Hello, Dear Reader, and welcome to a brand-new (and hopefully long-running) feature that we have been cooking up for a while here at Rogueliker HQ.
In this fortnightly round-up, we’ll be offering up our impressions on some of the best roguelike and roguelite demos recently released. If you’re as old and grey as me, think of this as your own personal demo disc, like the ones that used to feature in gaming magazines of the 90s and 00s. We even dreamt one up for our cover image!
With Steam Next Fest starting tomorrow, we couldn’t think of a better time to kick off the series, and we’ve gone BIG for this one with nine demos for you to download.
Update: I know I said nine, but we decided to update the article with new games over the week, with the first being underwater FPS Abyssus, which you can read about at the end of the feature.
Finally, whilst we did put in the hard graft and played through loads of demos to bring you the very best, we couldn’t squeeze in everything Next Fest has to offer. There were games such as Moonlight 2: The Endless Vault and Death Howl, which we were unable to source early.
Anyway, I’ve rambled enough here, let’s start with our first pick…
Neon Abyss 2 | Veewo Games | PC (Win) | Release: 17th July 2025
We’re kicking things off strong with our poster child for this feature, Neon Abyss 2. I spent two hours with this action roguelite and had to wrestle the mouse and keyboard out of my own hands in an uncharacteristic act of self-restraint, as I had many other rogues waiting.
I haven’t played the original, but I found its snappy combat, its varied range of weapons and items, and its creature hatching and raising mechanics to be an absolute blast.
The handful of boss battles here were also equally excellent with them all feeling unique and some of them providing their own take on popular games. One battle was against a trio of trading cards that fired laser beams and lighting at me and in another I took on a pachinko master that sent projectiles tumbling down a maze of pegs above my head.
Sadly, I was unable to check out co-op mode. However, everything is more fun with friends, so I only see it adding to the game’s carnage.
Replicat | Brainoid Games | PC (Win, Mac) | Release: TBC
Another game to sink its claws into me was Replicat. This roguelike deckbuilder really put my memory through its paces, as it challenged me with matching pairs from a random grid of face-down cards. In each round you are given just 16 tries to find pairs on the grid and rack up points. If you fail to meet the score target in five rounds then it’s game over.
The score threshold increases with each level, and you can purchase new cards and items to enhance your deck and even burn ones that aren’t as effective. The memory challenge in itself I found addictive, and I kept discovering more efficient ways such as slowly inching around the borders of the grid to try and improve my recall.
Cat lovers and fans of Internet culture will joyfully lap up the many different memes that are referenced in the game’s cards and items. As a feline fanatic myself, I couldn’t help but crease when a chorus of meows erupted at the end of each round. If cat videos and memory games are your bag then this will likely be the cat’s meow.
Rentlord | verty | PC (Win | Release: June 2025
Have you ever had the fantasy of owning a property empire and taxing your tenants into oblivion? That’s the intriguing and largely unethical hook of Rentlord, a presumably one-of-its-kind real-estate roguelike that is heading to PC sometime this month.
Unfolding on a funky computer desktop, the game sees you build your empire from the ground up. Each run consists of 10 weeks and if you fail to meet your weekly quota then it’s sadly game over. To raise these funds, you’ll strategically purchase new properties and each of these comes with its own benefits and generates a set amount of rent.
To make the big bucks, though, you’ll need to purchase powerful plug-ins, and using them strategically and in synergy is where Rentlord really shines. During my playthrough, I did what any resourceful landlord would and used plugins to exploit my tenants. I purchased one that assigned £2,000 extra a month to a random property (what a horrible deal!) and another that doubled the first rent received from one I newly purchased.
Ratatan | TVT Co. Ltd., Ratata Arts | Switch, PC (Win), PS, Xbox | Release: 25th July 2025
While I missed out on the Patapon series, I was eager to check out its spiritual successor, Ratatan, with its striking hand-drawn visuals and unmistakable Japanese style. It really pulled me in when I first saw it at February’s ID@Xbox Showcase.
If you’re in a similar boat to me and are fairly unfamiliar with the game, it’s a 2D side-scrolling rhythm action roguelike that can be played with up to four players. In it, you command an army of adorable pink creatures known as Cobun and must time button presses to the beat to execute moves such as attacks, blocks, and jumps.
