Have a Nice Death launched into early access in 2022. After a quick year, the game is now officially out on both PC and Switch. Presumably, the other consoles will get a port too. It’s getting a lot of praise, so there is a good chance of a port happening within 2023.
So, what are the other console fans of roguelikes supposed to do while PC and Switch players lap up every minute of Have a Nice Death? These roguelikes should tide the fans over if they somehow missed these games the first time around. Some of these picks are obvious while others are a bit more obscure, but they are all incrediblr, to say the least.
8 Cadence of Hyrule: Crypt Of The NecroDancer Featuring The Legend Of Zelda
Cadence of Hyrule: Crypt of the NecroDancer Featuring The Legend of Zelda was a sequel and spinoff to the original Crypt of the NecroDancer. Cadence was aided by Link and Zelda in her quest to get back to her own realm. Those were the initial three playable characters but more were unlocked through DLC.
The game played like a typical adventure in the Zelda series except there were roguelike elements and it was all rhythm-based. It’s hard to get the beat down at first. However, with practice, this game should quickly become one of the more accessible roguelikes out there for beginners.
7 Children Of Morta
Children of Morta is a great roguelike to get into for those that would love a little more story in their games. Also, it is one of the few roguelikes out there that feature co-op. Two players can get together on the couch and have a great time.
The game follows the Bergson family who has been tasked with guarding the land against an evil sleeping beneath their feet. Once this evil awakens, the family has to band together to venture into the dungeons below and reseal this darkness into the void once more.
6 Dead Cells
Dead Cells is a perfect game to jump into now even though it is five years old already. That’s because a DLC expansion just launched, called Dead Cells: Return to Castlevania. As the name might imply, it adds various maps, characters, enemies, and music from the Castlevania series.
Players not only get to meet iconic characters like Richter Belmont and Alucard, but they get to play as them too. With the inclusion of assist modes, Dead Cells is more accessible now than when it launched in 2018.
5 Hades
Children of Morta has a good story to it, for a roguelike, but Hades redefined what a roguelike should have for a story. Every time players fall, there would always be new dialogue. This made death feel not as harsh.
There was also one assist mode that got stronger through every death in the game. Have a Nice Death has a mechanic like this as well and it most assuredly borrowed that from Hades. Before the sequel comes out into Early Access this year, roguelike fans who missed Hades should check it out.
4 Loop Hero
Loop Hero put an interesting twist on the genre when it launched in 2021. The end of the world happened, but players were able to come back along with a small section of humanity. Through persistence, they are slowly able to build society back up. In each run, players do not control this hero. The hero instead plays automatically.
What players do have control of is the hero’s inventory and they can manipulate the map. They can build structures that will both aid and hurt this hero for various bonuses. It’s hard to grasp at first, but practice makes perfect in this oddball roguelike.
3 Moonlighter
Moonlighter puts players in the role of a shopkeep. He runs a shop during the day and explores dungeons at night. Players can actually explore the dungeons to get items to sell in their shop in both the day and night, but the store can only be open during the day. That’s why it is advantageous to split the two modes of gameplay up.
The roguelike elements in the dungeons play like a typical action RPG, whereas the shop gameplay is a bit like a strategy game. Players have to determine prices and make sure thieves don’t steal anything.
2 Rogue Legacy 2
The first Rogue Legacy can probably be thanked for helping create the more accessible “rogue-lite” genre wherein progress could carry over between runs. Players assumed the role of an heir to a mighty family of heroes.
In death, players got to choose their next heir from an assortment of classes. The sequel doubles down on what made the original so great and expands the idea. There are more biomes to explore, more parts of the castle to upgrade, and new classes in Rogue Legacy 2.
1 Skul: The Hero Slayer
Skul: The Hero Slayer is most like Have a Nice Death because both heroes are basically skeletons. Skul is not the literal representation of Death, though. He, instead, is a lowly soldier in the underworld who is tasked with slaying a mighty hero trying to take down his lord.
Players can pick up new heads on their adventure to change classes like the ninja or genie forms. The game is also a lot like Super Mario Odyssey in this way too since Mario could change into various forms with the help of Cappy.