Top 25 best roguelikes and roguelites for iPhone and iPad (iOS)

Warping between unknown star systems, striving to keep ahead of a vast enemy armada and engaging in frequent tactical ship-to-ship battles, playing FTL is an exercise in making split-second tough decisions. If there's a more compelling set-up for a mobile roguelike, we haven't seen it.

If you're not yet sold on the idea of a beautiful space roguelike, we don't quite understand why. So... make sure to read our FTL: Faster Than Light review! It should convince you to try this masterpiece.

Downwell practically buzzes with kinetic energy, whether you're bouncing on the head of a frog, blasting through layers of rock with your gunboots, or ducking into a time bubble to buy some weapon upgrades. A truly thrilling iOS roguelike.

Did you know we also have a Downwell review? If you are not sure where you stand regarding this game - whether you are down to try it or not - you should check it out. It should give you some clear answers.

Rogue Legacy is a platformer of uncommon replayability, thanks to its procedurally generated levels and an ingenious character progression system. Each successive generation of your character's family steps up to the plate with their own strengths and (often hilarious) quirks.

Make sure to read our Rogue Legacy review if you haven't yet. It'll tell you all about this intense platformer iOS roguelike, in great detail. Believe it or not, it's actually a truly fantastic port.

Dead Cells provides one of the slickest, most satisfying action-platformer experiences on mobile. Run, leap and dodge through randomised levels, picking up a deadly range of swords, shields, projectile weapons, automated turrets, and magical attacks. Then die and do it all again - but a little differently.

As we all know, sometimes you need a bit of assistance in roguelike games like this. You'll surely be looking for the Cavern key and Gardeners keys, for example. Our guides should help you acquire them effortlessly.

One of the most enduringly popular roguelikes of recent times, The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth plays like an unholy mash-up of Robotron and Zelda. And we do mean unholy - Edmund McMillen's labour of love frequently dips into the profane as you shoot and wretch your way through its grim random levels.

This game plays extremely well, and while it's a little bit... poopy (literally speaking, of course) it is an insanely rewarding and satisfying iOS roguelike to conquer. Just check our review for The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth.

Froglike: The Frog Roguelike is for those who love a colorful, wacky roguelike that's a little more unique and out of the box. You get the chance to play as a frog, which others seem to worship, killing bugs and working your way through a strange world! There are a lot of procedurally generated levels to keep things interesting, along with many different power-ups for you to find and master. The story itself is filled with humor too!

In the Froglike: The Frog Roguelike review we've put together, we mentioned how challenging yet fun the game is! It's really a wild ride.

Bad North combines RTS and tower defence elements with a run-based roguelike structure. It makes defending your islands from a Viking onslaught endlessly repayable.

We absolutely loved Bad North, so if you find yourself attracted to the immersive Norse action present in the game, you might want to check out some Bad North: Jotunn Edition tips. They're going to come in handy more than you think (tried and tested)!

It's an imperfect port, but Slay the Spire is one of the best roguelikes of recent years. This is a brilliant card battler that sees you shaping a deck of powerful cards and utilising them in tense turn-based battles.

If you're used to the rather bloody and messy iOS roguelikes, you'd be surprised to learn that there's an alternative to that - we shared more about it in our Slay the Spire review, but if you really want some slightly more strategic action, this is definitely the game for you. Make sure to give it a try.

As the title suggests, Darkest Dungeon is rather punishing to play, but in the best possible way. From its Lovecraftian lore to its brutal side-on turn-based battles, everything has a dark and twisted allure - an intensely immersive and addictive one at that. For those of you who are daring enough to try it, use our tier list for Darkest Dungeon, it will assist you immensely.

It's a game where your entire team will be wiped out, seemingly at the whim of a malevolent god - and you'll still go back for more. It's one of the best dungeon crawlers that hurts... so good!

Suitably enough, Sunless Sea is a game you immerse yourself in. Exploring a vast underground sea in a steampunk ship, you'll embark on a beautifully written narrative adventure while taking part in tense real-time naval battles.

If you are still unsure whether to row, row, row your boat gently down with steam, maybe our Sunless Sea review will help you decide. We are certainly loving it, and if you are a fan of Lovecraftian worlds and unexplored 'zeas' (pun intended!), give it a try!

Moonlighter mixes Zelda-like dungeon crawling with a fascinating premise - what if you were responsible for setting the price and selling all that exotic loot you're so accustomed to fighting for?

We don't have an iOS review, but we do have a Moonlighter review on Switch. That will let you in on just how great this roguelite dungeon-crawling creation feels. You should definitely check it out!

Official developers said this about their game on the official website: "When FTL meets Foundation...and Dune". If you're familiar with either of those franchises, you're aware of their impact on the audience.

This tactical rogue-lite has many of the same spacefaring elements, but it also adds a compelling narrative and entertaining flight-squadron combat mechanics. You'll travel the procedurally generated universe in search of what happened to the Empire, and each failed run will bring you a step closer to the truth. Just like in FTL, failing is imminent, it's just a matter of how much you'll have to endure before ending your run and completing the story.

A brilliantly bizarre roguelike dungeon crawler that replaces the usual tactical turn-based battles with a rhythmic music-based system. You need to keep to the beat in order to vanquish those skeletons and dragons, which is something unique and never before seen in games belonging to the genre. Bonkers.

