Roguelikes With Innovative Power-Up Systems

Key Takeaways

• Roguelikes can feature prominent power-ups alongside permadeath mechanics, aiding players in overcoming challenges.
• Games like Crypt of the NecroDancer offer permanent boons through valuable items between runs.
• Titles like Rogue Legacy 2 enrich the experience by providing options to enhance characters and unlock abilities across generations.

The most infamous hallmark of the roguelike genre is the permadeath factor, requiring players to start fresh every time they die. In the face of such a punishing mechanic, one would think power-ups and character progression would be uncommon. But in many of the best roguelikes, power-ups are just as prominent as permadeath.

Some games take a more roguelite approach, giving players the opportunity to permanently bolster their abilities between runs. Other games hold a more traditional approach, only offering valuable powerups for the duration of a given run. Regardless of the approach, here are ten roguelikes with some of the best and most creative ways to power players up.

10 Crypt of the NecroDancer

Diamonds Are A Girl’s Best Friend

Crypt of the NecroDancer is a unique roguelike that combines the disparate elements of a dungeon crawler and a rhythm game. The demands of staying on beat, while at the same time cutting down undead fiends, can make for a very brutal challenge. Luckily, Crypt of the NecroDancer has something to help.

Valuable diamonds can be found throughout the dungeon, and players can bring these back to the lobby when they die. Diamonds can be traded for powerful and permanent boons, including health upgrades and new items that can then be discovered in later runs. Between these permanent boosts and the valuable treasures players can pick up mid-run, players have plenty of options to help them overcome the terrors of the Crypt of the NecroDancer.

9 FTL: Faster Than Light

Building A Better Ship

FTL: Faster Than Light takes place in a dangerous and hostile galaxy, where threats linger around every corner. Players must manage their crew and keep their ship operational as long as possible. The stress and tension of this perilous space flight are simulated exceptionally well, especially when it comes to fixing and upgrading ship systems.

The ships in FTL have a lot of moving parts and every time the player gets a chance to make upgrades, they’ll need to think hard about what they want to prioritize. A well-maintained ship system can mean the difference between life and death, and these choices carry a lot of weight.

8 Inscryption

Say Cheese

Inscryption is a strange and complicated game, and there are a lot of things players will need to figure out if they want to succeed. As their sinister, shadowy host teaches them more about the deckbuilding game they must play, fans will find more upgrades and new ways to succeed. The risky campfire encounter is a particularly thrilling way to power up one’s cards; a creature can get some substantial stat increases from it, but only if the survivors at the fire don’t eat it.

The most noteworthy power-up in the game is the Death Card. At the end of each run, the mysterious host will kill the player with a magic camera, which allows them to combine their own identity with stats and abilities taken from cards in their deck. Using this mechanic can create some truly powerful, game-breaking cards that can absolutely redefine future runs. The player just needs to die first.

7 Cult of the Lamb

Keeping Faith

The roguelike portion of Cult of the Lamb looks like a lot of other games in the genre. Players fight through procedurally generated levels, grabbing power-ups and new weapons on the way, and when they die, they must start fresh. But this is only half the game. Cult of the Lamb truly shines in how this part of the game blends with the management aspect.

As the title suggests, players will spend much of their time in Cult of the Lamb managing and upgrading their cult and the compound where their followers live. The gameplay benefits players get from working with their followers will directly impact their performance in combat during their quest to defeat the old gods, so fans will have to manage their time carefully in order to get the best of both worlds.

6 Dead Cells

Trading In The Dead

Dead Cells adds a metroidvania twist to the classic roguelike formula. Journeying through the game’s dense network of interconnected biomes gives the player the chance to discover new permanent traversal upgrades that will help them find secrets, alternate paths, and even whole new biomes on subsequent runs.

Throughout their adventures, players will also be earning Cells from defeated enemies. These can be traded in for permanent upgrades and higher quality gear from the mysterious Collector and his assistants, who will appear to trade between biomes.

5 Slay the Spire

The Ultimate Combo

Slay the Spire is arguably the top dog of deckbuilding roguelikes and with good cause. The game’s deceptively simple core rules give way to a truly staggering library of cards, which offer players countless different playstyles to build around. Each player starts with almost the same starting deck, except for a few class-specific cards, but from the start of each run, no two decks will develop the same way.

This incredible customization extends past the deck itself. Players can collect powerful relics and consumable potions to turn the tide of battle in some truly inventive and remarkable ways. With the right strategy and a bit of luck, players can build up to a combo capable of felling even the most powerful boss in just a few good turns.

4 Hades 2

It’s In The Cards

Hades 2 retained the previous game’s iconic boon system, ensuring that every run still feels uniquely powerful, but the biggest change is in its permanent upgrade system. As opposed to the relatively straightforward list of skills in the original Hades, Melinoe has access to a set of Arcana cards. These each provide passive upgrades to her build, including familiar features like Death Defiance and minor healing, but players can only activate a limited number of cards at a time.

This restriction encourages creativity and experimentation, as players can tweak their loadout from run to run to see what works for them. There are also special cards that don’t have a resource cost, but will only activate if certain other cards are turned on, adding a new layer of strategy and depth to this power-up system.

3 Rogue Legacy 2

Constructing A Legacy

The original Rogue Legacy came up with a charming way to contextualize its permadeath mechanic, giving players a different randomly generated descendant to control on each attempt. Instead of upgrading the abilities of one protagonist, players would instead invest in upgrades for their family’s manor, a massive building that works as its own skill tree, granting permanent upgrades and unlocks new classes for subsequent adventurers.

Rogue Legacy 2 expands on this system in a big way. The manor has been expanded with a bounty of new upgrades to unlock, and players can also spend new forms of currency on better gear and passive enchantments to enhance their runs in new ways. The game also adds Metroidvania-esque traversal upgrades, unlocking new biomes and bosses to challenge.

2 Darkest Dungeon

Keeping Hope Alive

Death lurks around every corner in Darkest Dungeon, and players have an endless supply of heroes to help them confront the countless nightmares on the prowl. While fans can upgrade their heroes’ equipment and abilities by spending money, it’s a small comfort against the insurmountable challenges these characters must endure.

The more significant upgrades players can invest income from the small, struggling hamlet their heroes return to between missions. This tiny, fragile town can be upgraded and repaired using heirlooms and artifacts players can recover from the field. Each building offers vital services that will help keep heroes alive and sane, and in the face of such overwhelmingly bad odds, it’s a genuine comfort to see the town improve and flourish through the player’s efforts.

1 Hades

Gift of the Gods

Hades remains the gold standard for action roguelikes, and with good reason. As Zagreus fights his way out of the Underworld, he’s aided by the Olympian gods themselves, each of which has a different set of boons to offer. These boons all revolve around specific mechanics and gameplay styles, keeping them distinct while allowing them to combo off of each other in distinct ways that keep every run feeling fresh and unique.

Outside of combat, players can also upgrade the halls of Hades, unlocking plenty of gameplay bonuses and strengthening their bonds with the various characters Zagreus has contact with. Story progression is so thoroughly intertwined with gameplay progression that deepening Zagreus’ relationship with a key character can be a power-up in its own right, unlocking useful charms and special attacks to help him succeed in battle.