It’s looking like it could be one of the best years for people in search of a roguelike game. There’s the Hades II Technical test. Balatroexists. Ultroswas pretty cool. It’s a lot! So, what would you recommend people pick up and play as soon as they can?
It’s Balatro. Balatro is the best roguelike game of the moment and easily one of the best releases in 2024. We have a deckbuilder utilizing a traditional deck of cards and Poker hands to score high enough to overcome challenges using twisted Jokers, tarot cards, and other elements to give us an edge each run. Plus, it’s so quick and there are so many deck and difficulty modifiers that it’s different each time. I love it. — Jenni
I recently picked up Roboquest and I’ve been having a blast. It plays in a similar vein to Doom 2016 with a less grimy Borderlands style, but a lot of the guns and abilities felt like they actually have an impact and are different. It makes a welcome change from the usual “+3% damage to debuffed enemies if you’re mid-air and Capricorn is in Retrograde.” — Elliot
It’s not THAT recent and it’s also not as much of a roguelike as the first game, but I’ve been super into Fear and Hunger 2 recently. I love the setting and lore, and the wealth of fun characters makes this one a lot more interesting to me. Even after clearing several runs, I haven’t gotten bored of it yet just because there are so many different ways that you can play it, between what items you get and what characters you can bring with you (if you choose to have a party rather than just go it solo). — Stephanie
