Vagante
Early Access price: $14.99
Genre: Action RPG roguelite
Demo: Yes
Steam Store link
Wary of Early Access games? Me, too. But this is definitely not one to worry about. It's been in Early Access since late 2014, but developer Nuke Nine has packed to the brim with content and quality of life updates since the beginning.
Vagante is like Spelunky with far more RPG elements, action, and sheer ruthlessness in design. It's slower than Spelunky, more complicated than Spelunky, and may just be the better game for you if you'd like a more serious RPG tint to your dungeon and cave-diving.
This game is not even remotely for the casual gamer.
Of all the roguelites on this list, Vagante is the one that took me the longest to get the hang of and progress in, thanks to the random unidentified drops (thanks cursed equipment) and RPG stat/skill leveling. It's worth it, though: Just about everything in this game is stellar, and at the current rate of updates the full release version is shaping up to be amazing.
If you like roguelites and are comfortable with being even worse at the start than usual in these types of games, you have nothing to lose but hours of your life with Vagante. Especially once online multiplayer is released.
Published Feb. 25th 2016
