Best Nintendo Switch Roguelikes, Roguelites And Run-Based Games

20XX has an addictive rhythm. You dive into the level, find loot like upgrades and currency bolts, kill bosses to take their weapons, and keep pushing until you die. After dying we’d often suffer from that ‘just one more run’ itch that’s so common in roguelikes and the formula fits an action platformer like 20XX perfectly.

The procedural engine does a good job of mixing things up, although after a while you can start to see a little repetition. That’s easily overshadowed, though, by the sheer variety and amount of upgrades and customisation on offer. Recommended — as is its sequel, 30XX.

Absolum (Switch)

Absolum is an on-par experience to Vanillaware’s Dragon’s Crown, but a superior game in terms of its key metrics. Its combat, collectible augmentations, and planning are exceptionally well-formulated, ensuring no run is ever quite the same, and its strategic options and play-styles are ever-deepening. It’s incredibly impressive in its reconstitution of arcade, role-playing, and roguelike formats, evolving them into something fresh and exciting.

To that end, it’s one of the best of its kind, whatever that kind may be. If you don’t enjoy the idea of repetition and grind, you may not fall in love with its initial five hours, but the momentum for one-more-go becomes so compelling after a while that it’s impossible to relinquish the pad.

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Astral Ascent (Switch eShop)

Bad North (Switch eShop)

Balatro (Switch eShop)

BALL x PIT (Switch eShop)

Black Future ’88 (Switch eShop)

Cadence of Hyrule: Crypt of the NecroDancer Featuring The Legend of Zelda (Switch eShop)

Crawl (Switch eShop)

Darkest Dungeon (Switch eShop)

Dead Cells (Switch)

Dicefolk (Switch eShop)

Dicey Dungeons (Switch eShop)

Downwell (Switch eShop)

Dreamscaper (Switch eShop)

Dungreed (Switch eShop)

Enter the Gungeon (Switch eShop)

Everspace – Stellar Edition (Switch eShop)

Fights in Tight Spaces (Switch eShop)

Flinthook (Switch eShop)

Fury Unleashed (Switch eShop)

GALAK-Z: The Void: Deluxe Edition (Switch eShop)

Gods Will Fall (Switch eShop)

GoNNER (Switch eShop)

Hades (Switch eShop)

Hades is a sublime mix of satisfyingly gritty and flexible combat, a wonderfully vibrant art style, and a genuinely fun and engaging narrative. Supergiant Games has an excellent track record with games like Bastion and Transistor, but this really does feel like its finest hour — a rip-roaring rampage through the underworld that arrived on Switch with a port that’s nigh-on perfect.

Even if you’re yet to be swayed by the admittedly repetitive ebb and flow of roguelikes, we passionately urge you to at least give this roguelite a try; this is one heavenly vision of hell that worth sacrificing yourself to.

If you’re after a Hades-like fix after escaping hell, well, Hades II is just exquisite, too – check out our review of the Switch 2 version.

Elsewhere, Curse of the Dead Gods takes an enormous amount of inspiration from Supergiant. Or if reptiles and pizza are more your style, the decent-but-not-spectacular Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Splintered Fate may be worth checking out.

Have A Nice Death (Switch eShop)

Immortal Redneck (Switch eShop)

Into The Breach (Switch eShop)

Into the Restless Ruins (Switch eShop)

Invisible, Inc. Nintendo Switch Edition (Switch eShop)

Ironcast (Switch eShop)

Moon Hunters (Switch eShop)

Moonlighter (Switch)

NeuroVoider (Switch eShop)

Risk of Rain 2 (Switch eShop)

Rogue Aces (Switch eShop)

Rogue Heroes: Ruins of Tasos (Switch eShop)

Rogue Legacy (Switch eShop)

Rogue Legacy is a simple take on the tried-and-true roguelike formula, but it executes what it sets out to do exceptionally well, making for an endlessly replayable and enjoyable action adventure that no fan of the genre will want to miss out on.

