8 Best Verified Roguelike Games On Steam

Highlights

• Valve has released an upgraded version of the Steam Deck console with an OLED screen for better visuals.
• Verified games for the Steam Deck, like Cult of the Lamb and Inscryption, offer unique gameplay experiences.
• Popular Roguelike games like Risk of Rain 2 and Hades run flawlessly on the Steam Deck, providing an immersive handheld gaming experience.

Valve has recently released an upgraded version of their handheld console known as the Steam Deck in 2023. This version of the console has seen various improvements, with one of the most obvious being the addition of an OLED screen for even more vibrant colors while playing. Valve makes sure that players are in for a pleasant time on their Steam Deck by testing countless games that can be played on Steam to see if they run just as well as their PC counterparts on the handheld console.

These games that are approved on Steam become verified and receive a green tick to tell other players they are perfect for their handheld. Roguelikes are brilliant for the Steam Deck due to many of them playing great with a controller and are made even better with the OLED screen. These are by far the best of the bunch.

8 Cult Of The Lamb

Metascore: 82

Unlike any of the other games mentioned that have been verified for the Steam Deck, Cult of the Lamb does something entirely different from the others. While players may at first get lost in the Roguelike mechanics that see them defeating the bishops to free their horrifying god, players can also take time out of the stress of trying to make progress instead of running their own cult.

This being played on the Steam Deck while cozy in bed or on the couch can lead to some hilarious moments of tending to their various animal cultists or other creatures they have managed to recruit while playing.

7 Inscryption

Metascore: 85

Inscryption may not be the first roguelike title to cause a difference through testing players, with deck building instead of regular combat, but it is still one that has impressed players so much so that the game has even been refined for handheld consoles like the Steam Deck. The eerie atmosphere many players make in the cabin they are allowed to explore while not taking part in the card game is just as horrifying when playing it on the Steam Deck.

The OLED screen of the newest version of the handheld makes the dark shadows of the corners of the room so icy scarier while also making the ominous face that looks at the player from across the game’s table bolder.

6 Risk Of Rain 2

Metascore: 85

Risk of Rain 2 puts a new lick of paint on the action roguelike genre with players instead taking the reins of their character through the third-person view. Unlike many other titles that see the player instead attack enemies from the top-down in a pixel style or a 2D platformer, players will be positioned behind their character watching them shoot and slice their way through the enemy.

Surviving on an alien planet is filled to the brim with different locales to explore, all packed with their own enormous bosses and fierce monsters.

5 Vampire Survivors

Metascore: 87

While many other Roguelike titles see players making progress through making it higher in a tower, or completing rooms, Vampire Survivors progress is strictly between a high score and how long a player can survive for.

Players will be constantly assaulted by various undead and vampiric foes that will attempt to end the life of the character they are playing as, through defeating more enemies, players unlock power-ups that will allow them to survive for even longer. Combining the simple gameplay of Vampire Survivors with its pixel graphics makes the game being verified on the Steam Deck no surprise.

4 The Binding Of Isaac: Rebirth

Metascore: 88

• Platforms: Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, PC, Mobile, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, Wii U, New Nintendo 3DS
• Released: 4 November 2014
• Developers: Edmund McMillen
• Genre: Roguelike

The Binding of Isaac is a title that has over the years been ported to all sorts of varying consoles. Eventually, with the release of The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth, the game was verified by Steam to say that it works brilliantly on the Steam Deck.

Those who play it are certain to be in for a treat with this title as Rebirth adds all sorts of new bosses, foes, and floors to discover, as well as challenging players to try out different characters and choose different power-ups to hopefully defeat their mom at the end of their run and even possibly go further than that.

3 Slay The Spire

Metascore: 89

Inscryption isn’t the only roguelike title to combine cards with the mechanics that sees players starting runs over and over. In 2019, Mega Crit Games published the Roguelike deck builder title Slay the Spire which challenges players to climb the tower while gaining immense power on their journey.

Players are likely to encounter one-on-one card battles with the monsters within or be forced to face multiple at once while also building a deck of cards that is sure to see them survive every encounter ahead. This game is another that is verified on the Steam Deck with the writing being easy to read on the arguably smaller handheld console’s screen.

2 Dead Cells

Metascore: 89

There are plenty of verified Roguelike games, but one of the most loved has to be the 2018 action Roguelike title, Dead Cells. Players are left to explore an ever-changing castle that takes heavy inspiration from Metroidvania titles to create a process that sees players fight, die, learn, and repeat this cycle until they make it through flawlessly.

Every death is permanent, meaning this handheld title is sure to keep every player on edge as they progress through the 2D soul-like action ahead of them. This is another brilliant title, and the vibrant art style looks wonderful on the newest Steam Deck screen while still looking just as stunning on the old console.

1 Hades

Metascore: 93

Hades is by far one of the greatest Roguelike games to be played on the Steam Deck. Its incredibly vibrant world only looks that much better on the OLED screen of the Steam Deck and the game has been perfectly created to run flawlessly on the handheld console with little to no latency.

What makes this Roguelike even better is that Hades is also meant to be getting a second game in 2024 where players will once again be asking for the aid of the gods in a vibrant world where they must see how far they can go with the weapons and skills available to them.