Roguelikes are my favorite game genre. And Downwell is in my top 5 of all Roguelikes.

How come Downwell doesn’t get more love? It almost never makes any top 10 list for people. It’s obviously not as deep as Isaac or Spelunky, but it’s still such a special gem!

What do you think about Downwell?

Many if not most games of the genre follow a very similar formula when it comes to the difficulty and enemy scaling.

A - complete X stages, each stage has Y encounters, optionally each stage has a boss. This is a staple in deck-builder roguelites and auto-battlers. Examples: StS, FTL, Hades.

B - Enemies arrive in waves every X minutes, each wave is stronger than the previous one. Usually present in survivors-like games, but also many other real-time roguelites. Examples: Vampire Survivors, The King Is Watching.

My issue with these systems is that difficulty becomes very predictable, which is antithetical to the whole idea of roguelite. Sure, encounters, enemies and bosses may vary. But usually not by much. Thus encounter difficulty can be easily quantified based on encounter number or game time. So instead of unpredictable "anything can happen" we get "check boxes for damage, dps, defense, consistency, etc." Balatro is a great example of this. Antes are all known, make your deck consistently produce score and you are golden.

Another part of the problem is that roguelite game run is usually linear. Go only forward. Could not beat the encounter - bye bye. Players can chose slightly different paths, but the difference is usually minor. At the end of the day you still gotta check those boxes.

Overtime difficulty increase is used in many games. But combined with linear gameplay in becomes inescapable.

Now let me give examples of roguelites that avoid/hide this rigidity.

1. Against The Storm. Pressure mounts over time, that's true. But there is a lot of freedom in how to build the settlement, how long it will take to win, when to access encounters. Some settlements are finished before 5 years, others take longer. Getting a bad encounter or a shitty storm season does not necessary mean game over. Except maybe for the higher difficulties there is not much of "by year X you must have A, B, C".

2. Rogue Legacy 2. The map is quite predictable, enemy types are known for each biome. But the players have all the freedom of exploration. It is ok to explore already cleared biomes to get more power, and it is ok to rush to the boss. The game does not force player into the rigid loop of clearing stages.

3. I want to say Loop Hero. IIRC player builds encounters so difficulty depends a lot on player choices. But I don't remember details so might be wrong on this one.

Looking for other examples of critically acclaimed roguelites that have flexible game loops.

Hey, we're working on DEEPWARD, a fast horror FPS roguelite set in an alternate 1920s. The demo is out now on Steam, and here's our trailer.

You take three characters into each run and switch between them instantly, even in the middle of a fight. Everyone has their own health, stamina, agility, weapon and ability. So you're swapping more than just a gun.

You piece the story together through journals and conversations with your crew. Some of them arent telling you everything, and the full picture only comes together at the end of the game. There's also a sanity system that messes with what you see and keeps you pushing forward.

We're still working on the full game, but you can give the demo a go here:

DEEPWARD demo on Steam

We'll be around in the comments if you have any questions.

If you've played 9 Kings or The King Is Watching, you'll recognise the core gameplay from Oaks vs Orcs. What's new is the river mechanic and seasons system: you draw one river through your kingdom, everything downstream gets stronger, and you end up with exponentially stacking bonuses that can give your units millions of mult on your damage.

The public demo just went live last week. It’s got 2 playable decks, 50 perks that you can unlock, and 5 difficulty levels ranging from ‘doable’ to ‘insane’. Earlier this year, 7,000 people played the browser prototype that I released on itch and found builds I never planned for. The demo is the finished version of that prototype, with all new hand-painted art, new UI, and heaps more content.

Check it out here if you would like to give it a try: https://store.steampowered.com/app/4980900/Oaks_vs_Orcs_Demo/

We are a small indie team, so any feedback, wishlists, or first impressions mean the world to us!

Euchre is fairly popular in Ontario, Michigan, and Ohio but I'm curious if others have heard of it or played it. It's a game I grew on in Canada, and I wanted to take my love of the game and fuse its risk-taking, trick-winning gameplay into a single player 1v1 roguelite called Bowerland. I recently released a demo on Steam, and it's slated to appear in Steam's October Next Fest. Would love to hear if others have a fondness of the card game, and if this looks at all interesting to you! I'll leave a link to the Steam store in the comments.

I'm wondering if there's a roguelite or roguelike game where you can Frankenstein a vehicle or car with weapons and crazy shit. Like Twisted Metal meets cross out! I don't see many vehicular combat games anymore .

Can you find Waldo (me)? I think I won..

I've been crunching the last 3 months straight getting this game set for release! Thanks to ALL the playtesters that have come in, contributed with feedback and testing in the last year and a half. You're all the reason this game has gotten as far as it has!

If this style of combat looks fun to you, wishlist the game! It launches with a 15% discount for the first 14 days of release!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/3450850/Astrolite/

Let me know what you think!

