You know the feeling. You break out of the Underworld for the first time, the credits roll, and you realise the best part wasn't the escape. It was the thirty failed runs that came before it, each one ending with a line of dialogue that made you want to try again. Now it's late, you're staring at the menu, and you want that loop back.
Most lists answer with every roguelite that has a Steam page. This one assumes you've already played Hades and want something that gets at least one of its hooks right: a build you can feel come together, a death that teaches you something, or a story that keeps moving while you fail. Eight games, ordered from the closest match to the wildcards. No filler.
01
Action roguelite / Motion Twin, Evil Empire
Dead Cells
PC · PS4 · Xbox One · Nintendo Switch · iOS · Android
Play This First
If Hades was about dodging and chaining attacks, Dead Cells is the 2D version, faster and meaner. You fight through a procedurally built castle with no checkpoints, picking up two weapons and a pair of skills that combine in ways the game never explains. Where Hades hands you boons from gods, Dead Cells hands you mutations and a rolling stream of loot, and the fun is stacking a bleed build or a pure-crit build into something absurd. Cells collected in a run buy permanent unlocks back at the start, the same kind of progression as Hades' Mirror of Night. If you liked the Castlevania-style exploration in our metroidvania list, the level design will feel familiar. The weakness: story is thin compared with Hades, and your early runs depend heavily on which weapons the game hands you.
The Hook: For players who loved Hades' dash-and-strike rhythm and want it faster, flatter and a little crueller.
02
Bullet-hell roguelite / Housemarque
Returnal
PS5 · PC
Best Story Through Failure
Hades turned death into narrative. Returnal does something darker with the same idea. You play Selene, an astronaut who crash-lands on the alien planet Atropos and discovers she can't die for good: every death resets her, and the world rearranges itself each time. It's a third-person shooter with bullet-hell patterns, so dodging means leaping through a wall of glowing orbs rather than rolling around a lava pit. Weapons carry traits and levels, while artifacts and parasites add risk-and-reward build choices, which feels a lot like picking boons. The weakness is difficulty: it's far harsher than Hades, and the story comes through audio logs and environmental details rather than conversations. If you want a longer look at why it works, our list of games to play around Saros covers it.
The Hook: For players who liked how Hades folded its story into dying and want a colder, stranger version.
03
Action roguelite / Hopoo Games, Gearbox
Risk of Rain 2
PC · PS4 · Xbox One · Nintendo Switch
Best With Friends
Hades gave you one build per run. Risk of Rain 2 gives you a hundred items that stack until you become a walking explosion. You're a survivor on a hostile planet, shooting your way through stages while the difficulty climbs with a timer, so the longer you linger, the nastier the enemies become. Items stack and interact: a few extra bounces on your attacks, a chance to trigger a chain lightning, a pet drone that heals you. That's the same "I broke the game" feeling as a perfect set of Hades boons, but it happens at a larger scale. Up to four players can play together online, which turns the chaos into something you'll remember. The weakness: it has hardly any story and its item descriptions are short on detail, so you learn by dying.
The Hook: For players who loved watching their Hades build spiral out of control and want that on a bigger scale.
04
Action roguelite / Cellar Door Games
Rogue Legacy 2
PC · PS4 · PS5 · Xbox One · Xbox Series X|S · Nintendo Switch
Best for Beginners
Every time you die in Rogue Legacy 2, your next character is the heir of the last one, with a different class and a random mix of traits. Some are useful, like a better jump, and some are ridiculous, like a character who sees the world in tiny pixels or deals damage when you pass gas. It's a platformer with melee combat rather than a dash-based brawler, so it plays slower than Hades, but its permanent upgrades work the same way: gold from every run buys a growing family manor, and each upgrade changes how the next run plays. The game also has House Rules, which let you tweak difficulty, so it's a gentler way into the genre than most. The weakness: platforming precision matters more than you'd expect, and the opening hours feel slow until the manor starts to fill out.
The Hook: For players who liked Hades' permanent upgrades most of all and want the grind to feel like a family saga.
That's the first half: four action roguelites that take Hades' best idea, a run that makes you stronger even when you fail, and bend it into new shapes. The second half gets further from the Underworld. Fewer swords, more guns, one deck of cards, and one game that isn't a roguelite at all.
