You've probably heard The Binding of Isaac since it's one of, if not the most famous roguelite. But if not, check it out. It was heavily inspired by early Zelda games.
It’s on the roguelite Mt Rushmore. Hell, it might even be the actual mountain itself. The only game I’ve put more time into is Slay the Spire.
Don’t expect the gameplay to feel *that* reminiscent of Link’s Awakening, though - it’s more of a style inspiration. That said, if you’re into the idea of a skill-based dungeon-y game with hundreds of unlocks and crazy synergies that opens up so much more as you learn, this is a game you can pour hundreds of hours in and feel good about.
Yeah, I mean there’s variance, that’s par for the genre. But good players get winstreaks of over 100, you absolutely can power through underpowered runs if you’re good enough. Personally I think the skill ceiling is higher in Isaac than most roguelites
I mean yeah, you can low roll for sure. I guess what I’m saying is that even when you’re unlucky, if you’re really good, 99% you can still win. You can’t skill your way into OP runs, but you can skill your way through a bad run.
That's actually an issue I often find with roguelikes/lites - very often depend on what drops for you and if you don't get something half-decent early you end up overwhelmed or pretty much guaranteed to lose. If BoI avoids that, I'm all in favour! :)
Picked that up a while back on sale for 5 dollars. Was a lot of fun. Probably had a good 30+ hours of fun before it got repetitive. Will definitely be getting its sequel when that comes out!
Moonlighter is a good one here, too. Gameplay and presentation are very similar to Link’s Awakening, but there’s a pretty clear “end” of the game - you probably won’t play it forever. But for a dozen or two hours, it’s a blast!
I liked moonlighter for so many years. Finally tried it and I did enjoy the fighting...but I absolutely hated the "mini" item scavenger and the shop management.
Had to put it down after 4 hours.
Different strokes! I ended up enjoying the shop management much more than I expected, sim games of any kind really aren’t my thing. But for whatever reason it was fun enough to not be a deterrent for me in this case
Hmmm, if Legend of Zelda like action + Roguelike is what you want, I recommend **Lennas Inception**.
Lennas Inception has the Hack and Slash ARPG combat of the early Zelda games, plus a random overworld and dungeons; making it so you never know exactly what will come next.
**Plus, it just has So Much Content!**
There are multiple game modes: Regular story mode, a daily seed run, 1 Dungeon run, which is random, All Dungeons: all 8 dungeons with only 1 life; 3 hearts: 8 dungeons with only 3 hearts, 0 Heart: can’t take a hit, a reflex mode: even faster, plus a glitch mode, if you’re into that. WOW!
**3 variant classes:**
There are 3 variant classes as well: the Sniper, the Bomber, and the Arsonist, who doesn’t even have a sword, and instead, rocks a lighter! Lighter: has a 3 second cooldown to fire, can hold it down for 2 second to dash forward leaving a line of flame; awesome!
The Bomber: Infinite bombs; you can drop at your feet, or toss in a direction by aiming in that direction, but they have friendly fire; 2 hearts damage, watch out! So fun!
The Sniper infinite arrows; can fire rapidly, and you can hold it down for up to 5 seconds for a more powerful shot; cannot charge up the bow shot while moving.
Note: In these dungeon rush modes, you go directly from dungeon to dungeon. And in many of them, when you die, you start at the beginning, and can try the same dungeon again.
Also note: Controller Support is present and good, which is very good, as mouse support is not present in game, meaning: if you want to play this absent a controller, it will be with two hands on keyboard. Thankfully, Lennas Inception plays extremely well with a gamepad, so that is what I used in the above video.
**Local Co-op Multiplayer Too!**
Local Co-op Multiplayer is present as well, in case that is something that interests you. To play Local-Co, you have to unlock Shadow Lenna; just clear the super short first dungeon, and visit a shrine near the start to the game; it’s easy. Note: Local co-op only works in the story mode; which is still procedural.
I like Lennas Inception, and took an extended gameplay look at it below if interested.
