General News - Roguelites of 2021

The RPG Roguelites of 2021

You might die constantly in these RPGs, but at least it won't be from an unidentified potion

I originally wrote this article with the idea of putting all of this year's roguelites of note in it, but I stopped thinking that was a good idea somewhere around number 30. There are just too many good games that have been released so far and are scheduled for release later this year.

If you try to write something like that, you end up with a 5,000-word behemoth article that no one wants to power through for a half hour. And you know what? I can't blame 'em.

Instead, I've tried to roughly break the roguelites set for release this year into categories, and this article is going to handle RPGs.

Now, I'm not going to debate what makes a game an RPG or not. Roguelites in particular have so many genre-crossing features in them that it's often hard to fit them neatly into subcategories, and RPGs can be some of the broadest when it comes to what actually defines them.

And, in general, all roguelites seem to have some kind of RPG element to them.

So, here's the first installment in The Roguelites of 2021 series, and this one is all about the RPGs in all of their loosely-defined glory. Some have been released, and some are scheduled for release later this year, but all of them should be able to scratch that procedurally-generated itch.

(And also check out The ARPG Roguelites of 2021 and The Platformer Roguelites of 2021 for even more releases coming out this year.)

• Darkest Dungeon 2
• Home Behind 2
• Loop Hero
• Aquamarine
• Ultimate ADOM: Caverns of Chaos
• Hellcard
• Spire of Sorcery
• Rogue Lords
• The Sealed Ampoule
• The Hand of Merlin

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