Best Action Roguelikes & Roguelites With Great Gunplay

Key Takeaways

Action roguelikes prioritize skill over strategy, focusing on reflexes and gunplay.
Heavy Bullets offers a unique gameplay loop with manually reloaded bullets.
Gunfire Reborn’s diverse weaponry and focus on FPS combat provide a skill-centric experience.

As a seasoned gamer with decades of experience under my belt, I must say that each one of these top-down and first-person roguelite shooters offers a unique and exhilarating experience. From SYNTHETIK: Legion Rising’s immersive gunplay to SULFUR’s intricate gun customization, these games are sure to satisfy the inner adrenaline junkie in all of us.

In contrast to conventional roguelikes with their slow pace, action roguelikes and roguelites are renowned for their rapid action and intense play style. Instead of emphasizing strategic planning, these games tend to prioritize showcasing player skills, to different extents.

Specifically, players who enjoy shooter games often prioritize quick reactions and proficiency. Consequently, these games frequently revolve around engaging gunplay, which forms an enjoyable gameplay cycle for players since a significant amount of their playtime is dedicated to firing weapons instead of planning strategies.

1 Heavy Bullets

An Early But Novel Attempt At An FPS Roguelike

Platform(s): PC
Released: 2014
Developer(s): Terri Vellmann, Doseone
Genre: FPS

Heavy Bullets” was one of the first games to blend first-person shooters with the format of roguelikes, debuting in 2014. This stylish, low-poly shooter is known for its raw brutality, although it may not match the sheen of contemporary roguelikes. Despite its perceived rough edges, it’s still worth exploring due to its unique gameplay and budget-friendly cost.

“Heavy Bullets” focuses entirely on its distinct feature – a six-chamber revolver loaded with hefty ammunition. Unlike conventional games, these bullets aren’t automatically replenished; instead, they must be manually reloaded and even picked up from the ground. This creates an exceptionally unique gameplay mechanic that encourages players to carefully strategize each shot.

2 ENDLESS Dungeon

A Sequel That Trades Strategy For Action

As a devoted admirer, I must admit that ENDLESS Dungeon might not have been the sequel fans were yearning for after the original, Dungeon Of The Endless. However, it more than compensates with its silky-smooth twin-stick shooter mechanics, captivating visual design, and user-friendly gameplay. Unlike the original, which allowed control over a group of characters, ENDLESS Dungeon restricts players to a single hero, intensifying the tower defense aspects while placing greater emphasis on gunplay.

This shooting mechanic is user-friendly and intuitive, designed more for pleasure of interplay than intricacy. It prioritizes threat evaluation and weapon selection, making the choices less monotonous by offering a range of weapons and playable characters.

3 Nuclear Throne

A Chaotic Top-Down Shooter With Diverse, Satisfying Weapons

Fans of action-packed top-down shooter games will undoubtedly be thrilled by the uncontrolled pandemonium and diverse array of unique weapons that Nuclear Throne provides. While it does come with character advancement through unlocks, the game retains a roguelike structure.

Although Nuclear Throne appears to be a simple pixel art top-down shooter with basic weapon designs, the guns offer an engaging gameplay experience. What’s more, many of its weapons stand out due to their unique characteristics, creating a wide range of gunplay possibilities. The scarcity of ammunition in these weapons encourages players to frequently change strategies.

4 Gunfire Reborn

A Roguelite FPS With Diverse Weaponry

In this first-person shooter roguelike game, players are challenged to engage in rapid succession of intense combat sessions. They can choose to take on these encounters solo or join forces with others online. Although single-player mode is enjoyable, multiplayer adds a layer of excitement by seamlessly infusing teamwork into the gameplay.

In Gunfire Reborn, you’ll find an array of characters, weapons, settings, and adversaries that ensure gameplay is both engaging and varied. The game primarily emphasizes first-person shooter combat, putting a premium on player skill. Yet, being a roguelike title, it does incorporate some element of permanent advancement.

5 SYNTHETIK: Legion Rising

A Top-Down Shooter With Surprisingly Immersive Gunplay

As a gamer, I’m constantly immersed in the pulse-pounding action of SYNTHETIK: Legion Rising – a top-down shooter that never fails to keep me on my toes with its relentless, chaotic firefights. This game adopts a roguelite structure, offering me diverse classes I can tailor to suit my playstyle and permanent perks to unlock as I progress.

In SYNTHETIK: Legion Rising, the shooting experience is made more engaging through its sound design and active reloading mechanics. To make it even more immersive, there are systems for weapon jamming and overheating, enhancing the gameplay’s skill element. This results in a tactile, top-down shooter that’s quite satisfying to play, especially for fans of roguelite shooters. It’s definitely worth giving it a try.

6 SULFUR

An Extraction Shooter With Intuitive Gun Customization

Platform(s): PC
Released: 2024
Developer(s): Perfect Random
Genre: FPS

Set for Early Release in October 2024, the game SULFUR is currently under development. At present, it falls into the early stages of its development cycle. This roguelike first-person shooter offers an extraction shooter gameplay structure and boasts a cartoonish visual style that might be deceiving; however, SULFUR is not designed to be casual or easy-to-understand.

SULFUR offers systems for culinary preparation and firearm personalization, the latter of which adds a unique touch to the weapons. SULFUR is a roguelike that heavily emphasizes its weaponry and the first-person shooting experience they provide, but it’s enriched by subtle aesthetics, distinctive music, and meticulous craftsmanship.

7 Enter The Gungeon

A Bullet-Hell With A Diverse Range Of Weaponry

Enter The Gungeon is a fast-paced, top-down game in the bullet-hell genre, featuring pixel art graphics. Players are challenged to fight their way through different types of enemies, one room at a time, while acquiring unique weapons throughout their journey.

In Enter The Gungeon, the vast array of weaponry takes center stage, forming the core gameplay mechanic. The game is meticulously crafted around these weapons, and their limited ammunition encourages players to manage multiple guns instead of solely relying on a single, powerful one.

8 Post Void

A High-Speed FPS Roguelike With Intuitive Weapons

In a nutshell, the game titled “Post Void” offers a speedy, chaotic experience, categorized as a first-person action roguelike with an edgy, psychedelic art design. The vibrant colors, incessant soundtrack, and gritty atmosphere make it feel like a vivid, dreamlike state.

In “Post Void”, the game’s design emphasizes speed in every aspect. It manages this by imposing a time limit on players, with their health serving as a ticking clock that steadily decreases. Although players can wield only one weapon at a time, each weapon in “Post Void” is unique, powerful, and most crucially, designed for quick handling even in high-speed situations.

2024-11-05 19:34