It’s been another packed week for rogue games. New releases have been arriving almost daily, exciting announcements have given us plenty to look forward to, and a handful of release dates have been shuffled around for good measure.
It hasn’t just been the news keeping us busy either. We’ve also been diving into some of the latest releases, including our review of Space Grunts: Chrono Shard, while keeping an eye on the games that deserve a little more attention.
So, if you’ve found yourself struggling to keep up with everything that’s happened over the last seven days, don’t worry, we’ve got you covered. We’ve gathered the biggest stories from across the genre, highlighted the launches worth checking out, and picked out a few games that may have slipped under the radar.
Whether you’ve spent the week clearing your backlog or simply haven’t had time to follow the news, here’s everything you need to know from the world of rogue games this week.
Launch of the Week
Picking just one launch this week wasn’t easy. The last seven days have delivered one impressive release after another, with everything from deckbuilders and survival adventures to horror-fuelled rogues all competing for our attention. After plenty of back and forth, though, we decided on Fogpiercer.
Developed by Mad Cookies Studio and published by Hooded Horse, Fogpiercer takes the familiar deckbuilding formula and puts it on rails, quite literally. Every run revolves around building and upgrading a heavily armed train as you race through a world consumed by deadly fog, using careful positioning, powerful card synergies, and explosive chain reactions to fight off relentless enemies.
It’s a clever twist on the genre that feels tactical without becoming overwhelming, and every battle rewards thinking a few moves ahead rather than simply throwing your strongest cards onto the board.
Despite only launching yesterday, the game has already built up dozens of overwhelmingly positive user reviews on Steam, with 94% of players recommending it at the time of writing. That’s an impressive start for any new release, especially in a genre as competitive as this one.
Other Big Launches That Stood Out
Fogpiercer may be our standout pick, but it certainly wasn’t the only game making waves this week.
Fright Train finally pulled into the station, combining fast-paced survival gameplay with a horror setting that keeps every run tense from beginning to end.
Dead Weight launched with its own unique spin on naval survival, tasking you with upgrading a flying ship, managing a quirky crew, and battling your way across a dangerous world where every expedition can end in disaster.
Then there’s Hell Maiden, a striking bullet heaven deckbuilder inspired by Dante’s Divine Comedy. Its combination of card-driven progression, relentless enemy hordes, and the ability to recruit powerful bosses makes it one of the week’s most distinctive new arrivals.
And that’s only scratching the surface. From smaller indie launches to long-awaited releases finally reaching players, this has easily been one of the busiest weeks of the year for rogue games.
News of the Week: Blackout Jack Stacks the Odds Against You
There are plenty of rogue games built around cards, but Blackout Jack isn’t content with keeping you at the blackjack table. Sure, every run begins with familiar hands, risky decisions, and increasingly difficult quotas, but before long you’re chasing clues, uncovering a conspiracy, and plotting to kill the dealer who’s been pulling the strings all along. It’s a brilliant hook that transforms a familiar card game into something far more unpredictable.
That unexpected shift is exactly why Blackout Jack was our standout news story this week. The upcoming deckbuilder takes the simple rules everyone already knows and twists them into a tense roguelike where every hand feels like another step toward a much bigger goal. It’s one of the most original takes on blackjack we’ve seen in a long time, and it’s already climbed high on our most anticipated games list.
Featured Games of the Week
Every week we shine a spotlight on a couple of games we think deserve a little extra attention. This time around we revisited an overlooked indie that deserves far more love, alongside a mobile classic that’s still proving why it’s one of the genre’s biggest success stories.
Our Hidden Gem of the Week was Voidloop, a mining-focused roguelite that turns every trip underground into a balancing act between greed and survival. The deeper you venture, the better the rewards become, but making it back to camp with your haul is never guaranteed. It’s a refreshing take on the genre and one that’s well worth checking out if it passed you by the first time around.
We also crowned Soul Knight our Mobile Game of the Week. Nearly a decade after its original release, it’s still one of the best rogue games you can play on your phone. Fast-paced combat, hundreds of weapons, memorable heroes, and years of updates have helped it stay fresh, making it just as easy to recommend today as it was when it first launched.
