Best Action Roguelikes & Roguelites With Great Gunplay

Key Takeaways

• Action roguelikes prioritize skill over strategy, focusing on reflexes and gunplay.
• Heavy Bullets offers a unique gameplay loop with manually reloaded bullets.
• Gunfire Reborn’s diverse weaponry and focus on FPS combat provide a skill-centric experience.

Action roguelikes and roguelites are known for fast-paced action and high-intensity gameplay that contradicts the slower pace of traditional roguelikes. This generally shifts the focus from strategy to skill expression, to varying degrees.

Shooters in particular, however, tend to put a heavier focus on reflexes and skill. As a result, the gunplay of these games is usually integral in offering a fun gameplay loop, as much of the player’s time is spent shooting, rather than strategizing.

1 Heavy Bullets

An Early But Novel Attempt At An FPS Roguelike

• Platform(s): PC
• Released: 2014
• Developer(s): Terri Vellmann, Doseone
• Genre: FPS

Heavy Bullets is an early attempt at combining first-person shooters with the structure of roguelikes, having been released back in 2014. This highly stylized low-poly shooter is quite brutal and arguably lacks the polish of modern roguelikes, but it’s still worth checking out considering its novel gameplay and low price point.

Heavy Bullets is centered entirely around its unique selling point: a revolver with six appropriately heavy bullets. These heavy bullets must not only be manually reloaded but also picked up off the ground. This results in a tremendously unique gameplay loop that forces players to think strategically about each shot.

2 ENDLESS Dungeon

A Sequel That Trades Strategy For Action

ENDLESS Dungeon may have been a disappointing sequel for fans of the original, Dungeon Of The Endless, but it makes up for its lack of complexity with buttery smooth twin-stick shooter action, slick art direction, and accessible gameplay. Giving players control of a single character, rather than a small party, ENDLESS Dungeon maintains the tower defense elements of the original while putting a greater focus on the gunplay.

This gunplay is smooth and accessible, an easy-to-learn system that focuses on the joy of interaction rather than complexity. This puts a greater emphasis on threat assessment and weapon choice, and the variety of weapons and playable characters helps to prevent the decision-making from becoming repetitive.

3 Nuclear Throne

A Chaotic Top-Down Shooter With Diverse, Satisfying Weapons

Fans of top-down shooters are sure to enjoy the unhinged chaos and variety of distinctive weapons that Nuclear Throne has to offer. Nuclear Throne does feature progression in the form of character unlocks, but maintains a roguelike structure.

Despite being a pixel art top-down shooter with minimalist weapon designs, the guns themselves are tremendously fun to use. Not only that, but many of Nuclear Throne’s weapons are distinctive, each with its unique use cases. This results in gunplay that’s incredibly diverse, and the limited ammunition of the weapons ensures players are constantly switching it up.

4 Gunfire Reborn

A Roguelite FPS With Diverse Weaponry

This FPS roguelite tasks players with fighting through fast-paced combat encounters one after another, either alone or in online co-op. While playing the game in single-player is fun in itself, online play does elevate the experience by naturally incorporating teamwork into the gameplay.

The variety of playable characters, weapons, environments, and enemies makes for gameplay that’s as diverse as it is fun. Furthermore, Gunfire Reborn‘s focus on FPS combat keeps the focus predominantly on skill. However, being a roguelite, Gunfire Reborn does lean somewhat on permanent progression.

5 SYNTHETIK: Legion Rising

A Top-Down Shooter With Surprisingly Immersive Gunplay

SYNTHETIK: Legion Rising is a top-down shooter that frequently bombards the player with loud, hectic gunfights. The game follows a roguelite structure, featuring a variety of customizable classes and permanent unlocks.

The gunplay of SYNTHETIK: Legion Rising is elevated by its sound design and mechanics for active reloading. This immersive gunplay is only heightened by systems for weapon jamming and overheating, further adding to the skill expression within the gameplay. Overall, this leads to a top-down shooter that’s surprisingly tactile, and certainly worth checking out for fans of roguelite shooters.

6 SULFUR

• Platform(s): PC
• Released: 2024
• Developer(s): Perfect Random
• Genre: FPS

Releasing in Early Access in October 2024, SULFUR is, at the time of writing, in its early stages. This roguelite first-person shooter features an extraction shooter gameplay loop and a cartoon aesthetic that may be misleading; SULFUR isn’t trying to be accessible.

SULFUR features systems for cooking and gun customization, the latter of which helps give the weapons a distinctive feel. SULFUR is a roguelite very much focused on its weapons and the FPS action they facilitate, but it’s supported by subtle art direction, unique music, and attention to detail.

7 Enter The Gungeon

A Bullet-Hell With A Diverse Range Of Weaponry

Enter The Gungeon is a top-down, bullet-hell action roguelike with a pixel art style. This fast-paced game tasks players with battling through a varied cast of enemies on a room-by-room basis, collecting fancy new weapons along the way.

Enter The Gungeon succeeds with its diverse range of weaponry, which acts as the game’s primary focus. The game is practically designed around these weapons, and their limited ammo capacity ensures players must juggle multiple guns, rather than relying on one powerful drop.

8 Post Void

A High-Speed FPS Roguelike With Intuitive Weapons

Fast-paced and frenetic, Post Void is a first-person action roguelike with a scratchy, psychedelic art style. The bright, vivid colors, relentless music, and grungy aesthetic result in a game that feels like a fever dream.

Post Void encourages speed at every turn, a quality that it achieves by putting players on a literal timer; their health is a constantly depleting resource that acts as a ticking time bomb. Although players can only equip one weapon at a time, each of Post Void’s weapons is distinct, punchy, and – most importantly – easy to handle at high speeds.