Recently, the roguelike/rogue-lite genre has exploded with popularity, thanks to their ever-changing dungeon crawler-like gameplay, randomly-generated maps, and often the permanent death of the playable character. Their highly addictive nature makes them a blast for players to sink hours into with their replayability.
Horror roguelike games are entirely in a league of their own, featuring difficult learning experiences that allow players to apply their prior knowledge to their next playthrough, delving deeper into brutal and challenging landscapes. The best roguelike horror games keep players on the edge of their seats with an adrenaline kick from surviving macabre worlds and living to see another day.
8 Dead Estate
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- Platforms: PC.
Dead Estate is a gruesome roguelike shooter with blood, guts, and gore galore as players must ascend a spiraling mansion filled with plenty of monsters. With its fluid animation and quant pixel art, there are eight different playable characters, each with its unique aesthetic and playstyle.
Ascend the many floors of the Dead Estate, each with a compacted and claustrophobic design for intense close-quarters combat for that adrenaline rush. The rooms are locked until all the aggressive creatures in the room have been vanquished. There's an extensive arsenal of over 90 weapons and 200 other items to make each run different, adding to the replay value.
7 Monstrum
- Platforms: PC and Nintendo Switch.
Monstrum is a compact and claustrophobic survival horror game reminiscent of stealth games like Alien: Isolation. Players will be isolated on a cargo ship in the middle of the ocean, only they are not alone. One of three unique monsters will be aboard the boat, each with different behaviors and attack patterns. Planning a direct attack or hiding and utilizing stealth, players need to plot their escape route carefully.
Scavenging for tools and other scarce resources, the player must use their wits to outsmart the creature and find their way to freedom with one of three potential escape routes. Monstrumfocuses on intense replay value as the ship's interior environment and item locations change with each new playthrough.
6 Don't Starve
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- Platforms: PC, PS3, PS4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, iOS, and Android devices.
Don't Starve is a twisted survival horror game that thrusts players straight into a gothic Lovecraftian wilderness where survival is their only option. Everything poses a dangerous threat. Utilizing an immersive day-night cycle, the player must search for food sources and valuable resources to craft life-saving tools during the day, and fend off dark Eldritch horrors that lurk in the shadows at night.
As with most roguelike games, each world in Don't Starve is procedurally generated, so no two playthroughs are the same. Add the additional threat that death is permanent and, frustratingly, players must start again from scratch.
5 The Guise
- Platforms: PC.
Who said curiosity killed the cat? In The Guise, players take control of a little orphan named Ogden, who disobeys his headmistress and pokes his nose where it doesn't belong inside a forbidden room, transforming into a feral four-legged beast.
In this gothic-inspired Metroidvania roguelike, players must cling to their last shreds of humanity as danger lurks everywhere. Using their new monstrous abilities to evolve and grow stronger while uncovering the truth about this eerie world, players can collect eyeballs as currency to upgrade their powers with the Eye Collector.
4 Binding Of Isaac: Rebirth
- Platforms: PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, and Nintendo Switch.
Based on the biblical tale of the same name, TheBinding Of Isaac: Rebirth follows the titular character Isaac as he attempts to escape his mothers' plans to sacrifice him. Unfortunately for Isaac, his mothers' basement becomes a sprawling labyrinthian landscape, as dangers and other fearsome creatures lurk in every room.
Using his tears as weapons, the player can collect additional upgrades and other useful items to become more powerful and kill their way through the randomized dungeon rooms, defeating bosses and even Isaac's mother to reach their freedom. Each run of The Binding Of Isaac: Rebirth allows new upgrades and other characters to be unlocked.
3 World Of Horror
- Platforms: PC, PS4, PS5, and Nintendo Switch.
Inspired by classic Lovecraftian horror and Junji Ito manga artwork, World Of Horror features a nightmarish roguelike experience with turn-based combat systems and grotesque 1-bit artwork to really get under the players' skin.
Heavily influenced by the nuanced art of cosmic horror, World Of Horror's detailed setting is Shiokawa, Japan, as supernatural occurrences mysteriously plague the town. Using old-school point-and-click adventure mechanics and RPG elements, the player takes on an investigative role as they must solve a series of mysteries to try and prevent the fast-approaching doomsday. World Of Horror is a horror RPG not to be missed and is currently in Early Access.
2 Eyes In The Dark
- Platforms: PC.
In this ironically dark rogue-lite platformer set in a monochromatic England, players take control of a young girl named Victoria Bloom. She must fight against the encroaching darkness that threatens to overrun the Bloom Manor, wielding her flashlight as her primary weapon.
Eyes In The Dark has many powerful perks and weapon upgrades for players to peruse, discovering synergies that can efficiently dispatch their enemies. Bloom Manor's environments evolve with every run, allowing hours of intense gameplay as the foes become deadlier the further players progress.
1 Cult Of The Lamb
- Platforms: PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, and Nintendo Switch.
Cult Of The Lamb is a deceptively adorable yet somewhat dark horror roguelike game, taking inspiration from The Binding Of Isaac. Players take control of a possessed sacrificial Lamb and recruit a cult following dedicated to the mysterious divine presence known as 'The One Who Waits.' The goal is to recruit as many devoted followers as possible.
Weaving whimsical cartoon cuteness in randomly generated environments with Eldritch terrors, Cult Of The Lamb is an entirely unique roguelike experience. Players perform dark rituals to appease their deities and defeat rival cult leaders to absorb their powers on their journey to become the mighty lamb god to rule them all.