The roguelike genre is rooted in fantasy; its namesake and point of origin, the hit old-school game, Rogue, was a fantasy RPG heavily influenced by tabletop RPGs. As many fans of roguelikes are likely to already know, Rogue combined permanent death, random generation, turn-based combat, and RPG elements to create an entirely new genre.

Since Rogue's explosion of popularity, there has been an abundance of clones, offshoots, and innovations in the genre; not to be confused with the roguelite genre that formed alongside it. Many roguelike fans have spent hours debating the semantics between each genre. This list aims to provide a variety of roguelikes, both modern and traditional, that take place in fantasy settings. While these games may not check every box in the "true roguelike" genre (some of these games aren't tile-based), they all feature permanent death, procedural generation, and turn-based combat.

8 Crown Trick - A Visual Treat

Steam User Rating: 86%

With a beautifully animated, hand-drawn aesthetic, tile-based movement, and turn-based combat, Crown Trick is a brilliant combination of classic roguelike dungeon crawling and modern roguelike gameplay.

The only thing that arguably pulls Crown Trick down, and further out of the roguelike genre, is its meta-progression system that allows players to overcome the game's challenges through grinding rather than improving. However, Crown Trick’s unique gameplay and polished visuals make it a rare treat in the roguelike genre, and it's worth playing for those who can look past its progression system.

7 For The King - A Board Game-Style Co-Operative Journey

Steam User Rating: 88%

For The King features a basic combat system that focuses on rolling dice, although in this game they're simply called "slots" and only feature two sides: fail or success. The game has an abundance of enemies to fight, plenty of classes and events, and an overworld map to explore in a turn-based fashion.

The combat scenarios themselves are also turn-based, with a lot of player success coming down to how well they planned beforehand, and how well they can manage their focus, an in-game resource that allows players to force successful dice rolls. For The King is best played with friends, exploring the map and delving into the game's dangerous dungeons as they complete quests, defeat bosses, and level up.

6 Inkbound - An Innovative Turn-Based Action Game

Steam User Rating: 90%

This game, from the developers of the indie-hit deckbuilder, Monster Train, features a well-crafted fantasy world beautifully realized through an appropriately inky aesthetic. Inkbound's colorful tones and cartoon style make the game a joy to look at, but its gameplay loop is even stronger.

In Inkbound, players can go it alone or with friends in online co-op, battling monsters in simultaneous turn-based combat and upgrading their characters as they play in traditional roguelike fashion. Although the game's combat is turn-based, players can move around and use action points simultaneously, making the game tremendously fast-paced and preventing players from getting bored between turns, all while allowing them to deliberate and strategize over their individual moves.

5 Tinyfolks - A Charming, Pixelated, and Easy-to-Learn Roguelike

Steam User Rating: 94%

This turn-based strategy roguelike features great pixel art and a brilliant chip-tuned soundtrack that, when combined with the game's simple but tactical gameplay, makes for a charming package that's easy to learn and hard to master.

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Tinyfolks plays very similarly to Darkest Dungeon, only a lot less dark and more forgiving. Tinyfolks isn't an easy game, though, tasking players with improving and equipping their various heroes in the town phase before sending them off to dangerous locales to fight enemies and massive bosses alike. Tinyfolks also features a push-your-luck system, allowing players to return with their bounty after each combat encounter, or press on toward the boss.

4 Darkest Dungeon - A Brutal Squad-Based Roguelike

Steam User Rating: 91%

It's no secret that Darkest Dungeon is a great roguelike, innovating with its grim-dark setting and mechanics; psychological trauma, stress, in-fighting, and even heart attacks plague every member of the player's rag-tag crew. The abundance of Lovecraftian horrors that they must face throughout the game doesn't help with any of that either.

In Darkest Dungeon, players recruit a team of heroes and delve into a series of dungeons, fighting horrific monsters, collecting loot, completing objectives, and trying to keep their party from going insane. Heroes die permanently in Darkest Dungeon, and losing a particularly strong hero can be devastating. Darkest Dungeon is not for the faint-hearted; players can lose an entire party of experienced heroes in a matter of moments, there's an abundance of RNG in the game, and the variety of enemies, bosses, and class combinations can take some time to learn. However, for those who don't mind a challenge, Darkest Dungeon is a brilliant roguelike RPG with a lot of depth.

3 Dungeons Of Dredmor - A Streamlined, Classic Experience

Steam User Rating: 94%

Released all the way back in 2011, this fantasy dungeon-crawler has an old-school charm and turn- and tile-based combat brought to life by some charming cartoon graphics and an immense amount of variety. All these elements work together to inject the game with a great deal of replay value.

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Dungeons Of Dredmor is arguably best for its character creation and variety, allowing players to choose various traits out of a broad selection and combine them to create a unique character with their own distinct playstyle. This game is a highly classic experience, but its replay value, competent visuals, and difficulty options make it a much more accessible experience than more traditional roguelikes.

2 Tales Of Maj'Eyal - A Roguelike-RPG Dungeon Crawler

Steam User Rating: 95%

Although Tales Of Maj'Eyal isn't the most graphically advanced game, its visuals are still more palatable than other traditional roguelike RPGs of its ilk. This is an RPG-focused roguelike with an inordinate amount of replay value and variety, taking place in a detailed fantasy world full of quests to complete.

Tales Of Maj'Eyal features in-depth character creation and progression through its RPG mechanics, as well as a large variety of items and classes. Each class in Tales Of Maj'Eyal takes time and effort to master, and the abundance of procedural generation in the game prevents it from ever getting stale.

1 Caves Of Qud - A Procedural Combination Of Sci-Fi And Fantasy

Steam User Rating: 95%

This post-apocalyptic, sci-fi/fantasy roguelike RPG takes place in an incredibly detailed and unique world full of strange items, creatures, and people to meet. Caves Of Qud's hand-crafted areas and quests, combined with its procedurally generated locations, caves, lore, and even quests, make it an infinitely replayable experience with a lot of content.

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Caves of Qud allows players to play as "True Kin" or "Mutants", each with their own distinct play styles; the latter get access to the game's mutations, while the former are able to use cybernetics. The game's combination of hack-and-slash dungeon-crawling, spells, and sci-fi equipment make it a truly unique and unpredictable experience. Caves Of Qud is one of the most brutal and unforgiving games on this list, but it's worth trying for fans of sci-fi/fantasy.

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