The folks at volunteer organization Roguelike Celebration have set up a Steam event uplifting all things permadeath and procedurally generated, and the easy-to-miss festivities have also collected some solid discounts on some of the best roguelikes around.
This roguelike Steam event is a third-party thing and not an official Steam sale, which is probably why I didn't hear about it for so long, but there's still a good selection of discounts to pick from. The best one, for my money, is the 25% cut on Dungeons of Dredmor and its excellent DLCs – still my pick for the most-underrated roguelike of all time. Move fast, too, because this discount ends in just over 24 hours from the time of writing.
Dungeons of Dredmor is a classical turn-based, tile-based, dungeon-crawler RPG. It was released in 2011 and has aged like the finest wine. It's simultaneously one of the funniest games ever made – quirky but not loud or obnoxious about it, instead presenting absurdity very seriously – and a mechanically engrossing masterwork that gets to the heart of the original Rogue in a much more approachable way while still being hard as all hell.
Dungeons of Dredmor's greatest strength is its unpredictability. Absurd traps, items, monster designs, and shortcuts keep you on your toes every run, and each excursion feels meaningfully different thanks to a peerless skill system. You've got staples like sword and axe-wielding, perception, and alchemy, but that's the boring stuff. I'm talking about Emomancy, Communism, Killer Vegan, Paranormal Investigator, the Werediggle Curse, Viking Wizardry, and Magical Law – all fully fleshed-out and genuinely useful classes with multiple sub-skills, and just a sample of the absurd builds you can think up.
While Dungeons of Dredmor is the standout for me, this event features a bunch of other cheap roguelikes, and has already put quite a few well-reviewed games on my wishlist. Here are some other eye-catchers.
- Darkest Dungeon 2 - 25% off at $29.99: The much bigger, slightly messier sequel to one of the most brutally grim roguelikes ever made.
- Isle of Arrows - 20% off at $10.39: An enchanting minimalist tower defense game in the sky.
- Spring Falls - 40% off at $4.19: A rare, meditative roguelike "about water, erosion, and watching things grow."
- Roundguard - 75% off at $4.99: One of the biggest discounts in this event is for an adorable pinball-infused dungeon-crawler.
- Netherguild - 10% off at $8.99: An early access voxel tactical dungeon-crawler with near-perfect user reviews.
- Breach Wanderers - 40% off at $8.99: Just what I needed. Another roguelike deckbuilder with 1,200 cards and incredible art to absolutely ruin my life.
You've also got 1 week to get one of my all-time favorite Metroidvanias for $4.
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