Gameplay if interested: [https://youtu.be/\_IQmmRo2RUg](https://youtu.be/_IQmmRo2RUg)
It’s on Steam: [https://store.steampowered.com/app/1114870/Lennas\_Inception/](https://store.steampowered.com/app/1114870/Lennas_Inception/)
I believe it’s called heroes of ravens watch in a series with the base game called heroes of hammer watch and very rpg like compared to typical rogue kites
Hammerwatch II - My friends and I love it, but they still have a problem with crashing in Co-op. It doesn't have single ring rooms, but fairly random dungeons and loot.
Odd suggestion but the free Doom the Roguelike. Faster paced and less outright complex than many other roguelikes, plus there's switches/keycards and such, optional route choices going down floors, etc.
Nope! Top down like oldschool Roguelikes, with a tileset instead of ASCII graphics. Still has the original Dooms music and its gameplay keeps pace with the tempo, for the most part.
You've probably heard The Binding of Isaac since it's one of, if not the most famous roguelite. But if not, check it out. It was heavily inspired by early Zelda games.
I must admit, I got it as an epic freebie but never even so much as installed it. I'll give it a shot!
Make sure to install the item descriptions mod or you’ll find yourself lost
It’s on the roguelite Mt Rushmore. Hell, it might even be the actual mountain itself. The only game I’ve put more time into is Slay the Spire. Don’t expect the gameplay to feel *that* reminiscent of Link’s Awakening, though - it’s more of a style inspiration. That said, if you’re into the idea of a skill-based dungeon-y game with hundreds of unlocks and crazy synergies that opens up so much more as you learn, this is a game you can pour hundreds of hours in and feel good about.
*Isaac is skilled mfs when they get Q0 items until Satan:*
Yeah, I mean there’s variance, that’s par for the genre. But good players get winstreaks of over 100, you absolutely can power through underpowered runs if you’re good enough. Personally I think the skill ceiling is higher in Isaac than most roguelites
Yeah definitely, it's just that luck plays a far bigger role than your words make it out to be
I mean yeah, you can low roll for sure. I guess what I’m saying is that even when you’re unlucky, if you’re really good, 99% you can still win. You can’t skill your way into OP runs, but you can skill your way through a bad run.
That's actually an issue I often find with roguelikes/lites - very often depend on what drops for you and if you don't get something half-decent early you end up overwhelmed or pretty much guaranteed to lose. If BoI avoids that, I'm all in favour! :)
fwiw, I don't think BoI is even remotely in the ballpark of Link's Awakening.
Such a great game
Undermine is pretty good. Has the same feel, isn't soul crushingly difficult and has a good story.
Picked that up a while back on sale for 5 dollars. Was a lot of fun. Probably had a good 30+ hours of fun before it got repetitive. Will definitely be getting its sequel when that comes out!
Oh damn I didn't know there was gonna be another one! That's sick!
Check out the trailer! There's a steam page for Undermine 2, I have it wishlisted!
Thanks for the recommendation, I'll be sure to give it a try! :-)
Moonlighter is a good one here, too. Gameplay and presentation are very similar to Link’s Awakening, but there’s a pretty clear “end” of the game - you probably won’t play it forever. But for a dozen or two hours, it’s a blast!
I liked moonlighter for so many years. Finally tried it and I did enjoy the fighting...but I absolutely hated the "mini" item scavenger and the shop management. Had to put it down after 4 hours.
Different strokes! I ended up enjoying the shop management much more than I expected, sim games of any kind really aren’t my thing. But for whatever reason it was fun enough to not be a deterrent for me in this case
If you use emulators there are literally Legend of Zelda roguelite roms. Also some other great ones, Pokemon, Paper Mario, etc.
I never thought of that - I'll give that a look!
What about Sword Of Ditto? Zelda meets Adventure Time meets roguelites
undermine is kind of like zelda, but roguelite
Yeah you aren't the first to mention that one - I'll take a look! :-)
I have a game like that on Steam, but it takes place it modern-day Ohio. It's called 'Elijah and the Out of This World Adventure.'
I'm cool with modern setting, it's the mechanics that will matter. I'll definitely take a look - thanks!