05
Bullet-hell roguelite / Dodge Roll
Enter the Gungeon
PC · PS4 · Xbox One · Nintendo Switch
Most Underrated on This List
Enter the Gungeon is a top-down shooter where the dungeon is made of guns. You descend through chambers full of bullet-shaped enemies, and your dodge roll gives you a brief window of invulnerability, much like Hades' dash, so surviving is about timing rather than just aiming. The guns are what make it special: there are hundreds, and plenty are jokes (a gun that shoots other guns, a gun that fires fish). Each run gives you different ones, so you never settle into a single build. The weakness is that the randomness can sting. A bad draw of guns and items ends a run quickly, and falling into a pit because you misjudged a roll is an easy way to lose a promising attempt. Local co-op lets a second player join in, which softens the sting.
The Hook: For players who think the dash was the best thing about Hades and want a game built entirely around it.
06
Deck-building roguelike / Mega Crit
Slay the Spire
PC · PS4 · Xbox One · Nintendo Switch · iOS · Android
Odd One Out, Worth It
No dashing, no real-time combat, and still one of the best answers to "what has the same loop as Hades?" You climb a spire fighting enemies in turn-based card battles, adding cards to your deck after each fight and picking relics that bend the rules. A good deck feels exactly like a good set of Hades boons: two cards that shouldn't work together suddenly do, and the rest of the run is about protecting that combo. Each of its four characters plays differently, so there's more variety than you'd expect. The weakness: it's slower and more cerebral than anything else on this list, and if you loved Hades for the action, the pauses between turns may drive you up the wall.
The Hook: For players who loved the moment a Hades build clicked and don't mind thinking through every move to get there.
07
Action RPG / Supergiant Games
Transistor
PC · PS4 · Nintendo Switch · iOS
Back to the Source
This is the odd one out, and the reason is obvious: Transistor comes from Supergiant, the same studio behind Hades. It isn't a roguelite, but it has the same art style, the same kind of soundtrack and a narrator voiced by Logan Cunningham, the actor behind Hades himself. You play Red, a singer who has lost her voice and carries a talking sword through a collapsing city. The combat lets you freeze time to plan a sequence of attacks, then watch it run in real time, and you can combine its abilities in more than one way, which scratches the same "build" itch. The weakness: it's shorter and more linear than any roguelite, and the story relies on you paying close attention to what's said.
The Hook: For players who want more from the studio that made Hades and don't mind trading the loop for a story.
08
Isometric roguelite / Passtech Games
Curse of the Dead Gods
PC · PS4 · Xbox One · Nintendo Switch
The Closest Look-Alike
Visually this is the game most likely to be mistaken for Hades. It's an isometric roguelite set in a cursed temple filled with traps and gods, and you move through chambers picking your next room by the reward on offer, just like in Hades. Its twist is the curse: the longer you carry gold and items out of a dungeon without spending them, the heavier the curse on you becomes, and the harder the rooms get. That turns greed into a real risk. The weakness is depth: the combat is deliberate and a bit stiff compared with Hades' fluidity, and runs start to feel alike after dozens of hours. It's best played in short sessions, not marathons.
The Hook: For players who want to be back in an isometric dungeon with a clear price on every bit of greed.
What these eight games prove is that Hades didn't invent the roguelite, but it did change what players expect from one. A run has to teach you something, a build has to feel like yours, and failure has to move the story forward, not just reset the clock. Studios have been chasing that ever since. If you need a breather after all that dying, the sandbox label has slower picks, and you can browse more action games under the arpg label.
Frequently asked questions
What's the closest game to Hades?
Curse of the Dead Gods looks the most like Hades, with its isometric view and room-by-room reward choices. Dead Cells plays the most like it, thanks to fast dodging and attack-chaining. Pick the one that matches what you loved: the look, or the feel.
Is Returnal harder than Hades?
Yes. Returnal is a much harsher game, and it has no equivalent of Hades' God Mode, which makes the Underworld easier after each death. Returnal is also a bullet-hell shooter, so you're dodging patterns rather than rolling past single attacks.
Which of these games can I play on Nintendo Switch?
Dead Cells, Risk of Rain 2, Rogue Legacy 2, Enter the Gungeon, Slay the Spire, Transistor and Curse of the Dead Gods all have Nintendo Switch versions. Returnal is on PS5 and PC only. Check each store page before you buy, since versions and editions change.
Are there any co-op roguelites on this list?
Risk of Rain 2 supports up to four players online, and Enter the Gungeon has local co-op for two. The rest of the list is built for solo play.
Where should I start if I've never played a roguelite?
Rogue Legacy 2 is the friendliest, because its House Rules let you adjust difficulty, and your heirs always give you something to try. Dead Cells is a good second step once you want something faster.
Which of these broke you in the best way, and what did we leave off?
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