Not every rogue adventure needs a terrifying monster, a cursed dungeon, or a hero covered in somebody else’s blood. Sometimes, all you really want is to grow a few flowers, cook something delicious, or spend an afternoon rolling dice without a giant skeleton trying to murder you.
October’s Steam Next Fest has plenty of opportunities to indulge that softer side of the genre. Tucked between the frantic bullet heavens and punishing action roguelikes are colorful little adventures filled with adorable characters, charming worlds, and surprisingly clever mechanics. There are bees reclaiming Earth, heroes relying on a hardworking crafter, and a kebab shop where the ingredients are considerably more complicated than the customers might expect.
Of course, cute doesn’t always mean easy. These games still have their fair share of difficult decisions, unpredictable runs, and combinations that can turn a perfectly sensible strategy upside down. They’re simply a little more welcoming about the whole experience.
So put down the bloodstained sword, make yourself something warm to drink, and take a look at ten rogue games showing their softer side at Steam Next Fest.
1. Teamcrafter
A quiet village sits surrounded by forests, grassy plains, and beautiful landscapes just waiting to be explored. Adventurers are preparing to venture through mysterious magical Portals, but somebody needs to make sure they have the right equipment before heading into danger. That’s where you come in. Rather than charging into battle with a sword, you’ll spend your days gathering resources, crafting weapons, and putting together the perfect equipment for your team. The heroes get the glory, but they’ll have a much harder time earning it without your handiwork.
Developed by Teamcraft Studios, Teamcrafter is a cozy crafting roguelite that combines peaceful resource gathering with strategic party-building and automated turn-based combat. Players explore procedurally generated biomes, collect materials, and craft weapons, armor, and accessories that determine how their adventurers perform in battle.
More than 150 collectibles, 40 talents, and 50 passive items provide plenty of opportunities to experiment with equipment combinations. Its Steam Next Fest demo update also makes this a good time to discover what the developers have been working on. Who needs to swing a sword when you can make an exceptionally good one instead?
2. Matchy Star
Bright colors, cheerful shapes, and a puzzle board filled with possibilities make Matchy Star look like the sort of game you could settle into for a relaxing afternoon. Behind that inviting presentation, however, lies the familiar temptation to chase bigger combinations, improve your score, and squeeze one more successful move out of a board that’s rapidly becoming more complicated.
Its appeal lies in combining accessible matching gameplay with run-based decision-making, giving players opportunities to experiment with different strategies as the challenge develops. Rather than relying on frantic reflexes or difficult combat encounters, the focus is on spotting useful combinations and making the most of the pieces available. It’s the kind of colorful puzzle experience that could appeal to players who enjoy the strategic satisfaction of a roguelite without needing to fight their way through an army of monsters.
3. Bee Space
Long ago, a group of honeybees was sent into space as part of a human science experiment. Then something rather unexpected happened. Contact with Earth was lost, humanity disappeared from the bees’ lives, and their descendants continued evolving among the stars. Now these remarkably advanced little insects are heading home, determined to reclaim their ancestral planet for all Bee-kind. There’s just one small problem: Earth isn’t quite the welcoming garden they were hoping to find.
Developed by Polykite Games, Bee Space is a cozy roguelike deckbuilder where players terraform miniature hexagonal islands using flowers, futuristic technology, and a collection of carefully chosen cards. Weather conditions, unusual creatures, mysterious human artifacts, and meddlesome bosses complicate the restoration process, while different bee companions provide specialized abilities. The planned full game features more than 100 cards, 30 charms, and 30 artifacts, with plenty of opportunities to discover useful combinations.
Its relaxing music, charming miniature worlds, and delightfully strange premise make this one of the most appealing cozy rogue games on our list. Rebuilding Earth is a big job, especially when you’re only a few centimeters tall.