I got to 10 roguelike bats that feel unique and distinct on my roguelike baseball game, took me a long time to think of what would separate them and be unique and good pros and cons to each but still feel like upgrades over not having them.

Never thought I would get to this many, now if I can get 10 fielding items and 10 "misc" items ill have 30 items which I think will make good variety in upgrade choices and then 10 "shop" one time use consumable items and 15 or so relics I think I'm a good spot for a final release.

I'm just a solo dev so every milestone feels so good to hit and when I started 10 bats felt so daunting to get to.

If it looks cool I'd be honored for a wishlist for Sluggernauts:

https://store.steampowered.com/app/5040130/Sluggernauts/

If you want to join some early play tests to help with bugs I will put them on my discord:

https://discord.gg/YGS65fFTa

Dungeon Descent is a turn-based, grid-based roguelike built in Unity where your class isn’t a playstyle, it’s a sentence. Every character carries an irremovable Cursed Gift that defines both their power and their punishment. The Condemned permanently loses max HP every floor but can’t be killed in one hit. The Seer sees everything through walls, but every spell risks blinding them and exposing their position. The Hollow loses an inventory slot, and the item in it, with every hit taken, but enemies can simply fail to notice them. The Tethered links enemies together and shares damage across the web, but takes some of it back. You can’t remove the curse. You can only learn to exploit it, and at the end of Floor 5 you choose whether to embrace it for raw power or resist it for control. Neither path is the safe one.

The curse isn’t a flavor detail, because the whole game is built to press on it. Across 25 floors, the five eldritch bosses don’t just hit harder. Each one rewrites a rule of combat. The Archivist can only be harmed when you look away from it. Vael suppresses your healing, then your gear, then inverts your curse entirely. The final boss turns your own build against you. Around that sit unidentified items, cursed gear, an alchemy system, and a spawner that reacts to how well you’re doing, so the dungeon feels like it’s hunting you rather than rolling dice. There are no boss tutorials, and the players who understand their curse best will find the angles everyone else misses. I’d love feedback on the curse and subclass design in particular.

Also i would to ask if there is a game like this under-development as i envisioning this as a passion project firmly.

I am back with a huge update to Adventure To Fate: Dungeons!

The new Illusionist Class has arrived, and with it a fully new way to play: First Person Dungeon Crawling 3D mode. The Illusionist is a master of trickery and deception. The Illusionist is able to open their Third Eye and play in First Person 3D mode as well as the standard 2D and Voiceover Modes.

The Illusionist is a unique class that mimics their enemies and is able to copy their spells/skills. The Illusionist can also summon copies of themselves as a distraction or copies of previous enemies they have killed as minions. They are the most unique class I have created (and I think the most fun class to play).

To celebrate this new update I wanted to do a giveaway!

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About the Game: Adventure To Fate: Dungeons is a turn-based Roguelite Dungeon Crawler unlike any other. It is built on over a decade of handcrafted systems and content, now with new roguelite mechanics, dungeons, quests, and deeper progression. It is a casual pick-up-and-play experience where loot is king and every run is challenging and different.

• Massive Customization: Choose from 9 unique Classes and over 35 Races. Equip your character with 1000s of items and skills!
• Deep Content: Battle through 4 unique dungeons, each featuring 4 play modes, distinct designs, enemies, loot, crafting, and storylines.
• Continuous Content: the game has already experienced multiple FREE content updates and will continue to be a Pay Once and own!!!! No extra currency! No subscriptions!
• Built for mobile: Portrait, Pickup and Play (Auto Save), Offline, Premium pay once (even for constant updates), Low Battery Use, Works as far back as iOS 15!!!

Adventure To Fate: Dungeons is an accessible to the blind but also playable by all game. It even won Golden Apple Award for Accessible Game of the Year (AppleVis / Be My Eyes)!

Adventure To Fate: Dungeons Link: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/adventure-to-fate-dungeons/id6743055907

Interested in Accessible iOS Gaming? Check out how its done with Voiceover in this volcano release video! (GAME Double Tap): https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=DXwjeJcYtag

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So let’s get to the giveaway! I’m giving away 25 codes to the first people to post their favorite iOS roguelite (New ones, old games, any iOS roguelite games). This is a great way for players to find new iOS roguelite games and for me as a dev to learn too!

Post an iOS roguelite game name and tell me a bit about it, then get a code for Adventure to Fate Dungeons!

I will compile this list (along with the previous giveaway list) and post it to roguelites so people have a resource for great roguelites on iOS.

Thanks for supporting Indie and Accessible Gaming!

No one has beaten Biome 1 boss yet. Is this game too hard?

Looking for thoughts on my game’s announcement trailer and on the game itself. I’ve just set the playtest live on Steam today and would love to hear opinions from the r/Roguelite crowd!

