Roguelike games

Roguelike games are a kind of role-playing games that are turn-based in which the player assumes the role of a character who explores a tile-based map (usually viewed from the top-down), and embarks on an adventure, for example, exploring deep dungeons, finding treasures, fighting monsters and the like. Every action the player makes is a turn, in which enemies and other creatures might move as well. There is an unlimited amount of time the player can think before doing the next step.

There are many other (similar) definitions for “roguelike”, see also [1].

List of Roguelike games

This is a list of free/libre roguelike games:

Game	Screenshot	Last Release	Genres	Description
Allure of the Stars		2019-05-02	Roguelike, RPG, TBS	Allure of the Stars Genre Roguelike, RPG, TBS Latest release 0.9.5.0  (Announcement) Release date 2019-05-02 Platforms Windows, Linux, Mac Code license AGPLv3 Media license AGPLv3 Engine LambdaHack P. language Haskell, HTML5 Library SDL Contribute Allure of the Stars is a free game. This means that the source code is available to be studied, modified, and distributed. Most projects look for help with testing, documentation, graphics, etc., as well. Homepage Bug/Feature Tracker Chat Forum Allure of the Stars is a near-future Sci-Fi roguelike and tactical squad game. Binaries and the game manual are available at the homepage, where you can also try the game out in the browser. (http://allureofthestars.com/play Keyboard commands and savefiles are supported only on recent enough versions of browsers. Mouse should work everywhere.) Not a single picture in this game. You have to imagine everything yourself, like with a book (a grown-up book, without pictures). Once you learn to imagine things, though, you can keep exploring and mastering the world and making up stories for a long time. The gameplay manual may also help. Enjoy!
Avanor		2006-05-30	Rogue-like, RPG	Roguelike games Genres Rogue-like, RPG Latest release 0.5.8  (Announcement) Release date May 30th, 2006 Developers Brian Angeletti, Siarhei Sianashka, Vadim Gaidukevich Code license GPL P. languages C++, Lua Contribute Roguelike games is a free game. This means that the source code is available to be studied, modified, and distributed. Most projects look for help with testing, documentation, graphics, etc., as well. Avanor is a rogue-like RPG. It is written in the C++ and the Lua programming languages. The latest version of the game is 0.5.8 released on May 30th, 2006. It is licensed under the GPL.
Boohu		2019-11-19	Roguelike	Boohu Break Out Of Hareka's Underground Genre Roguelike Latest release 0.13 Release date Nov, 19, 2019 Code license ISC Media license ISC P. language Go Contribute Boohu is a free game. This means that the source code is available to be studied, modified, and distributed. Most projects look for help with testing, documentation, graphics, etc., as well. Homepage Break Out Of Hareka's Underground (Boohu) is a turn-based coffee-break roguelike game with a heavy focus on tactical positioning mechanisms. This focus strongly influenced its weapon attack patterns, consumables and terrain features. Aiming for a replayable streamlined experience, the game avoids manual inventory management and complex character building, relying on items and player adaptability for character progression. Every year, the elders send someone to collect medicinal simella plants in the Underground. This year, the honor fell upon you, and so here you are. According to the elders, deep in the Underground, magical stairs will lead you back to your village. Along the way, you will collect simellas, as well as various items that will help you deal with monsters, which you may fight or flee...
Brogue		2018-09-26	Roguelike	Brogue Genre Roguelike Latest release 1.7.5  (Announcement) Release date September 26th, 2018 Code license AGPL P. language C Contribute Brogue is a free game. This means that the source code is available to be studied, modified, and distributed. Most projects look for help with testing, documentation, graphics, etc., as well. Homepage Brogue is a traditional roguelike game inspired from the original Rogue. Your quest is to find the Amulet of Yendor.
Cataclysm	no image		Roguelike	Cataclysm Genre Roguelike Developer Zachary "Whales" Jenkins Code license Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License Media license No media P. language C++ Contribute Cataclysm is a free game. This means that the source code is available to be studied, modified, and distributed. Most projects look for help with testing, documentation, graphics, etc., as well. Development Project Cataclysm is a zombie apocalypse-themed roguelike survival game developed in C++ by Zachary "Whales" Jenkins, and released under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported license. It is no longer being actively developed. A fork of the game, titled Cataclysm: Dark Days Ahead, was started by fans of the original Cataclysm and continues to see frequent development.