The presentation here, as expected, I found to be absolutely glorious. As a bass player of 18 years, though, I’m embarrassed to admit that timing moves didn’t come naturally to me. After a handful of runs, things did click eventually, and I had fun experimenting with different elemental abilities and crafting new weapons and items at the hub world.
Oh, I thought I’d mention too that the developers have offered up a six-track soundtrack demo if you want to unwind to the game’s music outside the chaos of battles.
Montabi | Mankibo | PC (Win) | Release: TBD
As a ’90s kid who lived and breathed Pokémon, I’m always drawn to fresh takes on the genre to help scratch that itch and relive my childhood joy. That’s why Montabi quickly caught my eye when I reported on it this April, and I was pleased to see it in the line-up.
The game is a creature-collector roguelike deckbuilder that sprinkles a touch of strategy with its turn-based battles unfolding on a 3×3 grid. Players can have three creatures on the battlefield at a time, and each has their own deck of cards that they will draw from and play each turn. Similar to Pokémon, your creatures evolve every few levels, and leveling up unlocks more powerful cards that can be added to their respective decks.
I had a lot of fun filling up the Montapedia (the Pokédex equivalent) and experimenting with which creatures synergised the best together. My final squad consisted of Goldbie, a goldfish in a jar that can deliver powerful melee attacks, Kireigo, a sentient piece of sushi that can lay down tasty treats to buff allies, and Cherosia, a fire wasp that can rig up deadly flaming traps on the grid to lure enemies into.
Undermine 2 | Thorium | PC (Win) | Release: TBD
Whilst tunnelling deep into the many roguelikes Next Fest had to offer, I really struck gold with Undermine 2, a dungeon-crawling sequel that proved tough as nails.
For everyone newly acquainted to the series, Undermine is an action-adventure roguelike that sees you search for riches in a sprawling mine filled with puzzles, traps, and enemies. Similar to The Binding of Isaac, I like how many hidden rooms there are for you to uncover and how you have to harvest materials such as gold yourself with your trusty pickaxe.
Beyond its slick presentation, one thing that really grabbed me right off the bat is how the game keeps its dungeons feeling fresh and unpredictable. I was constantly kept on my toes as each room contained its own unique quirks, such as explosive barrels riding around on mine karts and spinning saw blades that threatened to swallow me up.
As I teased earlier, the difficulty here is brutal, but more in a way that made me feel eager to learn its mechanics rather than throwing my controller across the room in a fit of rage. Some of my earlier runs, I’m embarrassed to admit, lasted under one minute, but with a bit of patience and persistence, I was able to face off against both of the demo’s bosses.
Don’t be put off by the ‘2’ in the title—like Neon Abyss 2, Undermine 2 makes it incredibly easy to jump in, even if you never touched the original. So grab your pickaxe and dive right in.
BloodRush: Undying Wish | Lightmancer Studios | Switch 2, Switch, PC, PS, Xbox | Release: 1st July 2025 (Switch releases TBC)
As I moaned about Undermine 2 kicking my ass in the previous entry, you might be surprised to learn that Bloodborne is actually my favourite game of all time. Its dreary gothic atmosphere and its fast-paced risk-for-reward combat have left a lasting mark on me since I first stepped into the fog-shrouded world of Yharnam.
That’s why BloodRush: Undying Wish instantly caught my attention. Undying Wish clearly draws inspiration from the aforementioned gothic masterpiece, but it’s very much its own (Blood-starved) beast. The game has a unique bleeding mechanic, where you’re forever hemorrhaging blood after being attacked and you must harvest your enemies for health. This might sound stressful, but it gives it a really solid sense of momentum, where you’re forced to constantly keep moving and slashing or it’s game over.
During this chaos, the game encourages you to vary up your attacks and experiment with a move set of 10s of combos. Your firearm can only be reloaded by stringing together melee attacks, for example, preventing you from being overly reliant. You can also use your gun to grapple hook your way to different points across the arena, helping you to dodge incoming enemy attacks and keep your momentum.
Keep an eye out as I will absolutely be previewing this one in the near future. If you’re reading this Lightmancer Studios, please hook me up!
