The best roguelike games

A roguelike is a genre of role-playing video games characterized by certain gameplay elements and mechanics. These games are inspired by the 1980 game "Rogue" which is where the genre gets its name. The defining features of roguelikes include:
Procedural generation: levels, maps, and other game elements are created algorithmically rather than being pre-designed.
Permadeath: when your character dies, you typically lose all progress and must start the game from the beginning. There are no checkpoints or save points to reload from.
Random loot: items, weapons, and equipment found in the game world are often randomly generated.

Roguelikes come in various settings and themes, ranging from traditional fantasy settings to sci-fi, horror, and more. The genre has seen significant evolution over the years, leading to sub-genres like "roguelite" and "roguelike-like" which may have some of the core features of roguelikes but with more forgiving gameplay mechanics or progression systems.

Most popular roguelike games

Elona

rpgWindows XP/98/95

Rogue

rpgWindows XP/98/95, DOS, Linux, Mac OS

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ZAngband

Windows 10/11Mac OSDOSLinux1999freeware

Zangband is a variant of the popular roguelike game Angband. Zangband, short for Zelazny Angband, was developed by Chris Weisiger and first released in 1994. The game features a fantasy world with diverse races, classes, and monsters. Players explore dungeons, caves, and other environments in a quest to reach the bottom level of the dungeon, d...

Elona

Windows XP/98/952007freeware

Elona (short for Eternal League of Nefia) is a free roguelike RPG developed by Japanese indie developer named Noa in 2007. Its gameplay combines elements of open-world exploration, dungeon crawling, and life simulation. It has complex gameplay mechanics, and high replayability. Elona offers a sandbox world where players can pursue various role...

TomeNET

Windows XP/98/95LinuxMac OS2001freeware

TomeNET (Troubles of Middle Earth, Net) is an online, multiplayer rogue-like game set in the world of J.R.R. Tolkien's Middle-Earth. It’s a persistent-world game inspired by Angband, a single-player dungeon-crawler based on Tolkien lore. You can play as familiar fantasy races like Elves, Dwarves, Humans, or Hobbits, as well as more obscu...

Beneath Apple Manor

DOS1983freeware

Beneath Apple Manor is a pioneering game in the roguelike genre, originally developed and released in 1978 by Don Worth for the Apple II and later re-released for DOS as a "Special Edition". It's one of the earliest known role-playing video games (RPGs) with procedurally generated dungeons.In Beneath Apple Manor, players take on the role of an adve...

Castle of the Winds

Windows 3.x1993freeware SaadaSoft

Castle of the Winds is a fantasy roguelike role-playing game developed by SaadaSoft in the early 1990s. It was designed for Windows 3.x and is notable for being one of the earliest graphical RPGs for that platform. The game features a top-down perspective and incorporates elements of dungeon crawling, exploration, and character development.The game...

Rogue

Windows XP/98/95DOSLinuxMac OS1984 Artificial Intelligence Design

Rogue is one of the first RPGs in the history of video gaming. It's a text-based dungeon crawler in which you have to fight your way in the dungeon to recover the Amulet of Yendor. Rogue became popular around 1980 on mainframes and later ported to various platforms, including DOS in 1984. Rogue is simply the father of all the roguelike games that c...

Slash'Em

Windows XP/98/95Linux1997freeware

UnReal World v. 3.20

Windows XP/98/95Mac OS1992freeware

DND

DOS1984

Ragnarok

DOS1993freeware Gray Design Associates

Reaping The Dungeon

DOS1993 Frontline Software

Angband

Windows XP/98/95DOSLinux1992freeware

Dungeon Crawl

Windows XP/98/95DOSLinux1997freeware

Dungeon Crawl (also known as Linley's Dungeon Crawl from the name of the original programmer: Linley Henzell) is a classic roguelike: an RPG with permadeath, procedural generation and high replayability. Dungeon Crawl was released on 1997 but it's not maintained anymore. The spiritual successr of Crawl is DCCS (Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup).

Moria

DOS1992freeware

Warp Rogue

Windows 10/11Linux2004freeware

Larn

DOS1986freeware

Ancient Domains of Mystery (ADOM) v1.1

Windows XP/98/95DOSLinux1996freeware

Hack

DOS1984freeware

Incursion

Windows 10/11LinuxMac OS2007freeware

Omega

DOSLinux1988freeware

NetHack - Falcon's Eye

Windows XP/98/952001freeware

WitchavenRL

Windows 10/11Linux2013

NetHack

DOSWindows XP/98/95Mac OSLinux1987freeware

NetHack is an open-source roguelike game that's been around since the early 1980s. It's a single-player dungeon exploration game where you navigate your character through a randomly generated dungeon filled with monsters, traps, treasures, and various items. The goal is to retrieve the Amulet of Yendor, located deep within the dungeon's lowest leve...