Cataclysm: Dark Days Ahead		2020-04-01	Roguelike	Cataclysm: Dark Days Ahead Genre Roguelike Latest release 0.E "Ellison"  (Announcement) Release date April 1st, 2020 Developer Kevin Granade and team of contributors Code license Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License Media license Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License P. language C++ Contribute Cataclysm: Dark Days Ahead is a free game. This means that the source code is available to be studied, modified, and distributed. Most projects look for help with testing, documentation, graphics, etc., as well. Development Project Chat Forum Cataclysm: Dark Days Ahead (sometimes abbreviated DDA) is an open-world roguelike survival simulation game. It is primarily coded in C++. The game is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike version 3.0, though it uses two fonts that are licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 and GPL version 2 respectively. Cataclysm: Dark Days Ahead is an offshoot of the original Cataclysm by Zachary "Whales" Jenkins, which is no longer actively maintained. Dark Days Ahead's most recent stable release is 0.E "Ellison," which appeared in April 1st of 2020, though the game sees daily commits to its "experimental" builds. Set in a near-future New England in the wake of a zombie apocalypse, Cataclysm: Dark Days Ahead puts the player in the role of a lone survivor who must gather resources, train skills, craft useful items, and fight monsters across the blasted, ruinous wasteland of the former United States. This nightmare world is populated not only by the undead, but also by monsters of many other stripes. It will take careful management, foresight, and no small degree of luck to survive the dark days ahead.
Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup		2020-06-12	Roguelike, RPG	Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup Genre Roguelike, RPG Latest release 0.25  (Announcement) Release date June 12th, 2020 Code license GPL v2+ Media license CC Zero P. language C++ Contribute Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup is a free game. This means that the source code is available to be studied, modified, and distributed. Most projects look for help with testing, documentation, graphics, etc., as well. Homepage Source Code Bug/Feature Tracker Forum Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup (often shortened to Dungeon Crawl, Crawl, or DCSS) is a roguelike dungeon crawler Role-playing game. It is written in the C++ programming language, and is licensed under the GPL Version 2+. Stone Soup is a successor to the game Linley's Dungeon Crawl (also frequently shortened to Dungeon Crawl) by Linley Henzell, which was developed in the 1990's. After Henzell stopped developing Dungeon Crawl in 1999, a group of contributors kept the game alive until, in 2006, the Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup project began. The game is available in both graphical tile and ASCII versions and does not require 3D hardware acceleration. The graphical tiles are largely released as CC0 (public domain), but some are unclearly licensed and so it is possible that only the ASCII version of the game is completely libre. In Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup the player must delve deep into a dangerous, monster-infested dungeon on a quest to retrieve the fabled Orb of Zot, then return with it to the surface. In order to get to the Orb, the player must first collect a series of magical runes hidden throughout the various branches of the dungeon, all while encountering traps, finding magical and/or cursed items, and battling many enemies. Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup has a great many race and class combinations to play, and numerous gods to worship, all of which will drastically affect playstyle and game outcome. A lively player community exists around the game. Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup can be played both offline and online in a web browser, and there are frequent competitive tournaments.
Falcon's Eye		2001-07-03	Roguelike	Falcon's Eye Genre Roguelike Latest release 1.9.3  (Announcement) Release date July 3rd, 2001 Developer Jaakko Tapani Peltonen Code license NetHack General Public License Contribute Falcon's Eye is a free game. This means that the source code is available to be studied, modified, and distributed. Most projects look for help with testing, documentation, graphics, etc., as well. Falcon's Eye is a graphical isometric version of NetHack written by Jaakko Tapani Peltonen that keeps all of the original game-play, but adds a more graphically and musically interesting interface. The latest version of the game, 1.9.3 has been released on July 3, 2001. Both the source code and the media content are licensed under the NetHack General Public License. This project is discontinued, but Clive Crous forked it, releasing Vulture's Eye as a result.
GearHead		2019-02-07	Roguelike RPG	GearHead World map of GearHead Genres Roguelike RPG Latest release 1.310  (Announcement) Release date February 7th, 2019 Developer Joesph Hewitt Code licenses LGPL Media licenses LGPL P. language Free Pascal Contribute GearHead is a free game. This means that the source code is available to be studied, modified, and distributed. Most projects look for help with testing, documentation, graphics, etc., as well. Homepage GearHead is a futuristic roguelike game, created by Joseph Hewitt. GearHead 1 is the first roguelike to explore the world of "mecha" (giant robots). Lots of futuristic jobs and skills (mecha pilot, medic, etc.) are available, as well as piloting those mecha. A sequel, creatively named GearHead 2, is in the making. It is licensed under the LGPL.
