Where to Start With Roguelikes and Metroidvanias
What this page helps you decide: which constraint actually binds for you, since review scores cannot separate twenty games inside four points.
Most lists of this genre rank by score and leave you there. That does not help much when all twenty titles tracked here sit within 3.0 percentage points of each other. The score is not the deciding factor. What decides it is whichever constraint binds hardest for you, and in practice there are four: money, platform, language, and whether anyone is teaching the game when you get stuck. On budget, the range runs $2.99 to $59.99. On platform, 3 of 10 run on Windows, macOS and Linux, while the rest are narrower. On language, 7 of 10 list official Chinese. On help, guide-video coverage differs by roughly 2770x between the ends of this list. Each route below points at the page with the full figures rather than repeating them here.
Why constraint beats ranking here
A ranking is useful when the field is spread out. This one is not. Constraints, by contrast, are absolute: a game that will not run on your machine is unusable regardless of its score, and a game with no guides is a different commitment than one with a hundred thousand. Filtering on what can disqualify a title gets you to a shortlist faster than sorting on what cannot.
The one thing this site will not tell you
Which of them you will enjoy. This list spans a five-dollar auto-battler, a sixty-dollar swordfighting epic, a hand-drawn metroidvania and a physics sandbox where everything burns. No figure here predicts which of those clicks for you. What the figures can do is stop you buying something you cannot run, cannot read, or cannot get help with.
Step-by-Step
- Work out which constraint binds first. In a field this tightly clustered, nobody is choosing purely on quality.
- Budget: the cheapest paid entry is Downwell at $2.99, and it outscores the $59.99 title.
- Platform: only 3 of 10 cover Windows, macOS and Linux.
- Language: 3 of the twenty do not list official Chinese.
- Help when stuck: if you look things up, check the video-coverage page before buying a thinly covered title.
Data Tables
| If your constraint is | What the data says | Where the figures are |
|---|---|---|
| Budget | $2.99 to $59.99, and price does not predict score | Price vs Rating |
| Mac or Linux | only 3 of 10 cover all three | each game page |
| Official Chinese | 7 of 10 qualify | Which Ship Official Chinese |
| Help when stuck | coverage differs about 2770x | If You Get Stuck |
| Review score | useless here — all above 95% | Price vs Rating |
Tips & Notes
- 3 of 10 are fully cross-platform — the narrowest constraint on this list.
- Score will not separate these. Every title here is above 95% positive.
FAQ
What is the best roguelike to start with?
No single answer from this data — all 10 titles sit within 3.0 percentage points. Start from your binding constraint: budget, platform, language, or how much help you want available.
Is the most expensive one the best?
Not by review score. Sekiro™: Shadows Die Twice - GOTY Edition at $59.99 sits at 95.3%, below several titles costing a fraction of that.
Which run on Mac or Linux?
3 of 10 list all three platforms. The per-game pages carry each title's platform row.
Sources
- Official Downwell on Steam (official store page) — Source for its price and review figures as used in the routing table. Read 2026-08-28.
- Community "Beginner Tips for Minishoot Adventures | Starter Guide" by Buddy Up Gaming — Guide video referenced for Minishoot' Adventures; search "Minishoot' Adventures guide" returned about 361 results. Read 2026-08-28.