Upcoming Game to Watch:
Not every game worth getting excited about is available to play just yet. One of the announcements that really caught our eye this week was Mini Gladiators, a physics-based bullet heaven that looks determined to make every battle as chaotic as possible.
Instead of simply watching enemies disappear into a shower of damage numbers, Mini Gladiators lets the physics do half the work. Every hit sends tiny warriors flying across the arena, crashing into walls and other enemies before bouncing back into the fight. It’s a refreshingly playful take on the genre, and with playtest sign-ups now open, this is definitely one to keep an eye on over the coming months.
Releases You Might Have Missed
With so many games launching this week, it would have been easy for a few smaller releases to disappear beneath the bigger headlines. From cashier shifts in 1998 to fishing expeditions with strict daily targets, these are some of the new arrivals you may not have spotted.
Citadel Zero puts you in charge of the last human stronghold on a dying alien world, with bio-engineered towers standing between you and complete extinction. You can build a custom defensive loadout and take it into three different modes, including the story-driven Chronicle, roguelite Contracts, and competitive 1v1 Ascension battles. It launched this week as a free-to-play release, making it an easy one to try if you enjoy tower defense with plenty of collecting and deckbuilding progression.
Padoria gives poker hands both an offensive and defensive purpose. Its dual-faced cards let you build two hands at once, with the top dealing damage and the bottom protecting you from incoming attacks, while equipment and jokers gradually reshape what your deck can do. It is a smart idea that turns every turn into a small puzzle, particularly once boss penalties and more specialized builds begin complicating your decisions.
Tower defense fans also have Hold the Core, which launched this week with a particularly dangerous approach to improving your run. Risk Cards offer better rewards while steadily increasing the pressure, while route building lets you bend enemy paths and create the choke points your towers need. Throw in specialized tower evolutions, relics, and enemies designed to expose weaknesses in your defenses, and there is plenty here for players who enjoy pushing a stable strategy until it nearly falls apart.
DigWorld is a cozy digging extraction game where every trip underground comes with a time limit. You need to carve through a freshly generated mine, manage your stamina and limited backpack space, and return your finds to the container before the clock runs out. There is no death or punishing failure here, so you can sell what you collect, improve your equipment, and gradually work toward filling a collection of more than 400 items.
Business 98 takes us back to the days of chunky computers, special cards, and the apparently high-stakes world of retail payments. This retro cashier simulator challenges you to complete transactions using combos and different strategies while attempting to keep the business running until the end of 1998. It is certainly one of the more unusual rogue deckbuilders to arrive this week, and the nostalgic presentation only makes it more memorable.
Huntervania is an auto-attacking survival rogue inspired by Vampire Survivors. Hordes grow larger and stronger as each run continues, leaving you to concentrate on movement, positioning, upgrades, and finding weapon combinations capable of keeping the monsters back. With a dark pixel-art world, different builds to experiment with, and leaderboards to chase, it is aimed squarely at players who enjoy testing how long their latest setup can survive.
HOOK trades monster-filled arenas for a fishing rod and a dangerous stretch of water. Each run is about diving deeper, catching strange fish, and making enough money before the day ends, with bounties, rod upgrades, unusual items, and an aquarium to fill along the way. The deeper waters are also home to dangerous creatures, so this is not quite the relaxing fishing trip it may initially appear to be.
Finally, Orbital Dispatch puts you behind the controls of humanity’s most remote orbital outpost. You will guide civilian ships into dock, scan suspicious cargo, reject smugglers, and deploy security drones when pirates or considerably stranger threats arrive. With real-time traffic management, station upgrades, increasingly difficult shifts, and a story told through crew communications, it is more space traffic controller than twin-stick shooter.
That’s a Wrap
That wraps up another busy week in the world of rogue games. Whether you’ve added a few new titles to your wishlist, found something to play this weekend, or simply caught up on the biggest headlines, we hope this roundup has helped you stay in the loop.
We’ll be back next week with another look at the launches, announcements, and hidden gems worth talking about. Until then, happy gaming!