The best Roguelike games designed around co-op

Key points

• Cooperative play enhances the roguelike experience, making it more inviting and engaging for groups of friends.
• Ember Knights offers fast-paced combat, unique abilities, and great cooperative potential for fun evenings of gaming.
• Ravenswatch and Gunfire Reborn are challenging yet rewarding cooperative roguelike games with unique gameplay elements.

Roguelike they're fun enough on their own and have a lot of replayability, as that's exactly what they were designed to do. However, when friendly cooperation is added to the mix, the genre suddenly becomes much more inviting and much more interesting.

There's nothing better than going through the same levels with different builds and characters and challenging the same bosses in different ways with some friends to enjoy the journey with. Because roguelikes are made to be played again and again, they're a good bet when a group of friends can't find anything new they want to play, often serving as a de facto online meeting place to meet and chat. .

8 Brazier Knight

Roguelike-style team action

Inspired by classics like Hades AND Dead cells, Knights of the ember takes a look at the roguelike genre with all the charm of a pixel game and all the mechanics you would expect from a well-developed indie game. The game allows co-op for up to four players, making it perfect for game nights and long sessions with friends.

The game offers everything a roguelike lover could need: fast-paced combat, unique weapons, abilities and relics, and engaging combat accentuated by a fairly simple but fascinating story.

7 Ravenswatch

The sorcerer's vibe

Ravenswatch it's a beautiful game that focuses on combat as much as aesthetics. The dark game embraces the emo aspect and runs with it, creating an identity as the cute older cousin with sick tattoos in the co-op roguelike world.

The game can be very punishing and requires players to work together and have each other's backs to win a race. While the maps may seem a bit generic, especially after playing them dozens of times, the variety of builds is worth the time players invest in exploring them.

6 Brought by the wind

Dead Cell Dev's new project

Coming from the developers behind the indie darling, Dead cells, Brought by the wind is a co-op roguelike more like Hades compared to its predecessor. The game features an isometric view, movements that are more frenetic than seems healthy, and bright colors that give it a unique identity.

The cooperative aspect of the game is particularly well integrated, allowing players to fully enjoy the experience with a friend. The game is still in Early Access and lacks a lot of content that players might expect from the successor Dead cellsbut there's definitely more to come as the team develops the game further.

5 RoboQuest

Rogue-style FPS robot

The inorganic brother of The rebirth of gunfire, RoboQuest drops the player into a first-person shooter experience where he must face hordes of enemy robots like a moving piece of metal. The gunplay in this game is quite fun, and the movement mechanics also make the downtime between fights relatively enjoyable.

The game works well as a single-player experience, but is designed to be played together with a friend, or “brobot.” Unfortunately, players can only play with one other player. Luckily, it has public matchmaking, which makes finding a partner for your sci-fi journey much more convenient.

4 Crab samples

Rave Party near the ocean

What's more roguelike than a crab with a gun? Four crabs armed with guns. Crab samples it's a game that isn't afraid to have overpowered builds, and the power creep in the game can be ridiculous at times. However, this is exactly what makes it so fun to play.

Created by a solo developer with a passion for crab themed games, Crab samples is a third-person shooter experience that promises to push high-end PCs to their limits in later stages of gaming. It has satisfying movement, has a wide selection of weapons, and has enough builds to keep a family busy for a couple of weeks.

3 The rebirth of gunfire

The first of the first-person shooter Roguelikes

Changing the player's perspective from third to first person might seem like a small thing, but not many roguelikes existed before The rebirth of gunfire who did something like that. Fusing the roguelike and FPS genres, this game allows the player to experience the chaos they cause in a whole new perspective.

The game is packed with fun builds, characters, and weapons, making it perfect for casual co-op sessions with friends. Each character's unique abilities, their upgrades and skill trees, and the variety of weapon choices keep players coming back for more.

2 Hellcard

Cooperative card game with depth

• Developer: Thung trunk
• Publisher: Pietracielo Games
• Release date: 2024-02-01

Take Dungeons and dragonsgive it some classic roguelike elements, add multiplayer functionality, and transform the mechanics to work beautifully as a card game and Hellcard was born. The game is a great single-player experience, but it really shines when two or three people form a group to take on the descent into hell together.

The game draws heavy inspiration from Kill the Spirebut it has many things that set it apart. Hellcard follows the same kind of path as other deck-building roguelikes, but stands out from the crowd with its group and multiplayer mechanics.

1 Risk of rain 2

Petrichor V never expected this

Risk of rain 2 it's the kind of game that sucks a player in as soon as they pick it up. From the beginning of the journey until you finally manage to finish it, every moment is filled with high-octane action, friendly banter, and a multitude of tasks for players to enjoy. Risk of rain 2 it's a co-op roguelike with a punch, containing multiple stages that can be repeated as much as players want, and a single-player mode that works just as well as co-op.

There's a lot to love about it Risk of rain 2from the variety of items and enemies to the unique survivors players can choose for their runs. Perhaps the most important part Risk of rain 2 it's inherent randomness, which the game uses quite effectively to make each run feel fresh and engaging.