GearHead 2		2017-12-03	Roguelike RPG	GearHead 2 A spinner colony Genre Roguelike RPG Latest release 0.701  (Announcement) Release date December 3rd, 2017 Developer Joseph Hewitt Code license LGPL Media license LGPL P. language Free Pascal Contribute GearHead 2 is a free game. This means that the source code is available to be studied, modified, and distributed. Most projects look for help with testing, documentation, graphics, etc., as well. GearHead 2 is a futuristic roguelike, the sequel to GearHead and is currently under development. Both games are the creation of Joseph Hewitt. The latest version is v0.628, released on July 1st, 2010. This game is licensed under the LGPL. The first release of the GearHead 2 game was version 0.421 on April 3rd, 2007.
Goblin Camp		2012-07-15	City building game, Roguelike game, Economic simulation game, Real-time strategy game	Goblin Camp Genres City building game, Roguelike game, Economic simulation game, Real-time strategy game Latest release 0.21  (Announcement) Release date July 15th, 2012 Developer Ilkka Halila (ihalila) Code license GPLv3 Media license GPLv3 Contribute Goblin Camp is a free game. This means that the source code is available to be studied, modified, and distributed. Most projects look for help with testing, documentation, graphics, etc., as well. Goblin Camp is a citybuilder roguelike game with economy and strategy elements released under the GPLv3. It is inspired by various and notorious games like Anno 1404, Dwarf Fortress and Dungeon Keeper.
Goblin Hack		2009-03-24	RPG, Roguelike	Goblin Hack Goblin Hack version 1.14 Genres RPG, Roguelike Latest release 1.19  (Announcement) Release date March 24th, 2009 Code license GPL version 2 P. language C++ Library SDL Contribute Goblin Hack is a free game. This means that the source code is available to be studied, modified, and distributed. Most projects look for help with testing, documentation, graphics, etc., as well. Goblin Hack is a real-time roguelike game with flashily colored ASCII art. It uses the SDL library and is programmed in the C++ programming language. The game is licensed under the GPLv2. The latest version of the game is 1.18 released on March 8th, 2008.
Hack	no image	2009-02-14	Roguelike, Text	Hack Genre Roguelike, Text Latest release 2.17-8 Release date February 14th, 2009 Developer Jay Fenlason Code license Original BSD License Contribute Hack is a free game. This means that the source code is available to be studied, modified, and distributed. Most projects look for help with testing, documentation, graphics, etc., as well. Homepage Hack, is a roguelike game written by Jay Fenlason. It served as the inspiration for NetHack The game is licensed under the Original BSD License.[reference required] The latest version of the game is 2.17-15 released on February 14th, 2009.[reference required]
Harmonist		2019-12-10	Roguelike	Harmonist Harmonist: Dayoriah Clan Infiltration Genre Roguelike Latest release 0.3.0 Release date Dec, 10, 2019 Code license ISC Media license ISC P. language Go Contribute Harmonist is a free game. This means that the source code is available to be studied, modified, and distributed. Most projects look for help with testing, documentation, graphics, etc., as well. Homepage Harmonist: Dayoriah Clan Infiltration (Harmonist) is a stealth coffee-break roguelike game. The game has a heavy focus on tactical positioning, light and noise mechanisms, making use of various terrain types and cones of view for monsters. Aiming for a replayable streamlined experience, the game avoids complex inventory management and character building, relying on items and player adaptability for character progression. Your friend Shaedra got captured by nasty people from the Dayoriah Clan while she was trying to retrieve a powerful magara artifact that was stolen from the great magara-specialist Marevor Helith. As a gawalt monkey, you don't understand much why people complicate so much their lives caring about artifacts and the like, but one thing is clear: you have to rescue your friend, somewhere to be found in this Underground area controlled by the Dayoriah Clan. If what you heard the guards say is true, Shaedra's imprisoned on the eighth floor. You are small and have good night vision, so you hope the infiltration will go smoothly...
Iter Vehemens ad Necem		2004-12-10	Roguelike game, RPG	Roguelike games Genres Roguelike game, RPG Latest release 0.50  (Announcement) Release date December 10th, 2004 Developers Heikki Sairanen, Timo Kiviluoto, Tuukka Virtaperko Code license GPL v2 or later Media license GPL v2 or later Contribute Roguelike games is a free game. This means that the source code is available to be studied, modified, and distributed. Most projects look for help with testing, documentation, graphics, etc., as well. Iter Vehemens ad Necem (Violent Road to Death in Latin) (IVAN) is a graphical Roguelike game developed by Heikki Sairanen, Tuukka Virtaperko, aand Timo Kiviluoto. The latest version of the game is 0.50 released on December 10th, 2004. One of the game's specialties is the body parts system: the player can lose and regain limbs which have individual health points and strength.
