Looking for the best roguelikes with role-playing character progression? Oh, I know that pain. That very specific kind of masochism when you wipe out a run, lose everything, but… somehow come out just a little stronger. This is a genre that turns the phrase “just one more time” into a three-hour marathon at two in the morning.
Here we have a list of games where permadeath (curse it) meets progression systems. Dungeon crawlers where gear actually matters, action games with deep build creation, and turn-based madness where you have to watch your sanity so it doesn’t snap under stress.
Hades II
🖥️ Available on: PC
⏳ Playtime: 20-30 hours (current content), infinity (for full completion)
The guys at Supergiant Games decided that one masterpiece wasn’t enough for them, so they released a sequel. This time the main character is Melinoe, the princess of the Underworld. The goal is the opposite of the first part: not to escape hell, but to fight your way through it (in one direction or another — depending on your point of view), using magic and gifts from the Olympians.
The story picks up from the events of the original, but now, on top of the usual grind, they've added Tarot cards, a cauldron for brewing potions, and familiars.
Combat is as smooth as in the first game, but with a strong focus on magic: curses act like spells, and you’re constantly alternating between melee and AOE attacks. Between runs, you unlock Arcana cards for passive bonuses, crafting tools, and gradually untangle the plot.
Classic roguelike cycle: each death teaches you something (like not to stand in fire), and each new ability unlock opens previously hidden tactical possibilities.
| ✅ Pros | ❌ Cons |
| Wild variety of builds through weapons, spells, and boons | Grinding can be suffocating |
| Deep lore — gods, characters, evolving story | Higher entry barrier due to layered mechanics |
| Interesting character progression (Arcana, familiars) | Runs feel longer and more demanding than the first part |
| There’s a 'God Mode' and difficulty settings | |
| Massive replayability thanks to evolving mechanics |
Who it’s for
If you liked the first part and want more systems, more gods, and story twists that hit hard — this is it. You’ll like Hades II if:
- You're a fan of Supergiant lore and ready to follow the story's development.
- You like magic and complex spell combos instead of pure melee fighting.
- Long and challenging runs don’t scare you.
The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth
🖥️ Available on: PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox Series X/S, Switch, iOS
⏳ Playtime: 50+ hours (main), 500+ hours (for platinum)
Edmund McMillen’s remake still remains the gold standard for item interaction. You play as a crying child who runs into a basement full of biblical horrors and… poop.
Each run the game throws random items at you that combine, twist, and mutate your stats into something unrecognizable. It's dark, gross, and brilliant.
A twin-stick shooter meets a role-playing character build in the wildest way here. Floors are randomly generated, death wipes everything, but the list of unlockable items is just huge — characters, artifacts, bosses, endings, transformations.
The Repentance DLC alone added so much content that you can lose yourself and not realize you’ve played the whole night. Here, one lucky item can turn a ruined run into the annihilation of everything alive, and you’ll spend 500 hours here still finding crazy new combinations.
| ✅ Pros | ❌ Cons |
| Thousands of item combos | Randomness can either save or kill a run |
| Hundreds of hours of replayability and content | Spikes in difficulty (especially with The Lost and late bosses) |
| Tight controls once you get used to the patterns | Nasty visual style and religious themes aren’t for everyone |
| Tons of achievements | Not clear what items do (without a wiki, you’re lost) |
| Dark undertones and allegories | 100% completion requires masochistic time investment |
Has Isaac already hooked you?
This game is for those who want every run to feel like a new crazy, chaotic experiment on themselves. You'll like it if:
- Item synergies and discovering overpowered builds excite you.
- Dark, controversial, and grotesque themes don’t make you nauseous.
- High difficulty and losing all progress don’t scare you.
- Replayability matters more to you than a coherent story.
Darkest Dungeon
🖥️ Available on: PC, PS4, PS Vita, Xbox One, Switch, iOS
⏳ Playtime: 50-60 hours (campaign), 80+ hours (with DLC)
Red Hook Studios has created something truly oppressive. You control a squad of broken heroes who climb into Lovecraftian dungeons under a cursed estate. The trick is that their mental state is as important as health.
Stress, psychosis, heart attacks – your party can lose its mind in the middle of a fight. Seeing a veteran crusader catch a panic attack and die of a broken heart because of bad RNG… hmm, it hurts.
This is a turn-based tactic where you need to monitor the positions and work of the team. You hire cannon fodder… that is, heroes, pump them, dress them up and send them to die. Death is final here, and quirks (character traits) accumulate. Upgrading the city (Hamlet) between sorties gives the same feeling of constant development.