A high difficulty level, funny writing, tight controls and rewarding RPG mechanics make this one an effortless recommendation; the design of the game makes it easy to play in short bursts or long sessions, which means it’s a great fit for the Switch.

And if you love this, its sequel is equally excellent.

ScourgeBringer (Switch eShop)

Shogun Showdown (Switch eShop)

Shotgun King: The Final Checkmate (Switch eShop)

Sky Rogue (Switch eShop)

While it lacks any storyline and the randomised nature of the missions may strike some as lazy, arcade-style dogfighter Sky Rogue has plenty of gameplay where it counts. The jet combat action is superb, aided by excellent controls, a wide range of weapons and plenty of stuff to unlock.

The 12-stage campaign mode will keep you coming back for quite some time — thanks largely to the unique roguelike approach where death means losing everything, but the experience gained means a better chance of success next time around — and the ability to rope in a friend in co-op adds even more longevity. Granted, when you do eventually complete the game there’s not a great deal to bring you back, but it will take quite some time and effort to reach that point – and you’ll have had such a blast you won’t feel short-changed.

Slay the Spire (Switch eShop)

Spelunky 2 (Switch eShop)

Steredenn: Binary Stars (Switch eShop)

Streets of Rogue (Switch eShop)

The Binding of Isaac: Afterbirth+ (Switch)

The Persistence (Switch eShop)

UnderMine (Switch eShop)

Vampire Survivors (Switch eShop)

Void Bastards (Switch eShop)

World of Horror (Switch eShop)

Well, that’s a chunky bite of rogue-like-like-lites, no? Hands up anyone who’s actually played Rogue…

Nintendo Life Staff Picks – The Best Of The Best Roguelikes

There are so many incredible roguelike/lites around that you may need a little more help narrowing down the cream of the crop. Here are Team NL’s personal picks, the games that would make our personal Mount ‘Roguemore’ (plus one…plus another one):

Balatro
Dead Cells
Hades
Rogue Legacy (2)
Slay the Spire
Spelunky

Yes, that’s more than four. Honestly, the competition was so fierce that whittling down to six was a nightmare.

Roguelikes, Roguelites And Run-Based Games FAQs

If you find yourself back at the start and unsure what to do — or just have questions about roguelikes — then we’ve got you covered.

What is a roguelike, anyway?

The term ‘roguelike’ goes all the way back to the 1980 dungeon crawler Rogue, which sees you going through procedurally-generated dungeons with random enemies and loot. No two playthroughs are the same, and your character can even permanently die.

Roguelikes, then, are games with randomised elements that are approached in one ‘run’. You steadily acquire gear and abilities on the way until you either beat the game (yay!) or die before being sent back to the beginning, stripped of your booty, to try again.

So what is a roguelite then?

As the name suggests, roguelites sand off the edges that roguelikes often have.

Roguelites still use a basic run-based structure but let you unlock certain equipment or abilities that persist in subsequent runs, resulting in a less brutal experience if you don’t have the time (or inclination) to simply git good.

Is Rogue on Nintendo Switch?

It is! It’s called Epyx Rogue (named after the original developer), and it’s pretty cheap, too. This is a modern port of the classic dungeon crawler and adds many quality-of-life features, such as the ability to save and an easier difficulty.

Of course, if you want the original experience, that’s there, too, in all of its brutality.

Are deckbuilders roguelikes?

Sometimes! Games like Slay the Spire and Shogun Showdown are all about building a deck and using it to make it through a run, but there are many other deckbuilders that don’t fit the roguelike template.

Thankfully, we have a pretty comprehensive list of the best deck builders on Switch.

Where is [insert game name here]?

As you can tell, there are tons of roguelikes on Switch — they’re one of the darling indie genres at this point. Hence the size of this list. That means we’ve had to be pretty strict with selecting the very best on the console.

If there’s one you think absolutely deserves to be here — as long as we’ve reviewed it — then let us know!

Do you have a favourite roguelike? Is there a roguelike you want to see on Switch that isn’t on it already? Let us know in the comments.