>> Northernlion's Roguelike Tier List The Best Roguelikes Ranked by the King of the Genre
Few people have played more roguelikes on camera than Northernlion. Thousands of Binding of Isaac runs, years of daily streams and a whole decade of the genre's rise made him the go-to voice for anyone asking "which roguelike should I play next?" At the end of 2019 he finally sat down and ranked the best roguelikes of the decade in a tier list.
His criteria were simple: how much he still wants to do one more run, how much he has played it, and the legacy the game left on the genre. He also admits the top spots could swap any given day. Here is his final ranking.
1. Spelunky
Northernlion's number one and an easy S tier pick. He calls it "one of the best games ever made." Derek Yu's cave-diving platformer is brutally fair, endlessly replayable and the blueprint for half the genre.
2. Slay the Spire
S tier without a single reservation. The game that launched the roguelike deckbuilder boom is still the benchmark every card roguelike gets measured against.
3. Enter the Gungeon
His surprise S tier pick, and one he expected people to argue about. A bullet hell roguelike packed with secrets and hundreds of guns, and a game that rewards hundreds of hours of practice.
4. The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth
The game most associated with Northernlion lands at the top of his A tier. Some days, he says, there's no way it isn't number one. Few roguelikes have this much depth or this many runs left in them.
5. Hades
Ranked while it was still in early access, and placed right behind Isaac in a call he knew would be controversial. Supergiant's dungeon crawler went on to become one of the most celebrated roguelikes ever made.
6. FTL: Faster Than Light
The spaceship management roguelike that helped kick off the indie roguelike wave. Every run is a tense string of decisions about crew, power and when to run.
7. Darkest Dungeon
Ranked higher than people might expect. His reasoning is that years after release, people still talk about it and play it all the time. It's a gothic, stress-driven party management game with incredible staying power.
8. Into the Breach
The second game from the FTL developers. Northernlion admits that on another day he'd call it the best roguelike of all time. Every turn is a tiny, perfect tactics puzzle.
9. Nuclear Throne
Originally his highest C tier entry, then bumped up to B in his final pass. Vlambeer's fast, punishing top-down shooter is pure run-based chaos.
10. Dead Cells
The roguevania that blended Metroidvania exploration with roguelike runs. Fluid combat and a huge weapon pool made it one of the most popular roguelites of its era.
11. Dicey Dungeons
A great game in his eyes, but compared to the rest of the list it doesn't have much staying power, so it got bumped down to C tier. Still a charming dice-based deckbuilder from the creator of VVVVVV.
12. Streets of Rogue
An immersive sim roguelike where every problem has ten solutions, most of them ridiculous. It's at its best in co-op chaos.
13. Rogue Legacy
One of the games that defined the roguelite progression loop, where each death passes your gold on to an heir. In his final reshuffle he moved it above Children of Morta.
14. Children of Morta
The hardest call on the list. Northernlion counts it among his top games of 2019, but within a roguelike ranking its limited replay value pushed it down to D tier. He adds that someone has to be at the bottom of a list full of winners.
Agree with Northernlion?
These are 14 of the most influential roguelikes of the 2010s, and even the bottom of the list is worth your time. If you're new to the genre, his top three are the perfect starting point. If you've played them all, the ranking itself is the fun part: would Isaac be your number one, or is Spelunky still king?