If you're eager to try out something new but full of life, colour and pixels, you should give Crypt of the NecroDancer a shot. It might just turn out to be your next favourite!

Invisible, Inc.'s slick art style and polished turn-based stealth battles give the impression of a highly sculpted experience. But its random level layouts and brutal fail state reveal a wicked roguelike edge.

And like we're accustomed to Klei creations (such as Don't Starve), we know that there's so much more than first meets the eye once you dive into the actual gameplay. Just read our Invisible, Inc. review - it's one of those few games that will leave you wanting for more. And more. And more...

Zombies have infected every gaming genre known to man, so a zombie roguelike survival action RPG was always on the cards. That's Death Road to Canada in a slightly unwieldy nutshell. It's awesome.

We've long stated, even in our Death Road to Canada review, that this is one of the few iOS roguelikes that feel so darn right. From every single point of view, starting with controls and ending with the visuals. It's a mash of all the classical elements and intense, bloody battles that you'll keep playing for hours on end.

If you are a fan of a pixel art style, Vampire Survivors is your best pick. Your task here is to obliterate endless hordes of various enemies, increase your level, and upgrade your items, but most importantly, survive for 30 minutes and move to the next map. Choose one of many characters and start your little adventure that will be brimming with various secrets to uncover.

The game is full of various fighters, some of them are powerful, others are a bit weaker. Therefore, use the Vampire Survivors tier list, then pick the best hero, and destroy as many monsters as you can!

The tower defence genre gets the roguelike treatment, as you ascend a tower and embark on a series of desperate backs-to-the-wall defensive operations.

In Dungeon of the Endless: Apogee, you have both, but tweaked tenfold. It's a beautiful, yet challenging game. You will love the graphics, the mechanics and even the touch controls, which we all know are not something every game has managed to nail.

Cultist Simulator is described as a roguelike narrative card game, but that doesn't adequately prepare you for the sheer freewheeling possibilities of this cosmic game of Poker. Draw cards, explore arcane rites - then die and try it all again.

There are so many features you need to keep track of, to learn and master that it can easily become overwhelming. In our Cultist Simulator review we mentioned that it might not be a game that will appeal to many, but it's a brilliant one nonetheless. If you want a more visual approach, you can also check our Cultist Simulator video review!

This startlingly tactile roguelike tactics game folds in auto-chess and board game elements, and intriguingly gives you no save facility, so you'll have to tackle each run in a single sitting.

It is rather intense if you want our honest opinion because it's not the one where you can just pause and think - you need to act, act, and react. It's brilliant, it's fast and challenging. That ticks all the right boxes to make it a great roguelike iOS game.

A sequel to Meteorfall: Journey that mixes roguelike deck-building mechanics with tense, strategic battles and a glorious cartoon art style. This time the latter incorporates a much deeper grid-based system.

If you want to learn our unforgiving, non-death-defying experience while playing it, you might want to check out our Meteorfall: Krumit's Tale review. We wanted to quit it, but well, we couldn't. It's that good (but oh so painful at times)...

Void Tyrant is a colourful deck building game build on solid roguelike foundations. At the heart of it, it is interstellar Blackjack. But as you keep playing, you will aim to draw higher than your space alien foes without going bust.

In Void Tyrant you'll have artifacts to collect, blueprints and ships to unlock, and that's only the chill part of the game. The intensity of it comes from the actual card battles that will leave you in awe from time to time. They get surprisingly challenging, even to the most seasoned TCG players - that's because of its roguelite approach.

Few genres are as stuck in their ways as the 2D shmup, but Steredenn gives things a shake-up with a little roguelike magic. Random levels and permadeath, alongside an inspired weapon customisation, really give the action a jolt.

Make sure to read our Steredenn review to see why this bullet hell roguelite is so appealing to many. It has fascinated us through sheer action and no bull in between. It's all that a regular action game junkie needs!

The developer of Card Crawl, ENYO and Card Thief has produced this exquisite turn-based swiping puzzler. Move a mouse around a randomly arranged 4x4 grid, vanquishing clockwork enemies.

In Maze Machina, you will have a slightly lighter experience than in Meteorfall: Krumit's Tale, but essentially pretty similar down to the core. It also looks and feels slightly more realistic (because of its 3D approach), so if you want something more clockwork-y and less cartoon-y, give it a shot.

Fair warning though - it might not be for you though if you want a more action-packed iOS roguelite.

Road Not Taken splices roguelike elements into the tile-sliding puzzler, and the results are brilliant. Add into the mix a gorgeous cartoon art style and a surprisingly emotive story, and you have one of the most unique roguelikes for iPhone and iPad on this list.

It looks beautiful, but that's just the tip of the iceberg. Road Not Taken is filled with puzzles, battles and secrets at every corner. It's a brilliant mobile game that should be in everyone's collection, roguelike / roguelite fan or not.

Card Hog offers the kind of deck-based roguelike dungeon crawler that we see a lot of on mobile, but it pulls the formula off with style. It's far deeper than its cartoony graphics would suggest.

What that means is, that it's an ingeniously crafted concoction that allows for a multitude of playstyles, mechanics and approaches, that will appeal to a lot of players seeking to play something unique. Dangers are lurking at every corner - or almost every corner, and the battles intensify as you progress. Don't let the cutesy graphics fool you, Card Hog is actually a fairly challenging game that shouldn't be taken lightly!