Highlights

  • Rotwood offers unique co-op gameplay with up to 4 players, allowing for revived teammates and team synergies.
  • The game features standalone dungeons leading to boss fights, providing episodic story and progression.
  • Combat in Rotwood focuses on attack combos, offering a variety of weapons with unique perks and weight classes.

Hades 2 and Rotwood both being roguelikes naturally means that their gameplay loops share plenty of core mechanics, although comparing the explicit differences between the two games can be a bit like comparing apples to oranges. Either way, both Hades 2 and Rotwood bring something unique to the table that fans of roguelike games should consider checking out, given that both games have recently been released in early access. Otherwise, players who prefer to wait for their full releases will only have to wait until at most, late 2025.

Rotwood is a 2.5D roguelike brawler developed by the Indie studio Klei Entertainment, known for games like Don’t Starve, Mark of The Ninja, and Griftlands. This likely comes as no surprise for fans of the studio’s past games, considering that Klei Entertainment’s signature stylized graphics are immediately recognizable in Rotwood. Though, while the influence of Klei Entertainment’s past games is clear in Rotwood, the game charts its own path separate from both its predecessors and other roguelike games.

hades-2_no-rest-for-the-wicked
Related
Hades 2 and No Rest for the Wicked are Two Sides of the Same Coin

Supergiant's Hades 2 and Moon Studios' No Rest for the Wicked are contrasting titles regarding their approaches to early access.

How Rotwood’s Gameplay Compares to Hades 2

One of the main differences between Hades 2 and Rotwood is that Hades 2 is strictly a single-player game, while Rotwood features both local and online co-op between up to four players, while still supporting solo play. This naturally provides a vastly different experience, as playing Rotwood co-op will allow players to revive fallen teammates and unlock other skills specific to co-op mode that can provide unique team synergies between players. Additionally, players can carry over any progress by freely bringing their custom character between co-op and single-player modes in Rotwood.

Rotwood ’s online multiplayer features both public and private matchmaking options.

Rotwood’s Co-Op Combat is its Biggest Strength

Another major difference between the two games is that the different Expeditions in Rotwood act as standalone dungeons that culminate in a major boss fight. Whereas in Hades 2, the different paths will take players through a longer series of connected dungeons with no midway checkpoints. Not only does this mean that Rotwood’s story and character progression are more episodic, but since runs of Hades 2 are generally longer, the opportunities to experiment with temporary builds in Hades 2 within each run are more in-depth.

However, this isn’t to say that Rotwood doesn’t provide players with ample buildcrafting opportunities, given the variety of armor, weapons, and temporary skills that players can unlock in the game.

While both Rotwood and Hades 2 feature distinct weapon types to choose from, for now, Rotwood offers a larger selection of weapons, each with its own unique perks and weight classes that affect players’ mobility and attack combos. Not to mention, players can also invest in permanent armor that provides additional perks, in addition to increased defenses and weight class stats.

While Hades 2 could arguably be considered a brawler the same way that Rotwood can, this description is more fitting to Rotwood since attack combos play a much larger role in combat. Players can still perform combos with any of the weapons in Hades 2, though these combos don’t quite manage to have the same synergy as the weapon combos from Rotwood.

Ultimately, Rotwood’s focus on old-school, cooperative beat-'em-up gameplay is the game’s biggest strength, whereas Hades 2 has a much more involved plot. As a sequel to the original Hades that continues to draw on the stylized mythos of the Greek pantheon, Hades 2’s story arguably stands out among the genre.

However, Hades 2 and Rotwood each have their strengths as roguelikes, especially for players looking for either a story-driven single-player game, a more lighthearted co-op game, or both. So, roguelike fans may want to keep an eye on both upcoming games throughout their early access development periods if they aren’t already doing so.