With Mike recently rounding up the best roguelikes and roguelites on Metacritic, it got me wondering which of these games made the biggest splash when they first released on Steam.
Before you take a peek below at the standings, it’s worth noting that these figures come from SteamDB. Using the site, I looked up the most popular roguelikes and roguelites and checked their peak launch player numbers in the first 24 hours. For this list, I’ve focused specifically on each game’s initial release on Steam, rather than later 1.0 launches.
When it comes to most appearances on the list there is a joint tie between Hopoo Games (Risk of Rain 2 and Risk of Rain Returns) and Edmund McMillen (Mewgenics and The Binding of Issac: Rebirth).
Slay the Spire 2 is the latest game to crack the top 10 and what a start it has got off to. The deckbuilder sequel recorded 282,314 players in its first 24hrs making for the biggest roguelike/roguelite launch of all-time. This is a huge increase from the original game which launched in 2017 to 193 concurrent players
In terms of the games we cover here, the only one that surpasses it is Elden Ring Nightreign. While we don’t consider that a roguelite, it has a bunch of adjacent elements. It also had publisher backing, it was based on a huge IP, and they’re hardly comparable, so I think it’s safe to call Slay the Spire 2 as the biggest roguelike launch of all time.
Here’s how the games stack up based on their launch-day concurrent player peaks:
Slay the Spire 2 – 282,314
Hades 2 – 103,567
Megabonk – 82,301
太吾绘卷 The Scroll Of Taiwu – 72,121
Risk of Rain 2- 70,194
The Binding of Issac: Rebirth – 69,747
Mewgenics – 65,962
Deep Rock Galactic: Survivor – 56,943
Loop Hero – 51,156
Risk of Rain – 45,141
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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!
