The Best Roguelike Games On PSVR2

Key Takeaways

• The Roguelike genre is popular on PSVR2 due to indie development and gameplay variety.
• Games like
  Until You Fall, Compound,
  and
  Cosmodread
  offer engaging combat and challenges.
• Hellsweeper VR, Synapse,
  and
  Ancient Dungeon
  provide deep combat, mind control, and immersive gameplay experiences.

The Roguelike — or more accurately Roguelite — genre is well represented on PSVR2. The nature of VR development means that there’s a lot of 3rd party indie development driving every platform, and the Roguelite genre makes a lot of sense for those who want to make a deep game on a budget.

The repetitious nature means that assets and environments can be comfortably reused throughout multiple runs, and variety is often achieved by giving players options in how they approach the challenges within. These Roguelike PSVR2 games all do a great job at keeping the gameplay fun and varied over multiple runs of the game.

8 Until You Fall

Rhythm-Action Roguelike

• Released: 29/09/2020 (original)
• Developer: Schell Games

Until You Fall‘s unique take on melee-action combat remains an engaging experience on PSVR2. The game’s Roguelike structure sees players engage in melee combat with enemies across multiple levels, culminating in some epic boss fights.

While it’s not strictly a rhythm game, there is no underlying beat that players must time their attacks to. The on-screen prompts and enemy attack patterns lend a rhythmic feel to the combat, which helps create a flow state as players traverse the levels. There’s an interesting balance of freedom and strict attack patterns in combat, which helps keep multiple runs against similar enemies fresh.

The only reason the game lands a little lower on this list is that this updated version does little to really make use of the new headset’s capabilities. It looks a little better and sharper than the game did on PSVR, but feels a little last-generation compared to some contemporaries.

7 Compound

Retro Shooter Fun

The arcade Roguelike FPS Compound puts players inside a pixel art retro shooter in VR. The retro environments are fully realized and displayed at a stunningly crisp resolution inside the headset, giving players who grew up on these kinds of shooters a real nostalgia hit.

The retro Roguelike “kill your way to the top” level progression and FPS gameplay feel a little slow and lacking in challenge at first. Yet, as players move up the difficulty levels and unlock modifiers for their runs, the challenge level, and the pace of the gameplay, quickly ramps up. This helps add some much-needed variety to the relatively short runs and will keep players coming back for more.

6 Cosmodread

Sci-Fi Roguelike Horror

The creepy abandoned spaceship environment of Cosmodread is a great take on a sci-fi horror setting. The game is a sci-fi horror Roguelike that tasks players with restarting the systems of an abandoned ship while avoiding or otherwise dealing with reanimated monsters and alien horrors.

Resources are scarce, which gives the game a survival horror-adjacent feeling. The only meta-progression elements are the blueprints players unlock to craft new items. Everything else resets on death, so Cosmodread offers a more hardcore Roguelike experience than some other games in the genre.

Progressing through the full sequence of reactivating the ship in one run is a tough experience of trial and error, with little hand-holding. This might put off some players, but Cosmodread is perfect for anyone looking for a more authentic Roguelike.

5 Hellsweeper VR

Cathartic Melee Action

• Released: 21/09/2023
• Developer: Mixed Realms

The combat system in Hellsweeper VR might be the deepest VR combat on this list. Players have access to melee weapons, magic, guns, and even summoned companions. Going further than that, all of these abilities can be combined in interesting ways, and each has its own combos to master.

The Roguelike aspect of the game pairs with this well. Players choose a loadout of different weapons and spells before they start a run. The abilities can be upgraded throughout the run with modifiers found in chests or as level rewards. This means that players’ combat options and potential combos increase throughout a run, and there’s a ton of variety in the available options.

Originally, the variety in terms of enemies and bosses throughout a run could have been seen as a weakness. Yet, with multiple patches since launch, the game has added enemy variants, new enemies, and boss variants with harder movesets. Hellsweeper VR is now one of VR gaming’s most satisfying Roguelikes.

4 Synapse

Mind Control

Synapse is a game that has to be experienced to be believed. One of the few games to make full use of the PSVR2’s eye-tracking technology in gameplay, Synapse lets players use telekinetic powers to get an edge on the battlefield. Targeting is as simple as looking at an object or enemy, which can then be picked up or manipulated at will.

It’s hard to describe outside a headset, but the feeling of control this gives the player can’t be downplayed. It’s a power-fantasy mechanic fully realized in an immersive way, and it carries the whole experience. The Roguelike aspects, enemies, and weapons, are a little lacking in variety, but Synapse remains fun to replay thanks to the feel of the gameplay.

3 Ancient Dungeon

Deceptively Deep Voxel Dungeon Diving

The decidedly retro voxel art style of Ancient Dungeon might put some players off, but that would be a big mistake for those seeking a deep, varied, and surprisingly immersive Roguelike. Despite the retro looks, the game has a full physics system that applies to combat and the environments, lending everything a weight and tactile feel that really helps immerse players in the game.

The procedural level generation works in the game’s favor, meaning there are new layouts in each run, which makes the relatively few environments feel fresh for much longer than they otherwise would. The game packs a lot of variety into the unlocks players can earn and the upgrades they can get from each run. There’s a lot to love in this charming VR Roguelike.

2 Ghost Signal: A Stellaris Game

Roguelite Sci-fi RTS

• Released: 23/03/2023
• Developer: Fast Travel Games / Windswept Interactive

Even as a VR game, Ghost Signal: A Stellaris Game is fairly unique. It has a Roguelike structure, set within a sci-fi time-loop story, and the moment-to-moment gameplay has players controlling a starship in space battles that have a hybrid action and RTS feel. Players plan their ship’s movements in 3D space while targeting and attacking enemy ships in real time.

Within this unique setup, Ghost Signal also manages to pack in one of the deepest Roguelike progression systems on the platform. There are multiple ships to unlock, technology trees for each one, and lore entries that can only be obtained by beating multiple runs.

The runs themselves also have a pleasing amount of variety in terms of the different encounters, points of interest, and side characters that players will meet. The in-run upgrades offer a great deal of choice in how players want to approach each run. It’s not the flashiest-looking game on the headset, but Roguelike fans should not skip this one.

1 The Light Brigade

Warriors Of Light

The Light Brigade might have been a launch game for the PSVR2, but continuous love and attention from developers Funktronic Labs means that it still stands out as the best Roguelike on the headset. The game is an FPS Roguelike that tasks players with returning the light to their corrupted world and rescuing other members of their order.

There’s a huge number of classes to play with, and each comes with different starting weapons, perks, and abilities. Thanks to several updates, the number of environments players can encounter in a run has doubled, which means players get a more unique feel to each time around. There are always items and currency to find on each map, too, which makes exploration satisfying.

There’s a lot of attention to detail in how each class feels to play. The bolt-action rifle focused sniper class feels much different to the sub-machine gunner, or the revolver-wielding class. They’re each balanced with different passive perks and support magic, too, which means each feels viable to run with. The Light Brigade is an all-round satisfying Roguelike, as well as a great VR game.