The stress system is front and center here: the torch goes out — the heroes get anxious, a rest is needed not just for healing, but also to calm the psyche. Gothic style, a fantastic voiceover, and difficulty — that’s the recipe used to make Darkest Dungeon. If the oppressive atmosphere is what draws you in, these dark fantasy RPGs offer more bleak worlds without making every adventure a sequence of runs.
| ✅ Pros | ❌ Cons |
| Unique stress and psychosis mechanics | Grinding in the late game is just merciless |
| Gorgeous gothic atmosphere and voice acting | Heavy randomness (misses, diseases) can be frustrating |
| Deep tactics and party selection | Repetitive bosses and long campaigns |
| Interesting city character progression | Mechanics are poorly explained (Death’s Door, resistances) |
| The difficulty forces you to think and plan | The oppressive atmosphere can really drive you into depression |
Does the darkness call you?
Darkest Dungeon is made for players who want to feel the tension and consequences of every click. Play if:
- Tactical turn-based combat is your bread and butter.
- Psychological horror and the risk of losing a beloved hero forever get you going.
- You love tinkering with party composition and picking equipment.
- Gothic atmosphere matters more than flashy graphics.
Enter the Gungeon
🖥️ Available on: PC, PS4, Xbox One, Switch
⏳ Playtime: 20-25 hours (main), 100+ hours (complete)
It’s a “bullet hell” wrapped in a dungeon crawler from Dodge Roll. You roll through walls of projectiles in a dungeon where everything revolves around weapons. Enemies are bullets that shoot bullets at you from guns. 🙂
Your goal is to find a gun capable of killing the past. Sounds insane, but it plays brilliantly. The key here is dodge roll timing, which gives complete invulnerability, just like in the Souls games.
Top-down shooter with permanent unlocks between runs. Every gun and passive item can interact with each other, creating powerful combos.
Rooms are random, bosses are nasty, and the skill requirements are high — this isn’t the kind of roguelike you can win just by stats, you need real skill. Pixel art is just excellent, the humor is on point, and the amount of pop culture references and gun puns is off the charts.
| ✅ Pros | ❌ Cons |
| Huge, creative arsenal of diverse weapons | Very cool learning curve — at first, you’ll die a lot |
| Combat depends on skill, it's a true bullet hell | The start of a run heavily depends on the drop of the first gun |
| High replayability thanks to procedural generation | Ammo and health drop rarely, the game is stingy |
| Tons of secrets, NPCs, and side content | Co-op is local only, no online mode |
| Charming humor and pixel art | The game pace sometimes drops in empty rooms |
Will EtG hook you?
Enter the Gungeon is the pick for those who want a roguelike to test purely mechanical skill and reaction. Yeah, if:
- You love testing your reflexes in bullet hells and pulling off dodges.
- You need a game with hundreds of hours of replayability.
- You enjoy weapon variety and finding combo synergies.
- You’re not afraid of brutal training in the first hours of the game.
Rogue Legacy 2
🖥️ Available on: PC, Xbox One/Series, Switch, PS4, PS5
⏳ Playtime: 25-30 hours (main story), 50+ hours (New Game+)
The sequel from Cellar Door took the idea of a “hereditary roguelike” and cranked it up to the max. You die, your kids inherit your gold, and each new character is a random mix of class, stats, and traits. Traits can be both useful and ridiculous (like color blindness, dwarfism, or vertigo syndrome that flips the screen).
It’s a platformer with Metroidvania vibes where you gradually rebuild your family castle and the tech tree.
The gold you take out of a run is spent on permanent upgrades — damage, armor, new classes, runes. The variety of classes here is impressive: from a cook with a ladle to a boxer.
At first, it’s going to be painful and grindy, but once your stats grow and you find family relics for double jump or dash, the game really blossoms. Traits like 'Pacifist' (where enemies are invisible) are especially fun.
| ✅ Pros | ❌ Cons |
| Deep character progression for the castle, gear, and runes | Early grinding requires a lot of runs to see real progress |
| Huge variety of classes | Negative traits can sometimes make a character unplayable |
| Great 2D combat | Boss difficulty spikes suddenly |
| Six unique biomes with their own mechanics | Controls feel 'slippery' and floaty at first |
| The characters' power is passed down from generation to generation | Not on GOG (Steam only) |
Do you think RL2 is your type?
Rogue Legacy 2 is perfect if you want a roguelite that rewards long grinding and lets you feel the results. Play it if:
- You enjoy a mix of Metroidvania exploration and roguelike runs.
- You have the patience to get through the initial grinding.
