The roguelike genre is vast, including everything from mind-warping puzzles to moreish adventure games. If you’re hunting for a dark or creepy title to enjoy this Halloween, there are plenty of roguelikes that fall into this category as well.

Below, I’ve gathered five haunting roguelikes to take a chance on this Halloween, including slot machine games, dice-based challenges, and a particularly creepy maze game. They all vary in atmosphere and fright factor, but they’re all wickedly good fun.

The Escapist recaps

• Roguelikes feel like one of the biggest genres in gaming right now, encompassing a wide variety of different themes, gameplay loops, and styles. One of the best subgenres to explore in the roguelike world is the horror roguelike niche.
• There are plenty of roguelikes that feature a dark and ominous atmosphere, with Slots and Daggers being one of the best. It’s not a scary game, but it has a dark fantasy feel and some brilliant monster designs.
• Fans of games like Balatro will enjoy darker titles like Dice With Death and Dice with Kalma. Both are engaging and fun, but they throw the player into a situation where they need to gamble for their life.
• Horror game lovers will get a kick out of CloverPit and Roll of Fate. The former is a slot machine roguelike where the player must try to escape their captor with their life, while the latter is a deadly maze game that revolves around dice and cards. 

Best creepy roguelikes to play this Halloween 

Platforms like Steam are awash with roguelike titles, with plenty to pick from in the ongoing Steam Scream Fest alone. 

The naturally moreish gameplay style of roguelikes makes the genre a perfect pick for horror, blending adrenaline and atmosphere with looping gameplay. I’m using roguelike a little vaguely here – games like Slots and Daggers could technically be more of a roguelite. 

To pick out the best roguelike games for Halloween lovers, I focused on games that had a strong atmosphere, interesting visuals, and a gameplay loop that offered plenty of replay value. 

Slots and Daggers

Starting with the most approachable title, Slots and Daggers is more atmospheric than creepy. It’s a blend of slot machine mechanics and a dark fantasy RPG, where you must spin the slot machine to attack, defend, and use spells in battle. 

It’s a rich and immersive game that gets more complex as you progress, offering extra symbols and modifiers to help tear through the various monsters that stand in your way. If you like games like Balatro, you’ll love this one. 

Dice With Death

Dice With Death is a simple yet effective dice game where your opponent is Death himself. It’s a game of risk and reward, where you’ll need to bank as high a score as possible without losing everything, using special dice and relics to your advantage.

There’s plenty of replay value on offer here, with multiple characters to play as, such as the Soldier or the Witch. Despite currently being in early access, Dice With Death feels rich and rewarding, with stunning pixel art to boot. 

CloverPit

CloverPit has exploded in popularity in recent weeks, enchanting the indie gaming community with its ominous premise and engrossing gameplay loop. It’s a “gamble for your life” game, where you must score highly with a slot machine to earn your freedom, using special trinkets to enhance your score. 

As someone who’s never touched a slot machine in their life, I was a little dubious about this title at first, but I can confirm – it’s incredibly fun. It veers into the realm of horror without being too intense, and it has a distinctive art style as well. 

Dice of Kalma

Dice of Kalma is another game that follows the “gamble for your life” premise, tasking you with beating the guardian of the Underworld, Kalma, at dice to earn your freedom. You’ll need to roll well and enhance your score with special skulls.

If you like your roguelikes to have a real sense of strategy to them, you’ll fall in love with Dice of Kalma. While it does feature some elements of luck, it’s heavily focused on creating the perfect build. 

At the time of writing, Dice of Kalma is only available in demo format, but I found the demo to be particularly generous and ended up spending a fair amount of time with it. It’s worth keeping an eye out for the full Dice of Kalma release. 

Roll of Fate

Roll of Fate is the most horror-adjacent out of this list, combining dice-rolling and cards with a creepy maze. To escape the maze, you must roll dice to move or pull cards, all while an enemy does the same and attempts to catch you.

I wasn’t expecting a whole lot out of Roll of Fate initially, but found it to be incredibly compelling. There’s a good level of strategy involved, but luck still plays a crucial role with the cards you pull, what you roll, and what your opponent rolls, too.

Roguelikes and roguelites are arguably in their prime right now, dominating events like Steam Next Fest and Steam Scream Fest. If you’re looking for something eerie to sink your fangs into this Halloween, it’s worth picking up a game like Dice With Death or Roll of Fate. They’re simple at their core yet undeniably engrossing. 

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