Last night, while much of the world was sleeping, Valve announced that the tag system used by Steam had undergone a bit of a reshuffle.
This is one of those stories that I personally find interesting, but I’m never sure whether anyone else will care that much. I find it intriguing because the tag system on Steam is an important tool that helps developers find the right audiences for their games.
Gaming nomenclature is constantly evolving, and with that evolution, people often look for things using new and adapted language, especially in our corner of gaming, where genres are frequently mashed together to create new experiences.
As I’ve previously covered before, lots of devs have been pushing for Valve to recognise “Bullet Heaven” as an official tag for some time. We knew they had been successful when a Steam-curated Bullet Heaven Fest was spotted out in the wild.
Now the tag change has been officially deployed as part of a wider shake-up; however, as part of the update, another roguish sub-genre has been impacted.
“Roguevania” is one of 28 tags to have gone the way of the dodo last night. This sub-category typically describes roguelike side-scrollers that are driven by Metroidvania-inspired exploration (I covered a few of them in this article about my favourite roguelike platformers).
If you, too, are interested in how Steam tags games and how that facilitates game discovery, or if you simply want to have a look at what’s in and out, you’ll find more details about the changes here.
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Still with us? Of course you are! If you want to keep reading about great hand-picked rogues, the following articles represent a huge collection of the best roguelike games ever made.
Next, there are genre-specific lists that delve into the best roguelike games of all types. I’ve pulled out the best examples from each category, alongside the links to more in-depth articles!
The best turn-based roguelikes: Caves of Qud | There are some seriously incredible turn-based roguelikes out there. Of all the modern games, these are the closest to the original Rogue.
Awesome first-person rogues: Gunfire Reborn | We almost went with Blue Prince for this spot, but most people checking out first-person rogues probably want to wield a gun, you know?!
Cool roguelike deckbuilders: Balatro | Sorry, Slay the Spire fans, but this poker-solitaire deckbuilder has stolen Mike’s heart and won’t give it back.
Exciting roguelike platformers: Spelunky | Now, don’t get us wrong, Dead Cells is an incredible game, especially with all the DLC switched on. But when it comes to impact, you just can’t beat Spelunky.
Amazing action-roguelites: Hades 2 | And finally, let’s wrap things up with our favourite of them all. There’s no beating the original Hades, although Hades 2 comes pretty close!
