I’ve sunk probably a thousand hours into Slay the Spire, have beaten Hades, and just finished Cult of the Lamb. Looking for something else to scratch that itch- preferably on switch. Any suggestions?
Update: Y’all convinced me. I bought Binding of Isaac and am excited to start. I also tried out Dead Cells via Netflix, but feel like I’d prefer it with a controller compared to mobile. Gonna start with Isaac, and wait for a sale on Dead Cells. Thank you for all the recommendations! I’m saving this thread for future reference.
You must log in or # to comment.
Slice & Dice is really good. If I play something on phone it is either that or Slay the Spire.
Hollow Knight
My absolute favourite roguelite is Noita.
Beware though, it’s quite different to other roguelites in that the world it creates is suprisingly expansive. You can get lost in it, mentally. There are quests that can take you dozens of hours to complete, all on the same run, and even if you become so absurdly overpowered that nothing can threaten you directly, till you can fly inside the sun, you can still get turned into a sheep and die in a single hit.
Also the wand-building is complex, it’s like a programming language. People have built wands that can teleport you to parallel worlds, and the developers did not intend for that to be possible. And in a way I’ve never seen magic be done before, you can screw up and kill yourself with your wands, just like a discworld wizard. It’s so easy to do, it’s a rite of passage for any new player.
Some people don’t like spoilers on this game so here you go, but honestly getting just a little spoiled made me get properly into it to understand what the hell people were talking about.
Tap for spoiler
I was maybe 8 or 9 hours into reaching the hardest boss in the game, up to NG+24 or so, just a couple of hours away from my destination. I was teleporting, had hundreds of thousands of hit points, had immunity to every kind of damage, could tear through the terrain like it wasn’t there, had weapons that would evaporate any enemy in the blink of an eye even as they became exponentially more powerful with each NG+ level, and I was being careful. I had even pacified the world so nobody would attack. Then some asshole dropped in from off-screen with a wand of transmogrification, got hit by the chainsaw on my tele wand and retaliated while something exploded nearby throwing fire over us, and I, now a sheep, flopped around impotently for a few seconds on fire then just fucking died.
I… stopped playing after that one, I’ll be honest. But I will return.
And rather than simply being repetitive, the way the world loops creates an ennui that’s kind of haunting to me. The whole game is littered with versions of people trying to achieve immortality, and if you manage to reach a point where you actually can’t die, you feel like you’ve soft-locked yourself, because dying is how you get to the end-screen. You can just end the run from the menu, but it feels fake somehow.
10/10 would try to kill god and confront my mortality again.
Thank you for the in-depth explanation! I’ve wishlisted it and will pick it up when it goes on sale. The art is absolutely beautiful, I can see how it could get haunting and lonely.
Just as a bit of a counter to all the Isaac love (and, don’t get me wrong, I love Isaac):
BoI is probably the best roguelite… from the early 2010s. The gameplay is ridiculously solid but the upgrade design and drop system has too much in common with the roguelikes of old where you would often lose a run because the purple potion was instant death on this run.
There are just so many upgrades and synergies that you might become completely unkillable on floor 2 of one run and then have your entire build ruined on floor 5 of a different run. I STRONGLY encourage playing with the wiki or https://tboi.com/ open on a second device/display to avoid these run ruining pickups because you happened to forget what THAT weird egg looking thing did with a different weird looking egg thing.
On PC there are mods that integrate this into the game (and I think you can use it with achievements after your first matricide?). And I think Edmund has said he wants to add that to the base game sooner than later?
But contrast that with games like Hades where basically every single upgrade is a pure upgrade and you have good item descriptions before you pick anything up (so it is mostly a case of deciding what damage types you want to spec for). Or Dead Cells where you can easily swap out a weapon if you decide you didn’t like it. But in Isaac? You are basically chugging mystery potions on every floor.
avoid these run ruining pickups because you happened to forget what THAT weird egg looking thing did with a different weird looking egg thing.
The stupid behavior of X item sucks is part of the fun of the game and why it’s so great, though. You pretty much forget all those broken runs you got, but I’ll never forget the times I found Plan C or used the Bible on Satan. I also think you’re missing that repentance modernized all this and there’s even fewer bad items than before. At this point there are only a handful of truly bad items.
