Summary
Early Accessandroguelike gamesare a great match for one another. Roguelikes thrive on plenty of content togenerate emergent gameplaythat makes the game worth replaying over and over. At the same time, Early Access needs a constant stream of new developments to keep fans interested and new players coming.
That said, some early access roguelikes run the risk ofnever becoming a full game. Roguelike developers risk getting caught in a cycle of constantly adding and tweaking the game without an end in sight. The same thing happens to the players of their titles, diddling with builds and combos for fun, with no will to finish the game. Ultimately, the ideal state of release for an Early Access game varies from title to title, but these Roguelikes that are currently in Early Access are shaping up to be something special.
10Cursed Crew
‘Positive’ On Steam
Cursed Crewis acrew management roguelikegame about leading a ship cursed to sail the sea forever, or at least until the player finds a way to break the curse. WhileCursed Crewis early in its Early Access career, only joining Steam in February 2024, the developers claim this is already a full, fully-functional experience.
Unlike other management games, the sailors inCursed Creware independent enough to avoid micromanagement while still needing a bit of direction during the most challenging action moments. Such action scenes include ship-on-ship combat, boarding, fighting ghastly bosses, and much weirder things.
Mortal Sinis ahorror-themed, first-persondungeon crawler about fighting janky-looking monochrome enemies in procedurally generated levels. To be fair, while the art style looks a bit lackluster in video, many commentators note that it creates a much stronger effect during play.
Mortal Sincomes with plenty of replayability thanks to its extensive list of unique classes, biomes, weapons, arenas, and enemies. Unlike what one would expect from an Early Access roguelike,Mortal Sinis essentially a complete game that can be played from beginning to end. That said, the developer is constantly adding new features.
Inkboundis a co-op, turn-based tactics roguelike with an emphasis on multiplayer. Anyone who has played a co-op game with turn-based combat (for example,Baldur’s Gate 3) knows that mixing the two mechanics can lead to disaster. Meanwhile,Inkboundmanages to effortlessly mix real-time movement across the map and tactical combat with a strong multiplayer component.
Even thoughInkboundonly entered early access in May 2023, the game’s 1.0 release has already been announced for April 10th, 2024. Still, since the developers describeInkboundas a “living game,” it’s safe to assume it will continue to receive updates and expansions as long as there is enough interest from the community.
7Multi Turret Academy
‘Very Positive’ On Steam
Multi Turret Academymight be a hard sell to some players. For one, its art style mixes anime esthetics and war machines, a combination that might be off-putting to some. Another potential issue is thatMulti Turret Academyis an arcadey top-down shooter based on tanks, a genre that peaked during the online Flash games era.
That said, fans of top-down shooters would do well to give theMulti Turret Academya try. It even has a demo, and the full game is very affordable. The game is constantly adding new vehicles, maps, bosses, and crew. Customization is the name of the game, so a growing number of options is the best thing that could happen for the game.
6Magicraft
Magicraftis an action roguelike about creating uniquegame-breaking spellswith the game’s liberating magic system. As many players observed, the top-down perspective and room-based progression mixed with a chaotic magic wand system makeMagicrafta combination of classic rogueliteThe Binding of Isaacand magic-induced mayhem simulatorNoita.
At first blush,Magicraftlooks like just another action roguelike. That’s before a swarm of squid-like eyes slides over the screen, or before the player acquires a particularly broken spell. That’s when the game is revealed to be something special.Magicraftalready has dozens of hours of content, with the developer aiming at 2024 for a full release.
Nova Driftis an action RPG with combat inspired by classic arcade spaceship games. In it, players control a rapidly evolving ship and attempt to survive for as long as possible. As is the case with most of the genre, the story isn’t so much the focus. Instead, the emphasis is squarely on customization and action.
Ships can be as diverse as playing two different games. Some forgo shooting altogether, boosting hull resistance and bumping into other ships to deal damage, while others focus on drones, grenades, or slow but deadly railguns.Nova Driftowes this level of variation to its long Early Access period, and is supposed to be released in 2024.
4Ravenswatch
‘Mostly Positive’ On Steam
Ravenswatchis the latest game from the creators ofCurse of the Dead Gods, an already successful roguelite action game. This time, the developers at Passtech Games focused their efforts on building a strong co-op mode, multiple characters, and build-enhancing items, as well as delivering a polished dungeon-crawling experience.
Players and critics alike have likenedRavenswatchto theDiabloseries and Supergiant Games’Hades, as if it had mixed the multiplayer component of the first and the action-roguelike style of the second. However, players also noted a lack of content in the game, at least for now.Ravenswatchis supposed to be fully released towards the end of 2024, so hopefully this issue will be resolved by then.
Tiny Roguesis a charming, low-fidelity, dungeon-crawling roguelite with some bullet-hell elements. Those words might bring to mind the excellentEnter the Gungeon, but the two games couldn’t be more different.Tiny Roguesis a more of aproper roguelike RPG, and the simpler graphics allow for a much more varied gameplay experience.
Tiny Rogueshas hundreds of equipable items, weapons, and unique traits, as well as tens of classes and quite a few perks that stick around between runs. The latter allow for a more relaxed experience, where death doesn’t mean losing all progress.Tiny Roguescan already be considered a complete experience, but it won’t leave early access until at least late 2024.
Death Must Dieis a survivor game in the vein ofVampire Survivoror20 Minutes Till Dawn. This makes it a roguelike by definition, with some unlockable characters, traits, and more that stick around between runs and expand the possibilities for each following game.
Death Must Dieseems to be more focused on story, or at least atmosphere, compared to some of its competitors. Granted, having a better story thanVampire Survivorisn’t saying much, but it will definitely help the game differentiate itself. That said, many players have noticed how parts of the game’s dialogue and story are still incomplete.Death Must Diewill likely reach 1.0 in 2024.
Caves of Qudis agreat traditional roguelikewith more than a passing resemblance to the genre’s namesake,Rogue. Unlike those classic games, however,Caves of Qudis much more focused on delivering a cohesive world and a great story. That said, this game is very capable of delivering the sort of character creation shenanigans that the genre is known for.
Just looking at its players’ examples gives a sense of how vastCaves of Qud’s possibility space is. Become an amnesiac telepath, turn the protagonist’s bones into metal, attach a few extra limbs, and then turn those limbs into animal parts to become a super chimera. PlayingCaves of Qudmeans exploring this degree of variation, and because of that, the game will remain in early access for the foreseeable future.
