Roguelite Games Like Hades: 14 Picks on Steam

The best games like Hades capture the thing that keeps you starting one more escape: quick, readable top-down combat, a new set of god-given powers every run, and a story that moves forward even when you die. Hades made losing feel like progress, because every return to the House of Hades brought new conversations and new upgrades. These 14 Steam picks share at least one of those strengths, and the first few share nearly all of them.

What makes Hades so hard to put down

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Hades casts you as Zagreus, the immortal Prince of the Underworld, trying to fight his way out of his father’s realm. It is a roguelike dungeon crawler at heart. A roguelike sends you through randomized rooms where dying ends the run, and a roguelite softens that by letting you keep some progress between attempts. Hades sits firmly in roguelite territory: you lose the run, but you keep resources, upgrades and story.

Four things make it what it is:

• Combat that reads cleanly. Fast, top-down hack and slash with a dash that keeps you moving.
• Boons. Olympians such as Zeus, Athena and Poseidon offer you powers mid-run, and you pick one from a small set. Those choices stack into thousands of possible builds.
• Story between runs. A fully voiced cast of gods, ghosts and monsters, with relationships that deepen over time and bosses who remember you.
• Replay value. The Underworld shifts every time, so no two escapes feel quite the same.

Supergiant Games released it on Sep 17, 2020. Steam lists it as single-player with full controller support on Windows and macOS. When you go looking for games like Hades, it helps to know which of those four pillars mattered most to you. Very few games nail all of them, so the picks below are grouped by the kind of fit.

The closest games like Hades: top-down runs and build choices

These three keep the core loop intact: you fight room by room from above, choose powers as you go, and come back stronger after each death.

Hades II

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If you simply want more Hades, start here. Supergiant’s first sequel puts you in control of Melinoë, the Princess of the Underworld and Zagreus’s sister, as she takes on Chronos, the Titan of Time. The rhythm will feel familiar: clear chambers, pick Boons from more than a dozen Olympian gods (from Apollo to Zeus), beat each region’s boss and return to a hub called the Crossroads between attempts.

What changes is the scope. Besides the descent through the Underworld, there is a second route heading to the surface and up toward Mount Olympus. Witchcraft is the new theme, and magick lets you charge slower, heavier versions of your attacks. The cast is bigger again, mixing new faces with a few old friends.

Who it suits: anyone who finished Hades and wants the same loop with more systems layered on top. Steam lists it as single-player with full controller support, released Sep 25, 2025, on Windows and macOS.

Curse of the Dead Gods

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Of all the games like Hades on this list, Passtech Games’ temple crawler has the combat rhythm that sits closest to it. You fight through a vast, cursed labyrinth of pits, traps and monsters, collecting relics and weapons as you go. The twist is corruption: it builds with every step, and once it peaks you take on a curse that can hurt you or, if you play around it, help you.

That makes each run a push-your-luck exercise. Fire-spewing statues, explosives and hidden spikes mean you can turn the room itself against enemies, but careless movement gets punished quickly.

Who it suits: players who enjoyed cranking up the Pact of Punishment in Hades and want danger that keeps growing during a single run. It is single-player, Windows only, and Steam recommends a gamepad. Released Feb 23, 2021.

Wizard of Legend

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Wizard of Legend trades swords for spells, but the feeling of chaining dashes and attacks together will be instantly familiar. You enter the Chaos Trials, a yearly gauntlet run by the Council of Magic, and fight your way toward its council members. More than a hundred spells and relics let you assemble a hand of elemental abilities that suits how you play, whether that means diving in or hanging back and letting summoned minions work.

The game rewards precise movement and smart spell combos, which scratches the same itch as finding a Boon pairing that suddenly clicks.

Who it suits: fans of the build-crafting side of Hades who like a faster, flashier pace. It supports single-player plus shared/split screen co-op (two or more people on one screen, often called couch co-op) and Remote Play Together, a Steam feature that lets online friends join a local multiplayer game. Released May 15, 2018, on Windows, macOS and Linux.

Co-op games like Hades for playing with friends

Hades and its sequel are single-player only, which is the most common complaint from people who want to share the experience. These four keep the run-based action and add friends.

Ravenswatch

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From the same studio as Curse of the Dead Gods, Ravenswatch is a top-down roguelike starring darker versions of folk tale heroes: Little Red Riding Hood struggling with lycanthropy, Sun Wukong the fallen monkey king, the Snow Queen and others, nine heroes in all. A force called the Nightmare is corrupting the world of dreams, and you fight back across three open maps inspired by enchanted forests, the One Thousand and One Nights and Arthurian legend.

The open maps are the big difference from Hades. Instead of a chain of rooms, you choose what to tackle on a larger map before the boss arrives.

Who it suits: groups who want Hades-style combat with a party. Play solo or with up to four players in online co-op. Released Sep 26, 2024, on Windows.

