Roguedex

Action

Real-time combat in short runs: the genre's biggest family.

Shooter

Twin-stick, bullet-hell and first-person roguelites where your guns are your build.

Platformer

Jumping, climbing and falling through levels that change every run, including roguevanias.

Hades-like

Games built on the template Hades made popular: themed upgrades, reward doors and a hub story.

Survivors-like

Also called bullet heaven: your weapons fire on their own while the horde keeps growing.

Deckbuilder

Build a deck as you go, adding and cutting cards after every fight.

Turn-based

Roguelites that give you time to think: tactics, card battles and dice.

Strategy

Plan, position and build an army or a defence that grows over the run.

Luck-builder

Dice, slots, pachinko and poker: games where you build around chance.

Traditional

Built like the original Rogue: turn-based, grid-based, and nothing survives a death but what you learned.

Co-op

Roguelites you can play with friends, online or on one screen.

Roguelike vs roguelite: what's the difference?

Where the two labels came from, the one difference that matters, and why everyone uses them loosely.

The four things every roguelite needs (and the ones it doesn't)

What actually makes a game a roguelite, and which famous conventions are optional.

Where to start: a roguelite for every kind of player

Highly ranked picks for newcomers, action fans, thinkers, groups and purists.

For designers: the 12 building blocks of a roguelite

A working vocabulary for roguelite design, and how famous games set each dial.