. On phones, it is only in Apple Arcade.
The best co-op roguelikes
If you want to play with friends, Risk of Rain 2 is the classic choice for up to four players. Spelunky 2 has online co-op that turns every run into chaos, The Binding of Isaac added online co-op with its Repentance+ update on PC, and Vampire Survivors has had online co-op since 2025.
The best roguelikes on Switch, PS5 and phones
On Switch, almost every game on this list is available, including Hades, Hades II, Dead Cells, Slay the Spire, Balatro, Into the Breach, Spelunky 2 and Cult of the Lamb. On PS5, Hades II, Returnal, Balatro, Spelunky 2 and Risk of Rain 2 stand out. On phones, start with Balatro, Slay the Spire, Dead Cells, Vampire Survivors and BALL x PIT, or see our full list of the best roguelike games on iPhone and Android.
Questions
What is the difference between a roguelike and a roguelite?
In a strict roguelike, every run starts from nothing and death erases everything. A roguelite keeps some progress between runs, such as new characters, upgrades or story. Most modern games in the genre are roguelites, and most people use both words for both.
What is the best roguelike of all time?
Hades is the most common answer, and Hades II has now joined it. Slay the Spire, The Binding of Isaac and Spelunky 2 are the other usual picks, depending on whether you prefer cards, chaos or precision.
Is Elden Ring a roguelike?
No, Elden Ring is an open-world action RPG. Its 2025 spin-off, Elden Ring Nightreign, is a roguelite, with three-day runs on a shrinking map, played solo or in co-op.
What is the best co-op roguelike?
Risk of Rain 2 is the classic pick for up to four players. Spelunky 2 is great for chaotic co-op, and The Binding of Isaac and Vampire Survivors both have online co-op.
What are the best roguelikes on Nintendo Switch?
Hades, Hades II, Dead Cells, Slay the Spire, Balatro, Into the Breach, Spelunky 2 and Cult of the Lamb are all on Switch, and most also run on Switch 2.
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