Children of Morta

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If the family drama of Hades hooked you, Children of Morta is built around it. You lead the Bergsons, a family of heroes with real flaws, against a spreading Corruption. Runs take you through procedurally generated dungeons, caves and lands in hack and slash fights, and leveling up strengthens both individual characters and the whole family.

There is no permadeath, and you can swap family members between runs, so each relative brings a different fighting style while the story continues at home.

Who it suits: story-first players and couples or friends who want to share it. It supports single-player, online co-op, shared/split screen co-op and Remote Play Together. Released Sep 3, 2019, on Windows, macOS and Linux.

Windblown

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Motion Twin, the studio behind Dead Cells, made Windblown as a 1 to 3 player co-op roguelite built on speed. You dash across the ruins of a shattered world in a last stand against the Vortex, chaining dashes, strikes and big power moves. Dual wielding combines two weapon movesets, and special Alterattacks add devastating finishers, with more than 170 items and upgrades to earn over time.

It feels like the dash-heavy side of Hades turned all the way up, with constantly changing islands, enemies and bosses.

Who it suits: aggressive players who want a fast co-op roguelite. Single-player or online co-op for up to three. Released Oct 24, 2024, on Windows; Steam’s genre list for it still includes Early Access.

Risk of Rain 2

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Risk of Rain 2 moves the formula into 3D. You crash on a hostile alien planet and fight through handcrafted locales full of monsters and huge bosses. More than 110 items stack and combine in surprising ways, and a scaling system means both you and your enemies keep growing stronger, so runs build into wonderful chaos. You can push for the final boss or keep looping to see how long you survive.

Eleven survivors with different combat styles, plus toggleable Artifacts that change the rules, keep it fresh.

Who it suits: anyone who loved how Boons snowballed into absurd builds and wants to share that with friends. Solo or up to four players in online co-op, plus PvP through the rotating Prismatic Trials. Released Aug 11, 2020, on Windows.

Roguelites that shake up the Hades formula

These games like Hades keep the run-based structure but change the camera, the weapon or the whole game around it. They are great if you want the loop without a copy of it.

Dead Cells

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Dead Cells is a 2D action-platformer the developers call a “roguevania”: a roguelite crossed with a metroidvania, the style of game where you explore an interconnected map and open new paths as you gain abilities. You play a failed alchemy experiment possessing bodies on a cursed island, and there are no checkpoints. You either beat the final boss in one go or start over, though new paths, weapons and abilities carry into later runs.

Combat is fast and punishing, with plenty of weapon variety to build around.

Who it suits: players who want the hardest edge of Hades in 2D. If tight platforming appeals too, our list of platformer games like Celeste is a natural next stop. Single-player with Steam Workshop support. Released Aug 6, 2018, on Windows, macOS and Linux.

Enter the Gungeon

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Enter the Gungeon is a bullet hell dungeon crawler, meaning enemies fill the screen with patterns of projectiles you must weave through. A band of misfits shoots, loots, dodge rolls and flips tables for cover on their way to the bottom of the Gungeon, chasing a gun that can kill the past. Floors mix hand-designed rooms within a procedural layout, and merchants sell items that tip a run in your favor.

The dodge roll does the job of the Hades dash, and learning boss patterns feels just as satisfying.

Who it suits: players who prefer shooting to swordplay. Single-player, local multiplayer and Remote Play Together. Released Apr 5, 2016, on Windows and Linux.

The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth

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One of the most influential roguelikes, Isaac follows a child who flees into his basement to escape his mother. Every run is randomly generated, and the bizarre items you find change Isaac’s form and powers, which makes build variety enormous. The tone is dark and strange, and the hand-drawn pixel art leans into it.

Who it suits: players who want huge item variety and don’t mind grim themes. Single-player, local multiplayer and Remote Play Together. Developed by Nicalis, Inc. and Edmund McMillen; released Nov 4, 2014, on Windows, macOS and Linux.

Cult of the Lamb

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Cult of the Lamb splits its time between randomly generated combat runs and a base you build up between them, much like Hades splits its time between escapes and the House. You play a possessed lamb who founds a cult, crusading through four regions to defeat rival cult leaders, then returning to build structures, perform rituals and give sermons to your woodland followers.

Who it suits: players who loved the hub side of Hades as much as the fighting. Single-player, shared/split screen co-op and Remote Play Together. Released Aug 11, 2022, on Windows and macOS. If it becomes a favorite, we have a full list of games like Cult of the Lamb.

Supergiant’s earlier games and other story-first action RPGs

Not every game on a list of games like Hades needs to be a roguelite. If the art, music and voice work were what stayed with you, these hand-built action RPGs deliver that in a single long adventure.

Bastion

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Supergiant’s debut is where its signature style began. A reactive narrator comments on your every move as you explore more than 40 hand-painted environments, piecing together the Calamity that shattered the world. You fight with over ten upgradeable weapons and rebuild the Bastion itself.

