Welcome to Free Rogue Friday, where every week we’re digging out a roguelike or roguelite you can play without spending a dime. First up is Realm of the Mad God Exalt, an MMO bullet hell where you can team up with other players, explore dungeons, collect better equipment, build up your character, and then lose them permanently because you didn’t move out of the way quickly enough.
Originally developed by Wild Shadow Studios and now run by DECA Games, Realm of the Mad God throws MMO progression, bullet hell combat, and roguelike permadeath into the same pixelated world. More than 14 years after its Steam release, it’s still being actively updated and currently holds a Very Positive rating from more than 32,000 English reviews.
Thousands of Bullets Are Better With Friends
You begin by choosing one of 18 character classes, with options ranging from the familiar Wizard, Rogue, and Knight to classes like the Necromancer, Trickster, Mystic, and Samurai. Then you’re dropped into the Realm alongside everybody else.
Enemies roam the world, events draw groups of players together, and dungeons lead off into their own increasingly dangerous encounters. Combat plays out in real time, with enemy projectiles filling the screen and leaving you to squeeze through whatever gaps you can find while firing back.
You don’t have to handle all of this alone. Other players can fight alongside you in real time, and groups regularly pile into dungeons and boss encounters together. Guilds give you a more permanent group to join, while different classes bring their own abilities to a fight.
Unfortunately, bringing 20 friends doesn’t make your character any less mortal.
Dead Means Dead, So Try Not to Do That
Permadeath is where Realm of the Mad God gets considerably more painful. If your character dies, they’re gone. The equipment they were carrying goes with them too, which makes every dangerous encounter a decision about how much you’re willing to risk. That shiny piece of gear you’ve been carrying around suddenly feels considerably more valuable when a screen full of projectiles is heading towards you.
Thankfully, you aren’t completely starting over.
Items stored safely in your Vault survive, pets can be developed over time, and your wider account progression gives you plenty to work towards across multiple characters. Unlocking the game’s classes also gives you different ways to approach your next attempt. You’ll probably need one eventually.
Fourteen Years Later, the Mad God Is Still Busy
There’s an enormous amount of Realm of the Mad God to dig into at this point. Years of updates have added dungeons, equipment, enemies, events, seasonal content, pets, Exaltations, enchantments, and plenty more to the original game. DECA is still adding to that pile in 2026, with Season 30: Retrowinds arriving in August with seasonal missions, rotating dungeon events, new equipment, Wind Vortex encounters, and a major rework for the Mystic class.
That longevity also makes it an interesting starting point for Free Rogue Friday. Realm of the Mad God Exalt isn’t a small free game you can finish in an afternoon. It’s a fully fledged MMO that’s been around for more than a decade, has 18 classes to try, an enormous collection of loot to chase, and a community that’s still heading into its dungeons today.
You can play the entire thing for free on Steam.