- You get a kick out of the variety of classes and the randomness in the form of strange hero traits.
- You want to feel real, tangible growth in your character's power.
Noita
🖥️ Available on: PC
⏳ Playtime: 20-100+ hours (depends on how quickly you grasp the physics)
The Finns at Nolla Games made a unique thing: a roguelike where every pixel is physically simulated. You're playing as a witch exploring vertical biomes, and liquids, gases, powders — everything interacts realistically.
Pour water on lava — you get stone. Set poisonous gas on fire — boom. Accidentally mix the wrong potion — you die instantly. It's chaos, physics, and one of the deepest build systems around.
You find wands and spells, then swap them around to create your own combos — modifiers, triggers, projectile types. Literally 'programming' magic. A simple 'spark' spell can turn into a homing nuclear nightmare if you know how.
Perks add another layer, and alchemy lets you work wonders. There are more secrets here than that guy whose files everyone's talking about, and dying from your own stupidity is totally normal.
| ✅ Pros | ❌ Cons |
| A unique physics sandbox — tons of interactions | A very punishing game, sudden deaths from the environment are annoying |
| The deepest system for crafting wands and spells | Mechanics aren’t really explained |
| Huge scope for experiments and replayability | Randomness in wands and perks might prevent building a specific setup |
| Rich secret content and alternative ways to complete | Minimal story and lack of goals (sandbox) |
| Atmospheric and mysterious world | On low-end PCs, physics can drop FPS |
Who should try Noita?
This game is for those who want chaos and complete freedom in creating magic guns. Who will like it:
- Fans of experimenting with the environment in games.
- People who don’t mind dying every 5 minutes and learning from mistakes.
- For fans of complex spell crafting and hunting for "broken" builds.
- For secret seekers and those who love to dig (literally).
Curse of the Dead Gods
🖥️ Available on: PC, PS4, Xbox One, Switch
⏳ Playtime: 20-30 hours
This game from Passtech is often called "Hades meets Dark Souls." You dive into cursed temples, keep an eye on the corruption meter (which gives you powerful but double-edged curses), and fight using stamina.
Parries, dodges, managing light and dark — everything here is serious. It's slow, thoughtful action that punishes mistakes.
You’re building a setup with weapons in your right and left hand, plus a two-handed weapon, as well as relics. The corruption system is the main feature: enter a new room or pay with blood — get corrupted. Reach the threshold? Get cursed. It can boost damage but mess with dodge timings. The game feels closer to an ARPG because of weapon classes layered on top of roguelike elements. If you would rather share the chaos with a friend, these co-op RPGs focus on adventures built around playing together.
| ✅ Pros | ❌ Cons |
| Great, deliberate combat with weight and parrying | Almost no story compared to similar games |
| The curse system adds risk | Combat can get repetitive after hours of gameplay |
| Different temples and enemies | High difficulty, late-game bosses are just insane |
| The blessing system is really well done | Endgame with dailies is pretty grindy |
| Stylish, dark art | Light/dark mechanics can be annoying sometimes |
Is CotDG right for you?
This game will click if you want a fight that demands respect, and curses that change the rules of the game. You'll like it if:
- You enjoy thoughtful stamina-based combat and parrying.
- The risk-reward mechanics combined with curses sound interesting to you.
- You don't care about the lack of story.
- You value difficulty and tactical depth over the story.
Wizard of Legend
🖥️ Available on: PC, PS4, Xbox One, Switch, iOS, Android
⏳ Playtime: 10-15 hours
Now this one is about speed from Contingent99. You’re a mage running through arenas, casting spells (Arcana) in bursts and clearing three random dungeons before the Chaos boss. Faster gameplay, everything depends on skill, and the runs are short enough for you to say 'alright, one more time and then bed'.
There's a local co-op, which makes it a great game for hanging out with friends.
Top-down action where you mix fire, water, earth, air, and lightning into combos. You’re constantly experimenting with Arcana and relics between runs, unlocking new spells and mantles.
Permadeath resets your loadout, but permanent unlocks expand your arsenal. The RPG layer here is all about building—finding combinations and optimizing combos.
| ✅ Pros | ❌ Cons |
| Combat is very fast and skill-responsive. | There’s almost no story or lore. |
| Huge variety of Arcana and relics for building. | Long and grindy process to unlock all spells. |
| Short runs encourage you to keep experimenting. | Difficulty spikes, especially on late bosses in solo. |
| Local co-op and versus mode | Randomness in shops can be annoying |
| Focus on pure gameplay | No online co-op (local only) |
Is it right for you?