Who it suits: players who want Supergiant’s storytelling with lower pressure. No-Sweat Mode lets any skill level enjoy the story, and New Game Plus and Score Attack open up after you finish. Single-player. Released Aug 16, 2011, on Windows, macOS and Linux.

Transistor

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Transistor is Supergiant’s sci-fi action RPG, set in a striking futuristic city. You wield a mysterious weapon that can be configured with thousands of combinations of Functions, its building blocks of abilities. Combat blends real-time action with a strategic planning mode, so you can line up a sequence of moves before unleashing it.

The way Functions combine is a clear ancestor of Hades’ Boon pairings. After the story, a Recursion option adds procedural battles for more replay.

Who it suits: thoughtful players who enjoy planning a build as much as executing it. Single-player. Released May 20, 2014, on Windows, macOS and Linux.

Death’s Door

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Death’s Door is not a roguelite, but its top-down combat feels like a close cousin. You play a Crow who reaps souls for a living, until an assigned soul is stolen and you chase the thief into a realm where death has stopped working. You fight with melee weapons, arrows and magic, customize your stats, and face colossal bosses with stories of their own.

Mistakes are punished, so fights demand the same focus as a tough Hades encounter, while the tone mixes somber and darkly comic.

Who it suits: players who loved the combat and mood of Hades but want a crafted world to explore instead of runs. Single-player, Windows only, gamepad recommended. Released Jul 20, 2021.

How to choose between these games like Hades

Start from what you liked most, then check the player modes and platforms in the table above.

• The combat and Boons: Hades II, Curse of the Dead Gods, Wizard of Legend.
• Playing with friends: Ravenswatch and Windblown online; Wizard of Legend, Enter the Gungeon and Children of Morta on one couch. Our guide to the best couch co-op games on PC has more.
• Snowballing builds: Risk of Rain 2 and The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth. If deck-based runs appeal, try our Balatro-like roguelike picks.
• Story and style: Hades II, Children of Morta, Bastion, Transistor.

A worked example

Say you loved Hades for its Boon choices, you play alone, and your machine is a Mac. Hades II is the obvious first pick, since Steam lists it for macOS. Wizard of Legend runs on macOS too and gives you the same build-a-combo satisfaction. Curse of the Dead Gods and Ravenswatch would fit your taste, but Steam lists both for Windows only, so they drop off. Dead Cells is a strong third choice if you are happy to switch to 2D.

Common mistakes when picking games like Hades

• Assuming co-op. Hades II is single-player, just like the original.
• Expecting a roguelite from Supergiant’s older games. Bastion and Transistor are story campaigns; Death’s Door is too.
• Judging a roguelite on its first runs. Most of these, like Hades, get better once permanent upgrades and new options start appearing.
• Skipping platform checks. Several picks are Windows only on Steam, and this list covers Steam versions rather than consoles.

When you have worked through this list, browse more games like the ones you love or our picks for the best games on Steam.

Questions and answers

Is Hades a challenging game?

Hades gets demanding in its later regions and boss fights, but it is built so that failing still moves you forward. You keep resources and permanent upgrades between runs, and the story continues after every death. It also offers God Mode, an optional setting that makes you a little tougher after each failed attempt, so story-focused players can still reach the end. Players who want more difficulty can raise it with the Pact of Punishment.

What is considered the best roguelike game to play after Hades?

The most natural next step is Hades II, Supergiant's sequel, which keeps the same room-by-room structure and god-given Boons while adding a second route and new magick-powered attacks. If you want something different, Dead Cells is a strong 2D option with no checkpoints, and Curse of the Dead Gods offers top-down temple runs whose curses make each attempt riskier as you go.

Is Hades an LGBTQ game?

Hades is not built around LGBTQ themes, but its cast includes relationships Zagreus can pursue with both male and female characters. He can grow close to Megaera and to Thanatos, and both bonds can become romantic as the story progresses. The writing treats these relationships as a natural part of the family drama, while the game's focus stays on the escape from the Underworld.

Are there co-op games like Hades?

Hades and Hades II are single-player only, but several similar roguelites support friends. Ravenswatch takes up to four players in online co-op, Windblown supports one to three players online, and Risk of Rain 2 lets you team up with up to three friends. For one screen, Wizard of Legend, Enter the Gungeon and Children of Morta all offer local co-op, and Children of Morta adds online co-op too.

Should I play Hades before Hades II?

It helps but is not required. Hades II follows Melinoë, the sister of Zagreus from the first game, and several characters return, so knowing the original makes those reunions land harder. The combat loop is also easier to learn after Hades. If you only have time for one, the sequel is bigger, while the original is a complete, tighter story with a clear ending.

Can I play games like Hades 2 on Switch?

Gamescape covers the Steam versions of these games, and Steam lists Hades II for Windows and macOS. Console availability is outside what this list checks, so look each game up in the Nintendo eShop before buying. If you play on a Mac rather than a console, Hades II, Wizard of Legend, Dead Cells, Children of Morta and Cult of the Lamb all list macOS support on Steam.