4. Penny Potluck
A cozy kitchen, a pantry full of ingredients, and an appetite that seems determined to grow with every meal. In Penny Potluck, your culinary ambitions begin with a few simple dishes, but before long you’ll be experimenting with increasingly elaborate recipes, discovering unusual flavor combinations, and wondering whether there’s any limit to how much food one person can prepare. The answer appears to be no, which is excellent news for anyone who enjoys cooking without having to wash the dishes afterward.
Created by solo developer Phoenix Hunt, Penny Potluck is a cooking roguelite built around combining ingredients, applying seasonings, and discovering powerful culinary synergies. Players expand their pantry, upgrade their kitchen, and develop different strategies to satisfy ever-increasing hunger and score targets. Each ingredient offers new possibilities, encouraging experimentation as you work toward more elaborate combinations. I
ts charming hand-drawn presentation and food-focused gameplay make it an inviting alternative to traditional combat-heavy roguelites, although chasing those enormous scores could prove every bit as addictive as defeating a dungeon boss.
5. Skewered Up!
The grill is hot, the customers are waiting, and you’ve got an increasingly strange assortment of ingredients to turn into something edible. Meat, vegetables, cheese, fruit, seafood, and all manner of unexpected additions are arriving faster than you can decide what belongs together. Every ingredient has its place, and the order you slide them onto your skewer could mean the difference between a culinary masterpiece and a very disappointing dinner. There’s no time to consult a recipe book, either. The next ingredient is already on its way.
Developed by Amber Roach Games, Skewered Up! is a colorful cooking roguelike deckbuilder where ingredients trigger effects based on their position along a skewer. Cooking progresses from the base toward the tip, allowing carefully arranged combinations to create increasingly powerful scoring chains. Between rounds, players visit Grimbo’s Shop to acquire rare ingredients, new skewers, and unusual upgrades that can completely change their approach.
Its hands-on physics, cheerful presentation, and surprisingly strategic ingredient placement make this an unusual addition to the cozy roguelike lineup. Just don’t expect your customers to be impressed by a kebab that’s mostly cheese and wishful thinking.
6. PixelJunk Monsters 3
A peaceful little island is about to have a very busy day. Monsters are marching toward your home, and the only thing standing between them and the creatures you’re trying to protect is a collection of towers, a few carefully chosen defenses, and your ability to run around the landscape without getting overwhelmed. Fortunately, this isn’t your average tower defense adventure. You can upgrade your towers by dancing beside them, which must make defending an island considerably more entertaining than standing around watching the enemies approach.
Developed by Q-Games, PixelJunk Monsters 3 brings the beloved tower defense series back to its charming hand-drawn roots, with beautifully illustrated environments presented in 4K. Players explore islands, gather resources, construct towers, and upgrade their defenses through dancing, while new roguelike elements introduce additional strategic decisions and replayability.
New enemies, towers, and boss encounters promise plenty of challenges, and two-player cooperative support allows friends to defend their island together, either locally or online. Its colorful presentation and familiar tower defense mechanics make it an appealing choice for anyone who enjoys a little strategy alongside their cozy gaming sessions.
7. Critter Rumble
A colorful world is waiting to be explored, and its inhabitants are an adorable collection of little monsters with big personalities and surprisingly impressive fighting abilities. Your adventure begins with just three creatures, each bringing its own special talents to the team. Before long, you’ll be facing rival monsters, recruiting new companions, and assembling an increasingly powerful collection of critters. Some might look too cute to cause any trouble, but appearances can be deceiving when a tiny monster has enough strength to flatten an entire opposing team.
Developed by Gaister Studios, Critter Rumble is a creature-collecting roguelite auto-battler where players build teams, experiment with ability combinations, and evolve their monsters into stronger versions. Combining three copies of the same creature creates an evolved monster that inherits their accumulated buffs, opening up opportunities for increasingly powerful strategies. Players also choose which opponents to fight, with defeated enemies becoming available to recruit into their own team. Boss encounters test how well your collection works together, while permanent upgrades provide additional progression between runs.
