PPG Game Of The Year 2024 - 02 - Roguelikes of a Tactical Nature

Much like deckbuilders, roguelikes across the board have had an extended renaissance in the indie space, and they also have plenty of devs trying to tie the gameplay structure in with a quite diverse range of mechanics. As several of the games in this list can attest, the form still has plenty of depth to mine. (For simplicity, all roguelike and roguelite games here and throughout the GOTY coverage are under the banner "roguelike". Yes I am aware there are differences, no it does not matter here).

Stories From The Outbreak
Squad Based Zombie Survival
Take State of Decay but make it a turn based roguelike with pretty great pixel art and animations. Gather a group of survivors and try to make it through a zombie invested city alive.

Slice & Dice
Dice Focused Combat
Different heroes have unique dice with different abilities and actions that can be taken as you dungeon delve over and over until you reach and take out the final boss.

Azoove (EA)
Co-op Trust Tactics
Cool twist in having a multiplayer roguelike where you don't have direct communication with the other player and must instead rely on trust to get you through a 10 day journey.

Inkbound
Isometric Build Breaker
With the pedigree of Monster Train you know this is one that will get you hooked. Turn based isometric with area based attacks to manage. Create synergistic builds, in solo or co-op.

Anomaly Collapse
Supernatural Anthropomorphic Squad
Side on turn based battles mix with supernatural calamities that you must discover and overcome. Plenty of variety in approach and character options.

The Land Beneath Us
Stylish Simultaneous Turn Grids
Cool cross between tech and hell. Neat pixel art from an isometric viewpoint. Turn based on a grid where everything moves when you do.

Sandwalkers
Hex Based Exploration
An exploration focused game about gathering a party together, setting off across the unknown, getting into perilous situations and learning what you can to help proceed further the next time.

Million Monster Militia
Wild Unit Synergies
Plenty of room for experimentation in creating an army of all sorts of creatures, from " Succubi? Tax Accountants? Whales?" while playing out auto battler fights.

Dice & Fold
Solitaire Dice Combat
A really inventive way to use dice and classic solitaire rules together as a battle mechanic with a smattering of different classes and combinations to try out and master.

Forgotten Mines
Grid Based Dungeon Diver
A genuinely fantastic turn and grid based game with some fun synergies to find and focus on environmental interaction and positioning. Plenty of run customization options available.

Artifice: War Tactics
Chess Style Grid Tactics
This one is all about setting up your little guys for joint combos and clever plays, where you want to be thinking several steps ahead, not just about this turn's attacks.

Peglin
Peggle Roguelike
If you ask yourself why no one has made a Peggle style game since Peggle, then this is the game for you. Powers, strategy, RNG, deckbuilding, roguelike structure, addicting.

Shogun Showdown
Strategic Thinking Roguelike
A highly regarded turn based tactical roguelike that has you upgrade and synergize attacks as you work your way through side on combat challenges.

Breachway (EA)
FTL Meets Slay The Spire
There's still some fine tuning to be done with this one, but it's mashing of FTL and Slay The Spire will appeal to a very specific slice of the world.

Revelatio
Faith Based Turn Based Tile Battles
A tactical roguelike with a unique faith based mechanic centered around recruitment and loss of characters. Tile based combat pushes you to be resourceful and strategic in equal measure.

Lost Eidolons: Veil of the Witch (EA)
Traditional Fantasy Grid Tactics
A roguelike follow up to a traditional fantasy grid based tactics game from a few years back. Great merging of fun tactics and classic run based loops.

Dimensionals
Hero / Turn Based RPG
A turn based RPG with roguelike runs built in. Cartoony aesthetic and high energy. Quite the cast of characters, plenty of content to sink your teeth into, and plenty of fun synergies to find and build out.

And The Best Tactical Roguelike / Roguelite of 2024 is…

Balatro
Poker Times A Billion
This was another stacked year for the genre, but there’s no doubting which game blew up and took the crown. This year's roguelike that broke the brains and destroyed the spare time of so, so many. Not only is it on PC and Switch, but if you happen to have an Apple Arcade sub, you can download it right now for free on your phone, and it works extremely well. It's amazing how much you can bend poker into a whole other game. Numbers are a magical thing.