With roguelikes like Cult of the Lamb or management sims like Terra Nil, it's obvious that many players continue to want more games where each playthrough is a unique experience. Besides the high replay value games like these provide, the randomized elements also make sure that players can still be challenged or surprised hundreds of hours later.
Since these kinds of games have existed since the mid-70s, there're plenty of roguelikes and other procedurally-generated games to choose from. But, certain titles such as Minecraft continue to stand out among the rest.
Slay the Spire (2019)
Originally released in early access in 2017 and later fully released in 2019, Slay the Spire is a roguelike deck-builder whose success led to many other similar titles such as Dicey Dungeons and Inscryption. After the player picks one of the predetermined characters, who each have their own stats and abilities, the player starts navigating through the procedurally generated floors of the titular spire with the goal of reaching the top.
As the player fights enemies, defeats bosses, and goes through various events, they gain and lose cards, which slowly develops their deck. Regardless of whether the player succeeds or fails, the player receives points to unlock new things, which makes the game less frustrating compared to traditional roguelikes.
Nuclear Throne (2015)
Created by Dutch indie studio Vlambeer, who had also developed Super Crate Box and Ridiculous Fishing, Nuclear Throne is a bullet hell top-down roguelike that takes place in a post-apocalyptic world and is inspired by retro games and '50s monster flicks. As one of 12 possible mutant monsters, players make their way through the randomly generated levels to reach the titular Nuclear Throne.
While fighting swarms of enemies, the player obtains randomly spawned weapons and upgrades their character using radiation pellets or "rads," which allows the player to pick one of four randomly selected mutations. Besides special weapons and unlocked characters, players don't retain anything from their previous playthroughs after they die. Combined with the extremely challenging gameplay, Nuclear Throne is only for those who want a brutal but well-made experience.
Spelunky Duology (2008-2020)
Speaking of games that are well-made and brutally challenging, Spelunky is an award-winning duology of roguelike platformers developed by Derek Yu, Aquaria. Originally released as freeware in 2008 and later completely remade in 2012, the first Spelunky has the player traverse through procedurally generated caves, fight enemies, avoid traps, collect treasure, and save damsels.
After many years, a sequel titled Spelunky 2 was finally released in 2020. Besides adding new areas, enemies, and traps, the second entry in the series also includes ridable mounts and some new gameplay mechanics. Along with The Binding of Isaac, Spelunky helped modernize and repopularize the roguelike genre.
Minecraft (2011)
Originally released in 2009 before fully releasing in 2011, Minecraft is an open-world sandbox game where players explore a procedurally generated blocky 3D world. Players then use the materials they find in the environment to craft tools, weapons, armor, buildings, and more.
In survival mode, players can die and must avoid environmental hazards and monsters such as Skeletons, Creepers, and Endermen. As the player gains resources and crafts items, they can slowly obtain better resources to craft better items. Meanwhile, creative mode gives players infinite resources, which allows players to craft whatever they want without worrying about survival mechanics.
Factorio (2020)
Released in 2020, Factorio is a top-down survival management sim where the player has crashed their spaceship on an alien planet. To build another rocket and leave the planet, the player must extract resources from the environment and build factories. But, since the player is essentially draining resources and polluting the environment, they must watch out for the local creatures who will try to destroy the machines and structures.
Even after they complete the story, the player can choose to simply keep building indefinitely on the randomly generated 2D world. During the recent Not-E3's Wholesome Direct, a new game called Terra Nil was announced that seems to be a reverse Factorio where players build structures that restore a ruined planet.
Death Road to Canada (2016)
Developed by American indie studio Rocketcat Games, which has previously created the 2014 dungeon crawler Wayward Souls, Death Road to Canada is a 2016 roguelike with a cute pixel art style that parodies the zombie horror genre. To escape America's zombie apocalypse, the player must guide a party of up to four characters on a dangerous road trip to the Canadian border.
As the group travels across the country over the course of two in-game weeks, the player will have to stop at various locations to find supplies and possibly other survivors if there's room in the group. At certain points, the party will have to fight against a zombie horde for a specific period of time, and the player will also have to make choices in story events. All of these gameplay aspects are randomly generated each playthrough to create a unique experience each time.
Dead Cells (2018)
Inspired by games like The Binding of Isaac, Spelunky, and Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, Dead Cells is a 2018 roguelike Metroidvania Souls-like that follows an amnesiac known as the Prisoner, which is a slime-like creature who can possess dead bodies. After taking control of a nearby corpse, the Prisoner explores the procedurally generated island in order to figure out what happened, kill the island's king, and escape the corrupted land.
While the Prisoner is immortal, the possessed bodies are not. If the body dies, the Prisoner once again restarts at the island's prison and the player loses their progress. Combined with the difficult enemies, this game can be incredibly challenging, but the gorgeous art style and light-hearted story moments keep the experience fun and engaging.
Crypt of the NecroDancer (2015)
Released in 2015, Crypt of the NecroDancer is an award-winning roguelike dungeon crawler rhythm game where the player must explore the crypt and fight monsters while sticking to the beat of the background music, which can come from either the official in-game soundtrack or the player's own playlists. Besides the typical keyboard or control, players can also control their characters using a dance pad.
The main story follows a young woman named Cadence who accidentally falls into the Crypt of the NecroDancer while searching for her missing father, and the NecroDancer steals her heart. To rescue her father and regain her stolen heart, she must travel through the randomly generated Crypt and defeat the NecroDancer. With 15 playable characters and daily challenges, this game will keep players dancing for more.
The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth (2014)
In 2011, indie developers Edmund McMillen and Florian Himsl created the Flash game The Binding of Isaac, which is a roguelike inspired by The Legend of Zelda and the titular biblical story of the "Binding of Isaac." After the unexpected success of this game, McMillen teamed up with game developer Nicalis to remake the game using a more advanced game engine so that more content could be added, which led to the 2014 historic and critically acclaimed The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth.
When Isaac's mother attempts to sacrifice Isaac, he escapes into the basement and discovers that it's filled with randomly generated dungeons, and now Isaac must fight his way through the monster-filled labyrinth. This remake contains gameplay improvements, multiplayer, new expansions, and more.
Hades (2020)
Developed by Supergiant Games, who also created Bastion, Transistor, and Pyre, Hades is an award-winning roguelike action dungeon crawler that's based on Greek mythology. When Zagreus, who is the son of Hades, discovers that his real mother is Persephone and his father lied to him all his life, he decides to escape the randomized Underworld labyrinth to find his mother with the help of random gifts from the Olympian gods. While trying to accomplish this, Zagreus will die hundreds of times.
Unlike most roguelikes, however, these deaths aren't frustrating for the player. After every death, he's guided by the River Styx back home where he can spend the items he obtained on his journey to upgrade his abilities, gain new abilities, obtain new weapons, decorate the palace, complete side quests, befriend other characters, and even try to romance some of them.