With its bright presentation and charming creatures, this could be an enjoyable discovery for players who love collecting monsters almost as much as watching them battle.
8. Scratch It! Lucky Cards
There’s something strangely satisfying about scratching away the silver coating of a lottery ticket, watching the symbols appear, and hoping the next reveal brings a lovely little surprise. In Scratch It! Lucky Cards, you can indulge that feeling without filling your pockets with discarded tickets or making an unnecessary trip to the store. Each card hides potential rewards, themed treasures, and the promise that the next scratch might reveal something even better.
Developed by Play365, Scratch It! Lucky Cards is a relaxing incremental game with roguelike and roguelite Steam tags, centered on revealing symbols, collecting prizes, and upgrading your chances of discovering valuable rewards. Players earn coins, unlock themed ticket collections, and progress through an expanding skill tree filled with improvements that make future scratches more rewarding. The simple controls and colorful pixel art create an accessible experience that emphasizes collecting and progression over combat or difficult reflex challenges.
Its free demo became available on September 28th, giving curious players an opportunity to discover whether scratching virtual tickets can become their next little obsession.
9. Just A Dice Game
A handful of dice, a quiet table, and a score target that doesn’t look too difficult to beat. Your first few rolls may seem simple enough, but the dice quickly begin behaving in ways that would make an ordinary board game enthusiast question the rules. Some freeze where they land, others explode into additional dice, and a few have the ability to transform a promising roll into something completely unexpected. The challenge is deciding which results to keep, which to reroll, and when to trust that the next throw will finally deliver the numbers you need.
Created by Ace High Arcade, Just A Dice Game is a relaxing dice-rolling roguelike where players collect unusual dice, purchase relics, and develop increasingly powerful combinations to overcome escalating score targets. Its physics-based dice engine makes each roll feel tactile, while different environments and special dice introduce effects that can dramatically alter your strategy. With more than 100 dice and power-ups planned, there’s plenty of room to experiment with unusual combinations and develop your own approach to scoring.
A laid-back chillhop soundtrack accompanies the action, making this an inviting option for players who enjoy thoughtful decisions, a little luck, and the satisfying sound of dice tumbling across a table.
10. Crack & Collect
If you love the satisfaction of breaking something open and discovering a reward hidden inside, Crack & Collect is the game for you. What begins as a small collection of rewards gradually becomes an exercise in figuring out how to make every new discovery contribute to something bigger.
Its collection-focused gameplay offers a lighter alternative to the combat-heavy roguelikes taking part in Steam Next Fest, appealing to players who enjoy experimenting with upgrades and watching their progress grow. The emphasis on repeated rewards and incremental improvement makes it a natural candidate for anyone who prefers chasing satisfying combinations over surviving dangerous dungeons. It’s one to investigate if your idea of a relaxing gaming session involves collecting treasures, discovering surprises, and steadily building toward a bigger payoff.
A Little Less Doom, a Lot More Bloom
There’s a lovely variety of ideas hiding behind the cheerful artwork and welcoming worlds of these games. You can spend one afternoon rebuilding Earth with a colony of space bees, another perfecting a complicated kebab recipe, and the next teaching a group of adventurers that their success depends entirely on your crafting skills.
Some offer genuinely relaxing experiences, while others simply dress their strategic challenges in brighter colors and friendlier characters. Either way, they’re a reminder that rogue games don’t always need to be dark, difficult, or filled with horrifying creatures to keep players coming back for another run.
Steam Next Fest runs from October 19-26, giving players a week to discover upcoming games and try the demos available during the event. If you’re looking for a change of pace between your more demanding adventures, these colorful little games are worth exploring.
Which cute or cozy rogue games have caught your attention during Steam Next Fest? Have you found another adorable demo we should know about? Let us know in the comments. We’re always happy to make room for a few more bees, critters, and questionable kebab ingredients on our wishlists!