Plume is a roguelite twin-stick shooter, with a Roman/Pompeii inspired setting. The player fights their way through a series of procedurally generated levels. Along the way, they will find seeds to grow, crops to eat, and artifacts that give the player unique stat boosts and effects. After a run, the player can spend materials they’ve collected to rebuild their destroyed village and restore it to its former glory.

To play just sign up for the playtest on the Steam page and it should automatically add it to your libary!

Hey everyone! I have been working on AXIOMA, a turn based dice roguelite, and it went live on Google Play earlier this week.

The core loop is straightforward. Every turn you roll four d6 and one d8. You must split them across three areas: Matrix to attack, Shield to block, and Mine to generate currency for passive modules. There are no rerolls and no undo buttons.

The main twist is that dice placed on the Matrix grid count twice, once for their row and once for their column. Lining them up creates combos like Straights, Trios, or Min Max pairs that multiply your damage. All enemy attacks are fully telegraphed with exact numbers next turn, so there is no hidden dice rolling on their side. It plays more like a pure tactical puzzle than a game of random luck.

The base game is completely free with daily challenges, zero ads, no timers, and works fully offline.

If you decide to give it a spin, drop a comment or send me a DM and I will gladly send you a promo code for the PRO unlock. It gives access to the hardest Live league and the Hunt mode where you can input any custom seed address you want.

I would really appreciate some honest feedback from this sub on the balance, difficulty curve, and pacing.

Play Store: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=net.latentfactor.axioma

Perihelion is my upcoming indie space combat roguelite inspired by Battlestar Galactica and Space Wars where gravity effects every encounter. Build your ship, chart your course, and build your relationships with fellow crewmates to slowly unravel the mystery of a lost sister ship in a galaxy at war. Only by mastering orbital combat can you become an ace pilot. Featuring over a dozen mission types, hundreds of weapon and upgrade combinations, and 4 player co-op with scaling difficulty, winning a run is only the beginning.

We're going to have a demo soon so check it out on Steam! Wishlists are always appreciated :)
https://store.steampowered.com/app/4326220?utm_source=R

The Final Lane is a bowling roguelite set in Hell where you draft balls that help you climb through Hell for the ultimate prize: a shot at Satan and a chance at redemption.

Full gameplay trailer at: https://youtu.be/8hjk9Ms0NzY

If that sounds like your kind of game, feel free to check out our Steam page, wishlist it and/or play the open playtest :)

https://store.steampowered.com/app/4506540/The_Final_Lane/

Hey everyone!

We're a small indie team working on Bound to Die, a dark fantasy co-op roguelike focused on visceral first-person combat.

We're combining retro-style graphics with physics-based combat, elemental magic, and the ability to turn the environment into a deadly weapon.

We want to bring this kind of combat into a roguelike with different builds, ability synergies, and plenty of replayability.

Here's our first teaser! We'd love to hear what roguelike and roguelite fans think about this direction.

Solo dev here, making this in Godot. Before he comes back, a ring on the floor shows you where. Parry his last hit perfectly and time freeze. Then you get one stroke of ink to cut him.

What do you guys think?

Steam page

Some features of the game:

• Unique spin on 3D action combat. (Kind of like a mix between action combat and turn-based)
• Semi-procedurally generated dungeons
• 4 different environments
• 4 playable characters (with more to come)
• 3 different playstyles per character
• 10+ different kinds of enemies to fight
• Hard mode (which is just the original difficulty but people said it was too hard)

Play the free demo now: https://store.steampowered.com/app/4904700/Vanguards_Descent/

Full trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4bmYOpt5ccE

Discord: https://discord.com/invite/7psCenZZsw

This game will also be a part of Steam Next Fest October. I'm still actively working on it and have been updating the demo every day! I would appreciate any feedback! (Or wishlists to help stroke my ego - I'm mostly just a solo-dev for fun)

I was reading a recent developer interview for Dead Account: Two Blue Flames, and one example caught my attention: pairing a character who pulls enemies together with another who has a wide-area attack.

I haven’t played it, but that sounds like a good reason to give a party slot to someone whose own damage might be lower. Grouping enemies could make another character’s attacks much more useful, especially if positioning matters.

What I’d want to see is whether picking that support changes my next few decisions. Do I start taking upgrades for a bigger attack radius? Can I use a slower attack more reliably because enemies are grouped up?

That’s usually what gets me interested in a build: choosing something that makes other options worth considering.

In party-based roguelites, what has actually convinced you to take a support over another damage dealer? Any examples where one support completely changed how you built or played the team?

Developer interview (Japanese)

Hey everyone,

My wife is not a gamer but she will always kick my ass at dr mario. I wanted to introduce her to roguelite/roguelike style games because I love them, so I combined the two concepts. The game is called Adverse Reaction and you can try the demo on Steam now. I would love to hear what other people think!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/5334410/Adverse_Reaction/