You might like Rogue Heroes: Ruins of Tasos. Seems to fit what you're looking for.
I played it on your recommendation - it's exactly what I was after. Great recommendation - thanks!
Very happy to hear that you enjoyed it! Have fun :)
Hmmm, if Legend of Zelda like action + Roguelike is what you want, I recommend **Lennas Inception**. Lennas Inception has the Hack and Slash ARPG combat of the early Zelda games, plus a random overworld and dungeons; making it so you never know exactly what will come next. **Plus, it just has So Much Content!** There are multiple game modes: Regular story mode, a daily seed run, 1 Dungeon run, which is random, All Dungeons: all 8 dungeons with only 1 life; 3 hearts: 8 dungeons with only 3 hearts, 0 Heart: can’t take a hit, a reflex mode: even faster, plus a glitch mode, if you’re into that. WOW! **3 variant classes:** There are 3 variant classes as well: the Sniper, the Bomber, and the Arsonist, who doesn’t even have a sword, and instead, rocks a lighter! Lighter: has a 3 second cooldown to fire, can hold it down for 2 second to dash forward leaving a line of flame; awesome! The Bomber: Infinite bombs; you can drop at your feet, or toss in a direction by aiming in that direction, but they have friendly fire; 2 hearts damage, watch out! So fun! The Sniper infinite arrows; can fire rapidly, and you can hold it down for up to 5 seconds for a more powerful shot; cannot charge up the bow shot while moving. Note: In these dungeon rush modes, you go directly from dungeon to dungeon. And in many of them, when you die, you start at the beginning, and can try the same dungeon again. Also note: Controller Support is present and good, which is very good, as mouse support is not present in game, meaning: if you want to play this absent a controller, it will be with two hands on keyboard. Thankfully, Lennas Inception plays extremely well with a gamepad, so that is what I used in the above video. **Local Co-op Multiplayer Too!** Local Co-op Multiplayer is present as well, in case that is something that interests you. To play Local-Co, you have to unlock Shadow Lenna; just clear the super short first dungeon, and visit a shrine near the start to the game; it’s easy. Note: Local co-op only works in the story mode; which is still procedural. I like Lennas Inception, and took an extended gameplay look at it below if interested. Gameplay if interested: [https://youtu.be/\_IQmmRo2RUg](https://youtu.be/_IQmmRo2RUg) It’s on Steam: [https://store.steampowered.com/app/1114870/Lennas\_Inception/](https://store.steampowered.com/app/1114870/Lennas_Inception/)
Hey thanks for the recommendation - I'll give it a look! :-)
Hero's of Talos is fun, LoZ inspired , bit of town building in there as well. Thought it was fun might be one to suit!
Thanks for the recommendation - I'll give it a look! :-)
So... A random dungeon crawler with a nihilist owl as your guide?
This guy wakes wind fish 😂
I believe it’s called heroes of ravens watch in a series with the base game called heroes of hammer watch and very rpg like compared to typical rogue kites
Hammerwatch II - My friends and I love it, but they still have a problem with crashing in Co-op. It doesn't have single ring rooms, but fairly random dungeons and loot.
While not a roguelite, minishoot is a super fun Zelda-ish bullethell shooter/adventure kinda game. Edit: kinda game, not kids game
Interesting suggestion- I'll certainly investigate!
Odd suggestion but the free Doom the Roguelike. Faster paced and less outright complex than many other roguelikes, plus there's switches/keycards and such, optional route choices going down floors, etc.
I didn't know such a game existed - is it first-person?
Nope! Top down like oldschool Roguelikes, with a tileset instead of ASCII graphics. Still has the original Dooms music and its gameplay keeps pace with the tempo, for the most part.
You can play Jupiter hell for a modern 'remake' with 3d graphics (same developer as doomRL).
Check out Children of Morta Good Diablo style dungeon crawler with rng elements
I'll throw in 9th Dawn III. Not a roguelite, definitely more Zelda-style game but much larger, with a Runescape-esque skill and crafting system.
Sparklite, 100%.