Hades is great and holds your hand, but the fact that every upgrade is more-or-less the same type of skill addition to your build is also boring.
I don’t know if you are into Mystery Dungeon games, but I loved both of Void Terrarium games. Both on switch.
Dead Cells is 50% off on GOG right now.
If you enjoyed Hades, you might like the new Ninja Turtles game, Splintered Fate. It’s definitely a bit more than “inspired by” Hades. Doesn’t quite hit the same, but it’s still a good time.
Came here to suggest The Binding of Isaac, but it looks like people already convinced you. Hope you love it! I’ve achieved 100% completion at around 870 hours, and one of my acquaintances is currently at 4.1k hours played of that. It’s an incredible amount of fun
Star traders frontiers if you want a more management spacy concept
I don’t have a lot of experience with roguelike games. Before I even knew about the genre I played quite a bit of Spelunkey. As someone who loves Super Mario Bros I thought that game was great. I recently found Vagante and am having a lot of fun with it. It gives off Spelunkey vibes, but is more traditional fantasy.
Dead Cells?
Emphasis, perhaps, on the “lite” part of Roguelite. But it does have that Roguelike run structure where the levels and the items you find therein are randomized. But with side scrolling platforming gameplay with a very distinct set of fast double-jump-dodge-roll-parry-combo mechanics that I think can best be summed up as ninja gameplay. And you will get killed… a lot. There is a permanent progression system of a sort in the form of unlocking more weapons and items (and later, to re lock items you don’t like), but your core stats remain the same. This is one of those games where the real progression is on your own personal quest to git gud.
I think it’s pretty unique in that it has no dud weapons or items whatsoever. Everything – literally everything – has the potential to be viable and can be absolutely deadly when wielded in the right hands. Even the joke items.
It also has not one, but two weapons which involve beating the shit out of your enemies with frying pans. What’s not to love?
There is indeed a Switch version.
Binding of Isaac is some OG classic stuff if you haven’t played that one, and Neon Abyss is a fun side-scrolling game on a similar vibe. Rogue Legacy 1 (very OG) and 2 and Dead Cells are also side scrolling , with a dash of Metroidvania.
If you like Slay the Spire, Astrea is the same thing but with dice, and Monster Train also scratches the same itch.
In the style of Slay The Spire : Griftlands, Monster Train, Wildfrost, Accross The Obelisk, Dicey Dungeons (kinda)
More action oriented : Risk of Rain Returns, Risk of Rain 2 (both games are awesome and quite different), Rogue Legacy 1 & 2, Gunfire Reborn, Spelunky 1 & 2
Unique : Balatro, Noita, Crypt of the Necrodancer, Cultist Simulator, Ballionaire, Luck Be A Landlord
Feel free to search about any of these games or ask some questions about them.
Would not recommend Crypt of the Necrodancer, considering barely anybody ever beats the game even by default, and then completing the full story is far too hard to not be frustrating
If you can still download the legacy version of Dwarf Fortress from Bay12Games website, Adventure Mode is the best rouge like I’ve ever played. It’s not yet in the Steam version, though.
For a more action-oriented rogue like, I find Returnal to be fun as hell. Roguelike bullet hell 3rd person shooter, with a pretty intriguing story line if you manage to actually get all of it (finding story bits is as random as everything else).
Edit: Er… They’re on PC, though. DF could run on pretty much anything; returnal might need a decent gaming rig (or a PlayStation).
They are releasing adventure mode in the steam version on the 23rd.
I was never able to get into Dwarf Fortress, but that’s awesome that there’s a rogue like mode coming out!
I actually own Returnal on PS5 but never gave it much of a thought. It sounds like it’s worth trying though!
Since you love Slay The Spire, you should try Balatro •<|:)€ ♤♡◇♧!
It’s the titular “Poker Rogue-lite” that’s taken the world by storm, and it certainly knows how to up the ante!
I sunk 25 hours into Balatro the first weekend I had it on PC. Also bought the mobile version when it came out, and have put an embarrassing amount of time into it.
This is an ad 👆
Lmfao, someone hasn’t beaten Red Stake. In all seriousness, do you really think LocalThunk would stoop that low? To using Lemmy bot ads to promote his game? Get real.
