A guide to the best Roguelikes on PS4 and PS5

Roguelikes are games characterised by levels that are procedurally generated - that is, created by clever algorithms rather than manually designed - meaning that no two playthroughs are ever the same. Level layouts, enemy placements and the weapons or upgrades you encounter change every time you restart, creating an irresistible challenge that demands hundreds, if not thousands of replays.

The name pays tribute to Rogue, an early dungeon crawler from 1980. The game used procedural generation to create an entirely new dungeon for every playthrough, meaning players could never anticipate the dangers ahead. Through this, Rogue also introduced the enduring concept of ‘permadeath’.

There’s a lot of debate on this. Purists argue that a roguelike must mirror Rogue’s turn-based, dungeon crawler RPG approach to qualify. 

Another school of thought is that a roguelike can refer to any game with procedural elements that will reset your progress completely after each playthrough, whereas a rogue-lite retains some elements of character progression, such as upgraded stats or unlocked weapons and abilities. Because of this, some consider that a roguelike is about the journey, whereas a rogue-lite is about the destination.

There are plenty of roguelikes that can be enjoyed with other players as cooperative experiences. Some of the games that support multiplayer in this curated selection include Spelunky 2 and Enter The Gungeon.