Summary
Roguelikes and roguelites are some of the most popular games on Steam, with titlessuch asSlay The Spire,Hades,Balatro, andRisk Of Rain 2being smash hits in the world of indie games. Traditional experiences such asCaves Of QudandCogmindhave proven popular with the Steam audience, offering turn-based gameplay, permanent death, and procedural generation.
Roguelikes in particular are notoriously challenging, thanks in large part to their lack of progression and permanent death. This often leads to harsh and unforgiving gameplay, a perfect match for the dark and dangerous undead.
1Door In The Woods
A Classic Roguelike With A Dark And Creepy Atmosphere
Door In The Woodsis a traditional roguelike with a dark, creepy atmosphere. Despite its ASCII graphics,Door In The Woodsdoes a lot with its limitations, coming across as almost stylistic. It’s not an experience that players are likely to sink hours into, but the harsh and unforgiving gameplay combined with the tangible, oppressive atmosphere make for an experience worth having for any fan of classic roguelikes and horror games.
The stark, limited color palette further adds to the dark atmosphere, and the atmospheric soundscape creates a surprisingly immersive environment despitethe game’s minimalist style. The zombies featured in the game are dangerous, and able to instill tension despite their minimalist representation, the letter Z.Door In The Woodswon’t convert those who don’t already enjoy traditional roguelikes, but fans of both old-school gameplay and zombie games should consider an afternoon with this retro title.
21 Bit Survivor
A Stylish Roguelike That’s Easy To Pick Up And Play
For players looking for a quick game to play on a lunch break, or a palette cleanser between more demanding titles,1 Bit Survivoris a perfect fit.A faithful retro style, complete with minimalist pixel art and crunchy sound design, combined with a brilliantly executed combination of top-down and first-person perspectives, results in an experience that’s consistently pleasant to look at. However,1 Bit Survivoralso succeeds in its gameplay.
The game’s simple but heartwarming narrative propels the player through the game, setting them the task of reaching a bunker within 28 days to save themselves and their newly-found cat from an impending bomb. The gameplay loop is simple but addictive, not to mention easy to learn, giving players a variety of combat puzzles to solve in a turn-based fashion. The zombies themselves are relatively basic, both in their depiction and mechanically, but they can be lethal. It’s simple, but1 Bit Survivoris stylish, satisfying, and easy to pick up and play at any time.
3Terminus: Zombie Survivors
An Accessible, Traditional Experience With Multiple Endings
Though some may findTerminus: Zombie Survivorsto be similar in many ways to the traditional roguelike,Cataclysm: Dark Days Ahead, it stands on its own as an accessible roguelike with a competent pixel art style. As a result of this accessibility,Terminus: Zombie Survivorsmanages to be a great gateway into more traditional roguelikes, featuring elements ofthe roguelite genrewith its permanent unlocks.
The game’s combat is unique, simple, and easy to read, requiring a few more steps and a little more analysis on the player’s part than similar roguelikes. Furthermore, the game’s zombies have a variety of conditions, from limbless zombies that do little but block pathways, to the weaker crawlers, all the way to regular full-strength undead.Terminus: Zombie Survivorsalso features mechanics for crafting and cooking, and the variety of endings encourages players to beat the game multiple times.
There’s a great deal to get up to inCataclysm: Dark Days Ahead, that is if players can survive long enough to do any of it.Cataclysm: Dark Days Aheadis a traditional roguelike, featuring turn-based gameplay and RPG character progression, but with a survival-horror flavor. Fans of classic roguelikes and harsh, unforgiving survival games will fit right in, butCDDAcan be a somewhat inaccessible experience for those who are new to the genre.
There’s an abundance of enemy types inCataclysm: Dark Days Ahead, and they aren’t exclusive to zombies, but there’s an intense variety of zombie enemies, from regular undead humans to gigantic zombie frogs.Cataclysm: Dark Days Aheadplays similarly to games such asProject Zomboidwith its focus on survival gameplayand deep simulation. However,Cataclysm: Dark Days Ahead’s commitment to old-school design and variety of unhinged gameplay mechanics make it worth playing in its own right, despite the relatively bare-bones visuals.
Taking a great deal of inspiration fromThe Oregon Trail’s core gameplay loop,Death Road To Canadais a road-trip simulator that tasks players with battling their way through a zombie-infested country on their way to a rumored safe haven.Death Road To Canada’s violent,crunchy pixel art styleand old-school arcade gameplay are a perfect and utterly charming match, and this is especially so when playing in local co-op with a friend.
Death is permanent inDeath Road To Canada, and it’s not hard to get surrounded by a horde or cornered by a group of shambling undead, which keeps the minimalist arcade gameplay thrilling. These zombies aren’t the smartest, but their reactive behavior can be surprisingly deadly in chaotic situations.Death Road To Canadaalso features random generation, keeping each run fresh for a good while.
This action roguelike is tinged with horror elements that take clear inspiration from survival-horror classicssuch asResident Evil, primarily with the invincible monster that chases players should they dawdle too long, an antagonist that’s familiar in purpose to the iconic Mr. X. The isometric perspective is hard to read at times, especially during some of the more chaotic combat encounters, but the simplistic architecture of the individual rooms helps to keep things manageable.
The gameplay is action-packed, and extremely run-and-gun, with players maneuvering around tight spaces and hopping over obstacles as they avoid various monsters and undead creatures.Dead Estateis further improved by its large variety of weapons, which helps to keep the moment-to-moment action from getting stale.
