"It's time to admit, before God and the good readers of Ars Technica, that I have a problem. I love roguelikes. Reader, I can't get enough of them. If there's even a whisper of a hot new roguelike on Steam, I'm there. You may call them arcane, repetitive, or maddeningly difficult; I call them heaven. The second best part of video games is taking a puny little character and, over 100 hours, transforming that adventurer into a god of destruction."
"The best thing about video games is doing the same thing in under an hour. Beat a combat encounter, get an upgrade. Enter a new area, choose a new item. Put together a build and watch it sing. If you die-immediately ending your ascent and returning you to the beginning of the game-you'll often make a pit stop at a home base to unlock new goodies to help you on your next run."
Roguelike games focus on short, repeatable runs where players gain temporary upgrades during a run and sometimes permanent progress between runs. Rapid progression and build variety enable satisfying moment-to-moment play and long-term unlocks at a home base. Some titles are labeled 'roguelites' when they include persistent, between-run upgrades, while umbrella use of 'roguelike' covers both approaches. The year 2025 saw many high-quality roguelike releases and notable full 1.0 launches. Hades II features Melinoë, daughter of Hades and sister to Zagreus, attempting to reclaim the house of Hades from Chronos. Olympian gods return to grant blessings that modify attacks and defenses.
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