Best Roguelike Games on PS5

10. The Persistence Enhanced (PS5)

Beginning life as a PlayStation VR favourite, The Persistence has gone from strength to strength as Firesprite Games adapted the title for normal TV play and then brought out this enhanced version on PS5. It was even good enough to see the studio snapped up as a Sony first-party developer. The survival horror rogue-like tasks you with preventing the spaceship you're aboard from falling into a black hole, but there is all manner of monsters that stand in your way. With PS5 enhancements like ray tracing and responsive haptic feedback from the DualSense controller, it makes great use of the console's power.

9. Dicey Dungeons (PS5)

Dicey Dungeons combines the strategy and character building elements of roguelikes with the luck factor of dice rolls. The result is an addictive concoction in which the numbers you roll impact the damage you deal, the abilities you can use, and so on. With six playable characters, there's plenty of variety in this highly replayable game, and it also helps that it looks lovely with its colourful, cartoonish aesthetic.

8. The Light Brigade (PS5)

Roguelikes may be dime a dozen, but they’re less commonplace in virtual reality. The Light Brigade proves that the format can work with PSVR2 to excellent effect, and while it does little to reinvent the genre’s well-worn wheel, it instead focuses on executing all of its ideas to an exemplary standard. The result is an almost immaculate shooter, with stunning gameplay and an outstanding reward loop.

7. Cult of the Lamb (PS5)

Cult of the Lamb is an ingenious blend of rogue-lite action and life sim that's devilishly addictive. Indebted to an imprisoned, malevolent god, you spend half the game vanquishing foes, gathering resources, and rescuing animals. Then, things flip, and your time turns to building up a cult with various buildings and structures. There's an element of strategy to this half of the game, but it's generally pretty breezy, while the action is nice and snappy. Both sides of Cult of the Lamb feed wonderfully into each other, and combined with the cute cartoon visuals, it's an incredibly fun, dangerously moreish treat.

6. The Binding of Isaac: Repentance (PS5)

The Binding of Isaac: Repentance is the ultimate version of this beloved rogue-like shooter. With creepy overtones and a cartoonish aesthetic, it's not to everyone's tastes, but the addictive gameplay and sheer variety of potential builds you can create make it an incredibly moreish prospect. There's a ridiculous amount of stuff to see and discover here, and you can enjoy it in local co-op with three buddies, too.

5. Vampire Survivors (PS5)

Probably one of the most moreish games on the market, Vampire Survivors is a fascinatingly fun roguelite. With attacks firing off automatically, all you have to do is avoid enemies and survive each 30-minute round, gathering XP and leveling up your abilities as you go. While it doesn't look like much in static screens, it'll surprise you just how chaotic things can get, and building your character to become a literally unstoppable force is satisfying every time. The sheer amount of unlocks and secrets to discover means practically every run gets you something, too. We can't recommend this one enough, but be warned — you might never play anything else again.

4. Returnal (PS5)

Not that it needed to, but with Returnal, Housemarque has proven itself an incredibly capable studio. This PS5 exclusive is a frantic, ultra-tight third person shooter dressed up with some rogue-like elements to add variety and unpredictability to the mix, and the result is wonderful.

Trapped in a loop on a hostile alien world, Selene is forced to relive her fateful crash landing each time she dies. There's an amazing sense of accomplishment as you slowly progress through challenging boss encounters and explore six diverse environments full of randomised weapons, perks, and power-ups. It feels amazing to play, especially with amazing support for the DualSense's features, and the addictive gameplay is complemented by an enigmatic story that will leave you guessing.

The best part is that's just the start. A slew of additional modes flesh out Returnal, giving you a few extra ways to play when you're done with the single player campaign. The daily challenge mode provides all players with a fixed loadout and room layouts, with the goal of amassing the highest score possible by exploring and playing skilfully. Beyond that is the Tower of Sisyphus, an endless arcade mode that similarly tasks you with getting the highest score you can, only there's more of a sense of urgency. You're rewarded not just for skilled play but for fast play — your multiplier will start to tick down if you loiter for too long. The Tower also contains additional story, adding more layers to the mysterious narrative the main game offers.

Finally, there's two-player online co-op. This allows you to join or invite another player and go through the main campaign with a companion, potentially alleviating some of the challenge. While it isn't the primary focus of Returnal, the co-op works splendidly; resources are shared between you, forcing you to make decisions on who gets what, and a revival mechanic lets you bring each other back into the fight. It's just as much fun taking on the world of Atropos with a friend as it is alone, if not more so.

Whether you're in it for the world class gameplay, the atmospheric sci-fi setting, the intentionally mysterious story, or the variety of extra modes, Returnal is among the most robust, rewarding, and addictive games on PS5.

3. Hades (PS5)

Bored of his immortal life in the Underworld, Zagreus takes it upon himself to escape the reaches of his godly father. In the brilliant roguelike Hades, you'll aid the prince in his attempts to reach the surface, engaging in countless runs through the ever-shifting realms. With each death comes plot development, however; a story is expertly interwoven with the gameplay loop, giving you a small taste of what each character has been up to before you dive back into the dungeons once more. With slick, fast-paced combat, an endless variety of perks and power-ups to try, and an escalating challenge for those that stick around, this is a fantastic action game that makes the most of its looping structure.

2. Dead Cells (PS5)

Dead Cells is a real classic of the roguelike genre. It successfully combines randomly generated environments with the typically very structured Metroidvania framework; there's a huge volume of meta progression to make as you endlessly replay it, slowly opening it up even further. The side-scrolling action is really slick and satisfying, and through a ridiculous level of post-launch updates, the amount of stuff to see and do here is off the scale. This is another roguelike you could happily play forever.

1. Balatro (PS5)

Balatro puts an ingenious roguelike spin on poker, and it plays unlike anything else. Each run has you using poker hands to score a points target, but the real fun comes when you start to build upon your deck of playing cards with an enormous variety of modifiers, upgrades, and augmentations. The ways that all its various mechanics intertwine create huge potential for outrageously powerful synergies, and watching the numbers tot up as your regular hand is boosted by special Jokers and card effects is incredibly satisfying. There's lots of stuff to collect, difficulty levels to conquer, and challenges to complete. There's a reason it's one of 2024's breakout hits — it's a fantastic, unique roguelike.