Javelin		2016-07-15	Role-playing	Javelin Overworld screen. Genre Role-playing Latest release 1.6  (Announcement) Release date July 15th, 2016 Developer Alex Henry Code license Gplv2 Media license Gplv2 P. language Java Library AWT Contribute Javelin is a free game. This means that the source code is available to be studied, modified, and distributed. Most projects look for help with testing, documentation, graphics, etc., as well. Development Project Forum Javelin is a free open-source single-player role-playing game written in Java that uses d20 as the rule system – also found in Dungeons and Dragons (versions 3.0 and 3.5) and its successor Pathfinder. It draws heavy inspiration from many other video games, from Jagged Alliance and Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup to Pokémon and the Final Fantasy series.
KeeperRL		2018-12-09	Roguelike, RPG	KeeperRL KeeperRL Genre Roguelike, RPG Latest release Alpha26 hotfix 1  (Announcement) Release date December 9th, 2018 Code license GPL Media license CC-BY-SA and other free licenses P. language C++ Contribute KeeperRL is a free game. This means that the source code is available to be studied, modified, and distributed. Most projects look for help with testing, documentation, graphics, etc., as well. Homepage Source Code KeeperRL is a dungeon building strategy game with roguelike elements. There is a commercial version with non-free assets, and a gratis version, which is functionally the same, but with only ASCII-style graphics (which is under a free license). Only the ASCII version is a completely libre game. Similarly to e.g. OpenDungeons the player takes a role of an evil wizard building a dungeon with traps and creatures. It is possible to take control of the creatures, which makes the game play like a classic roguelike game (e.g. NetHack). Players can also play as adventurers exploring dungeons made by other players.
Knights		2014-08-05	Roguelike	Knights Knights Genre Roguelike Latest release 25  (Announcement) Release date August 5th, 2014 Developer Kalle Marjola, Kalle Marjola (Amiga) Code license GPL Media license GPL P. language C++ Contribute Knights is a free game. This means that the source code is available to be studied, modified, and distributed. Most projects look for help with testing, documentation, graphics, etc., as well. Development Project Source Code Bug/Feature Tracker Forum Knights is a multiplayer game in which knights solve quests in dungeons.
LambdaHack		2019-05-02	Roguelike, Engine, RPG, TBS	LambdaHack Genre Roguelike, Engine, RPG, TBS Latest release 0.9.5.0  (Announcement) Release date 2019-05-02 Code license BSD3 Media license BSD3 Engine LambdaHack P. language Haskell, HTML5 Library SDL Contribute LambdaHack is a free game. This means that the source code is available to be studied, modified, and distributed. Most projects look for help with testing, documentation, graphics, etc., as well. Homepage Bug/Feature Tracker Chat Forum LambdaHack is a Haskell game engine library for ASCII roguelike games of arbitrary theme, size and complexity, with optional tactical squad combat. It's packaged together with a little example dungeon crawler in fantasy setting that can be tried out in the browser. (http://lambdahack.github.io Keyboard commands and savefiles are supported only on recent enough versions of browsers. Mouse should work everywhere.)
LambdaRogue		2012-11-17	roguelike	LambdaRogue LambdaRogue 1.4 Genre roguelike Latest release 1.6.4  (Announcement) Release date November 17th, 2012 Developer Mario Donick Code license GPL P. language FreePascal Contribute LambdaRogue is a free game. This means that the source code is available to be studied, modified, and distributed. Most projects look for help with testing, documentation, graphics, etc., as well. LambdaRogue is a roguelike RPG written by Mario Donick. If one had to categorize LambdaRogue to be either a "hack"-game or a "band"-game judging by dungeon generation, it would clearly fall into the "band"-category: Like in Angband and other *bands, standard dungeon levels are randomly generated every time a staircase is used and the player will never encounter the same dungeon level twice.
NetHack		2019-12-05	Roguelike game	NetHack Genre Roguelike game Latest release 3.6.3  (Announcement) Release date December 5, 2019 Code license NetHack GPL Media license NetHack GPL Contribute NetHack is a free game. This means that the source code is available to be studied, modified, and distributed. Most projects look for help with testing, documentation, graphics, etc., as well. Homepage NetHack is a rogue-like game. It is licensed under the NetHack General Public License.
