Games Like Hades for When You Can't Stop Running

Hades ruined other roguelikes for a lot of people. Supergiant Games made dying feel like progress, combat feel like dancing, and a cast of characters so charming that people romanced the literal personification of death. Finding something that hits the same way requires understanding which part of Hades hooked you — the combat, the story, the builds, or the combination.

For the Combat

Dead Cells has the crispest action combat in the roguelite space. The movement is faster than Hades, the weapon variety is massive, and the metroidvania exploration adds a dimension Hades doesn't have. Motion Twin built something where every input feels instantaneous and every death feels like your fault, which is the hallmark of great action design.

Curse of the Dead Gods takes Hades' isometric action combat and adds a corruption system. As you explore the temple, you accumulate curses that modify your run — some helpful, some devastating. The torch mechanic (darkness hides traps and strengthens enemies) adds a resource management layer that Hades' combat doesn't demand.

Cult of the Lamb splits its time between Hades-style dungeon runs and Stardew-style base management. You're a lamb who starts a cult, runs dungeons to grow your power, and returns to your commune to manage followers, build structures, and perform rituals. Massive Monster blended two genres that shouldn't work together and somehow nailed both halves.

Wizard of Legend is a co-op action roguelite with a spell-combo system that rewards fast execution. You chain together arcana (spells) from different elements, creating combos that feel flashy and devastating. It's shorter and simpler than Hades but the two-player co-op adds a social dimension.

For the Narrative

Hades' biggest innovation was proving that death could be a storytelling device. Every time Zagreus dies, he returns to the House of Hades and has conversations that advance the plot. No other roguelite has replicated this as well, but some come close.

Hades II is the obvious answer. Supergiant's sequel features Melinoë, Zagreus' sister, and early access indicates it's expanding the narrative approach with new characters, relationships, and a deeper mythology. If what you want is literally more Hades, this is it.

Transistor and Bastion are Supergiant's earlier games and they share the studio's signature — gorgeous art, incredible music, and narratives that use gameplay as a storytelling tool. Neither is a roguelite, but they capture the feeling of playing a Supergiant game.

Children of Morta weaves a family narrative through roguelite dungeon runs. Each family member has a different combat style, and the story progresses through their relationships and struggles. Dead Mage built a game where the family dinner table scenes between runs are as compelling as the combat.

For the Builds

If the boon system was your favorite part — choosing between Athena's deflect, Ares' doom, Zeus' chain lightning, and finding combinations that break the game — these capture that energy.

Risk of Rain 2 has the most satisfying power scaling of any roguelike. Items stack multiplicatively, which means by the end of a long run you're a walking apocalypse. The co-op mode amplifies this — four players stacking items together creates emergent builds that the developers never explicitly designed.

The bullet heaven genre scratches the same build-crafting itch in a different format. Vampire Survivors compresses Hades' boon selection into a more rapid cycle — you're making build decisions every minute instead of every room. Brotato adds shop breaks between waves for deliberate build planning. Granny's Rampage takes the survivors-like formula across five stages with boss fights that test whether your build actually works. The upgrade-stacking dopamine is the same — you start weak, make interesting choices, and become absurdly powerful.

Slay the Spire and the deckbuilder roguelike genre offer build-crafting through card synergies rather than real-time combat. If what you loved about Hades' boons was the strategic decision-making (not the action execution), deckbuilders distill that into pure decision-making. Granny's Gambit brings that energy to Victorian monster-fighting if you want something with personality.

What we make at Choost

We're a small indie studio. Our games: Granny's Rampage — a bullet heaven where grandma grabs a minigun and fights through hell — and Granny's Gambit, a Victorian deckbuilder roguelike starring a card-slinging nan with a chip on her shoulder. Granny's Rampage is $2.99 on itch (Windows) and Google Play (Android), with the Steam launch on June 22 (also $2.99). Granny's Gambit is pay-what-you-want on itch.

The Full Package

No single game does everything Hades does. Dead Cells has better combat but no narrative. Children of Morta has narrative but looser combat. Risk of Rain 2 has better scaling but is multiplayer-focused. Cult of the Lamb splits attention between genres.

The honest recommendation is Hades II if you want the same experience, and one of the others if you want a specific element pushed further. And if you're open to adjacent genres, the roguelite landscape in 2026 is deep enough that you'll find something worth obsessing over regardless of which aspect of Hades you're chasing.

The indie scene keeps producing action roguelites because the format is proven — procedural variety, skill-based combat, and the "one more run" loop create games that people play for hundreds of hours. Hades raised the bar for what the genre could achieve narratively and mechanically. The games on this list are all reaching for that bar, and some of them grab it.