In the meantime, BloodRush has already earned a spot in our ever-growing Switch 2 roguelikes feature, and after going hands-on with its bleeding-edge demo, I can confidently say that this one’s worth watching.
With Next Fest having so many amazing roguelike demos, I had to call in reinforcements for the next one, and luckily Mike arrived as backup.
Fleetbreakers | Last Keep | PC (Win) | Release: TBD
I have been buzzing about Fleetbreakers (nee Project Citadel) since we got a behind-the-scenes look at the game, back before the demos started to roll out.
Naturally, when it came time to take a closer look and Kieran needed an RTS for this round-up, I eagerly accepted the assignment.
After a couple of teething issues with the first build a few weeks ago, I had no problems this time around, and I split my time between PC and Steam Deck. For the record, the demo works great on both, and everything feels intuitive to control via both a mouse and the thumbsticks.
Easy controls is exactly you’d expect from a studio as experienced in developing strategy games for consoles as Last Keep is. It may be a new developer on paper, but it’s staffed by key people from Ensemble Studios, of Halo Wars and Age of Empires fame (two of my favourite RTS series, for what it’s worth).
As for the demo, I didn’t actually manage to complete it, but I did have a good time getting to grips with the basics and pushing through the first few missions. On that front, your assignments are short and snappy, with simple objectives and an ever-expanding collection of tricks to utilise.
The game underneath the smooth interface felt easy to grasp, but it has a lot of potential to grow in complexity as you expand your fleet. This happens in the usual roguish manner, as you add new units and abilities to your toolbox after each round. I think the setup here has real potential, and I love the art style, too!
Xenopurge | Traptics | PC (Win) | Release: 11th July 2025
If you ever watched Aliens and figured that you’d have preferred to be in the rear with the gear and Lt. Gorman, calling the shots from the safety of a console, then Xenopurge is the game for you.
As you can see from the screenshot attached, this one is all about the UI and, by extension, your engagement with it. Xenopurge really leans into its Alien inspiration with a retro-futuristic console interface that you navigate throughout.
Despite the low-fi approach to the combat, with the action depicted by slow-moving name tags with health bars, the moment-to-moment experience itself is pleasingly immersive, as your eyes flick between purposefully antiquated-yet-futuristic monitors.
Duskers fans will have a fair idea of what to expect, but for the uninitiated, the gameplay feels like a cross between Football Manager and Alien: Blackout / Five Nights at Freddy’s. Or something like that.
During each mission, you’ll be telling your troops to recon, engage, and extract from the comfort of your monitor back at base, but you’ll also have to watch on in horror if, because of your decisions, a bunch of xenos pop out of an unexplored sideroom and eat the face off your VIP as he runs for the exit. Yes, that happened to me.
Abyssus | DoubleMoose Games | PC (Win) | Release: August 12th, 2025
Going in, I knew that Abyssus had an underwater theme. With such nautical territory comes inevitable BioShock comparisons, but in this instance, I think they’re somewhat warranted.
Now I’m not here saying that Abyssus is the new BioShock, because they’re very different games. However, I am intrigued, and I’m eager to discover the secrets hidden within Abyssus and find out more about whatever the hell happened in its strange underwater temple.
That’s not flowery games journo talk either; said underwater temple is a super-interesting setting filled with strange mechanical creatures that attack on sight. These robots borrow their designs from both the environment around them and the nature swimming outside (robo-sharks, basically). You – and friends if you’ve got them – arrive at the temple as part of a second expedition, and naturally, things didn’t go very well for the first team.
I’ve played the demo through a couple of times now, and I rather enjoyed the gun handling and the environmental traversal. It didn’t take long before I was taking advantage of the double-jump-dash to zoom about the place, and it all felt natural and easy to get into.
The only thing that didn’t blow me away was the upgrades, which felt rather muted and on the rails. However, with the meta progression switched off for this demo, I fully expect that to be alleviated to some degree when Abyssus launches in August.
Thank you for sticking around until the end! Be sure to stay tuned for our next edition of our ongoing Demo Disc feature. In the meantime, you can check out some of the amazing rogues that are just on the horizon in our latest Monthly Update.