Omega-rpg		2009-06-27	roguelike game	Omega-rpg Genre roguelike game Latest release 0.80.2  (Announcement) Release date June 27th, 2009 Developer Laurence R. Brothers Code license GPL P. language C Contribute Omega-rpg is a free game. This means that the source code is available to be studied, modified, and distributed. Most projects look for help with testing, documentation, graphics, etc., as well. Omega-rpg is a single player roguelike game. It was created by Laurence R. Brothers who has since placed the code under the GNU Lesser General Public License version 2, but if the license is revoked it would revert to its old license which is distributed with the Debian package. It is written in the C programming language. The latest version of the game is 0.7.1 released on August 26, 2001.
RogueBox Adventures		2020-02-23	Roguelike, RPG	RogueBox Adventures RogueBox Adventures Genre Roguelike, RPG Latest release 3.0.1  (Announcement) Release date February 23rd, 2020 Developer themightyglider Code license GPLv3 Media license Various (CC-BY, CC-BY-SA, CC0/Public domain) P. language Python Library Pygame Contribute RogueBox Adventures is a free game. This means that the source code is available to be studied, modified, and distributed. Most projects look for help with testing, documentation, graphics, etc., as well. Homepage Source Code Forum RogueBox Adventures is a 2D graphical game that combines aspects of roguelikes and sandbox games like Minecraft. The player can fight monsters, craft tools and furniture, collect resources like wood and stone, and build a house using those resources. The game features a number of enemies and non-hostile NPCs.
Ruby-warrior	no image	2012-04-28	Programming,Roguelike	Roguelike games Genre Programming,Roguelike Latest release Version 0.1.3 Release date 2012-04-28 Developer Ryan Bates Code license MIT Media license MIT P. language Ruby Contribute Roguelike games is a free game. This means that the source code is available to be studied, modified, and distributed. Most projects look for help with testing, documentation, graphics, etc., as well. Ruby-warrior is an AI programming game written in Ruby by Ryan Bates. It is licensed under a MIT license.
SLASH'EM		2006-12-30	Roguelike, RPG	Roguelike games Genres Roguelike, RPG Latest release 0.0.7E7F3  (Announcement) Release date December 30th, 2006 Code license Nethack General Public License Contribute Roguelike games is a free game. This means that the source code is available to be studied, modified, and distributed. Most projects look for help with testing, documentation, graphics, etc., as well. SLASH'EM is a NetHack variant. The latest stable version of the game is 0.0.7E7F3 on December 30th, 2006.
Umoria		2020-05-28	Roguelike	Umoria Umoria Genre Roguelike Latest release 5.7.12  (Announcement) Release date May 28, 2020 Code license GPLv2 Media license No media P. language C++ Contribute Umoria is a free game. This means that the source code is available to be studied, modified, and distributed. Most projects look for help with testing, documentation, graphics, etc., as well. Development Project Source Code Bug/Feature Tracker Chat Umoria (also known by the more complete title The Dungeons of Moria) is a roguelike video game, originally written as a C port of the VMS Pascal game Moria. The current actively-developed version of Umoria is written in C++. It is released under the terms of the GPL version 2. In Umoria, players create a character and venture into the "Mines of Moria", a cavernous dungeon inhabited by dangerous monsters and stuffed with valuable treasures. Players descend deeper into the randomly-generated mines, until they encounter the mighty Balrog at the bottom. Victory is achieved when the Balrog is destroyed.
Vulture's Eye		2011-04-04	Roguelike	Vulture's Eye Genre Roguelike Latest release 2.3.67 Release date December 7, 2009 Developer Clive Crous Code license NetHack General Public License P. language C++ Contribute Vulture's Eye is a free game. This means that the source code is available to be studied, modified, and distributed. Most projects look for help with testing, documentation, graphics, etc., as well. Development Project Source Code Vulture's eye is a fork of Falcon's Eye after the project was discontinued. The main developer is Clive Crous.
Warp Rogue		2008-01-15	Roguelike game	Roguelike games Genres Roguelike game Latest release 0.8.0 Release date January 15th, 2008 Developers copx. Sherm Pendley Code license GPL Media license GPL P. language C Library SDL Contribute Roguelike games is a free game. This means that the source code is available to be studied, modified, and distributed. Most projects look for help with testing, documentation, graphics, etc., as well. Warp Rogue is a dark science fantasy roguelike game. It is licensed under the GPL. The latest version of the game is 0.8.0 released on January 15th, 2008. It uses the SDL library and is programmed in the C programming language. It is developed by copx (real name is unavailable) and Sherm Pendley. The website is down for unknown reasons. copx is no longer maintaining the software.