Wizard of Legend is for those who want fast, combo-driven action without extra chatter. You’ll like it if:
- Spell combos and elemental synergies inspire you.
- Short sessions and a fast pace appeal to you.
- Local co-op or PvP matters to you.
- You don’t mind the lack of deep lore and story.
Dead Cells
🖥️ Available on: PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One/Series, Switch, iOS, Android
⏳ Playtime: 30+ hours (first run), 100+ (up to 5 boss cells)
The king of the genre from Motion Twin. It's a 2D action platformer that mixes roguelike permadeath with Metroidvania-style mobility unlocks. The result is tight, responsive combat layered over ARPG systems with gear and stats.
Levels are procedurally assembled from pieces, death resets the run, but permanent unlocks (weapons, flasks, runes) slowly let the game unfold.
Combat is side-scrolling: swords, bows, shields, skills, and mutations. The character progression scrolls you find boost damage in one of the branches (Brutality, Tactics, Survival).
After victory, you get Boss Cells, which increase difficulty and unlock new content. DLCs have expanded the game to incredible proportions — new biomes, bosses, and weapons.
| ✅ Pros | ❌ Cons |
| Excellent, responsive combat and platforming | Very high difficulty on high Boss Cells |
| Huge variety of weapons, skills, and mutations | Metroidvania elements (runes) are given at the start, then pure roguelike |
| High replayability | Repeating the first biomes can get boring after frequent deaths |
| Interesting progression through blueprints | The abundance of DLC content can be too much for beginners |
| Great pace and feedback from hits | Weak storytelling |
Do you think DC will hook you?
Dead Cells is suitable if you want combat that feels perfect, and variety that keeps you coming back. Play if:
- Responsiveness of controls and skill are your top priority.
- You like roguelike gameplay with a Metroidvania twist.
- You like experimenting with a ton of different weapons.
- High difficulty and new levels of challenge are just what the doctor ordered.
Risk of Rain 2
🖥️ Available on: PC, PS4, Xbox One, Switch
⏳ Playtime: Infinite (runs can last for hours)
A third-person cooperative shooter from Hopoo, the benchmark for co-op power fantasy. You pick a Survivor class, clear looping stages, collect items, and watch the difficulty ramp up over time.
This chaos, explosions, and runs can either end on a boss or go on forever until you become a god or the game crashes. The DLC added even more madness.
The thing is, items stack multiplicatively. One syringe gives +15% attack speed, twenty turn your gun into a laser. You open chests, smash altars, and race against the difficulty timer.
Permanent death resets everything, but progress unlocks new Survivors and artifacts. Item synergies make the whole game: sometimes you're barely surviving, other times you one-shot bosses in seconds.
| ✅ Pros | ❌ Cons |
| Incredibly satisfying power scaling and stacking of item traits | The visual chaos in the late game is so intense that you can hardly see anything |
| Unique Survivor classes with different playstyles | Random items heavily influence the success of a run |
| Great co-op (one of the best in the genre) | Playing solo is very hard, the balance is geared for co-op |
| High replayability thanks to artifacts and loot | Bugs and balance issues after the DLC |
| The new content in Survivors of the Void is very good | No full release on GOG |
Does the RoR2 vibe suit you?
Risk of Rain 2 is for those who want cooperative chaos and exponential power growth. You'll enjoy it if:
- Stacking items and watching your damage numbers soar into space inspires you.
- Cooperative gameplay with friends is a priority.
- You want runs that can last forever (loops).
- Visual noise and chaos on the screen don't scare you.
Bottom line: choosing a solid roguelike on PC
Let's sum it up so you don't get lost. If story and characters matter to you — your choice is definitely Hades II. Supergiant writes texts that make you want to read them again and again. If you enjoy crazy synergies and madness — grab The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth, the king is still on the throne. And if you want tactical pain and suffering, then Darkest Dungeon will give you a nervous tick.
If you’re into crazy synergies and chaos — grab The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth, the king is still on the throne.
Want to test your skill? Enter the Gungeon will quickly put you in your place, while Dead Cells offers the smoothest action in the genre. Noita is the choice for those who want physical chaos and experiments, where you can accidentally blow yourself up. Risk of Rain 2 is perfect for co-op, letting you and your friends become gods of destruction together. Wizard of Legend is for those who want fast magical duels without unnecessary chatter, and Curse of the Dead Gods is for fans of Dark Souls’ pace.
And Rogue Legacy 2 is for those who love long-term progression. You really feel yourself getting stronger with each generation. Each of these games is good in its own way, so pick the kind of pain you like best and get ready to lose a couple hundred hours of your life. Good luck with the runs!
