It’s already been one of the busiest weeks of the year for roguelike fans. Ascend to ZERO has officially launched, KAZ has kicked off its competitive tournament, and creative releases like Runix: Pinball Roguelike have shown there’s no shortage of fresh ideas arriving on Steam.
And the week’s only just getting started.
Dead Weight, Fogpiercer, and Cheat Death have all been building momentum ahead of release. They’re joined by a lineup that ranges from psychological horror to tactical card battlers and everything in between.
Whether you’re looking for your next obsession or simply another excuse to grow an already impossible backlog, these are the upcoming rogue launches you won’t want to miss this week.
Welcome to The Game III | 16th July
Few horror games make simply opening a web browser feel dangerous. Welcome to the Game III returns to the dark web for another psychological descent into hidden websites, cryptic puzzles, and the constant feeling that someone is watching your every move. Like the previous games, survival depends as much on paying attention as it does on staying alive.
This time, players are dropped into another investigation where every clue uncovers something even more unsettling than the last. Exploring the internet, piecing together hidden information, and avoiding the threats lurking behind your screen all become part of the challenge.
While it isn’t a traditional roguelite, its procedural systems and unpredictable encounters mean no two investigations unfold in quite the same way. For players who enjoy horror that builds tension rather than relying on cheap jump scares, this could be one of the week’s most unsettling releases.
Dead Weight | 16th July
Dead Weight has been one of the most anticipated indie roguelites on our radar for quite some time, and it’s finally almost here. Rather than exploring dungeons or surviving endless arenas, you’ll captain a flying ship across a dangerous world, scavenging resources, recruiting a colourful crew, and keeping your vessel in one piece as you search for a cure to a mysterious fungal plague.
Every expedition becomes a balancing act between exploration, ship management, and frantic co-op combat. Up to four players can work together, combining different weapons and abilities while upgrading their airship between encounters.
Along the way you’ll uncover new equipment, recruit specialists, and gradually transform your ramshackle vessel into something capable of surviving the increasingly dangerous skies. Between its distinctive setting, cooperative focus, and satisfying progression, Dead Weight looks every bit like one of this week’s headline releases.
Hell Maiden | 16th July
Hell Maiden takes plenty of inspiration from Dante’s Divine Comedy, but it doesn’t let you spend long admiring the scenery. Instead, it throws players into a fast-paced horde survival roguelite where surviving Hell means carefully building a deck of weapons and abilities capable of standing up to increasingly overwhelming demonic armies.
Combat revolves around more than simply collecting upgrades. Every weapon and ability becomes part of a deck that can be reorganized and refined throughout a run, encouraging players to experiment with different combinations as they battle their way towards Heaven in search of redemption.
That mix of survivor-style action and deckbuilding gives Hell Maiden a slightly different setting from many games in the genre, rewarding clever build crafting just as much as staying alive. It’s an interesting combination, and one that’s already attracted plenty of attention ahead of its Early Access launch later this week.
Pathogenic | 16th July
In Pathogenic, you’re not trying to stop the outbreak, you’re causing it. The upcoming roguelike that we previously reported on back in early June, flips the usual survival formula on its head, putting you in control of a microscopic parasite fighting a desperate war against the human immune system. As you infect your host, you’ll rip organelles from defeated cells and graft them onto your own body, gradually evolving from a simple organism into something far more dangerous.
That evolution system sits at the heart of every run. Different organelles unlock new ways to move, attack, and survive, encouraging players to experiment with increasingly powerful combinations as they adapt to whatever the immune system throws at them. Combined with procedurally generated environments and optional local co-op, Pathogenic looks set to deliver one of the more unusual action roguelites launching this week.
Carded: Groups to Glory | 16th July
Football management games usually reward careful planning over the course of an entire season. CARDED: Groups to Glory condenses that journey into a roguelite where every decision could be the difference between an early exit and lifting the trophy.
You’ll choose a fictional nation, build your starting eleven, develop players, manage morale, and navigate the twists and turns of an international tournament, with every run creating a slightly different path to glory.
Between matches you’ll face tactical dilemmas, training decisions, card-based rewards, and unpredictable events that gradually shape both your squad and your campaign. Rather than simply managing a football team, you’re constantly adapting to whatever the tournament throws your way. It’s a clever combination of sports management and roguelite progression that feels refreshingly different from anything else arriving this week. If it had launched earlier in the year, it would have easily made it onto our top 10 sports rogue games roundup.
Cheat Death | 16th July
Death is usually the end of a roguelite run. In Cheat Death, it’s your opponent. The upcoming strategy roguelite transforms poker into a tense duel against the Grim Reaper, where every hand, every dice roll, and every decision determines whether you walk away with your soul intact.
Instead of building a traditional deck of cards, you’ll assemble increasingly powerful combinations of cursed dice, stack boons that bend the rules in your favour, and manipulate the odds before taking on deadly mini games where the stakes couldn’t be much higher.
The combination of poker strategy, roguelite progression, and psychological horror gives Cheat Death a very distinctive identity, and it’s easy to see why it’s become one of the week’s most anticipated releases.
Fogpiercer |17th July
Fogpiercer has become one of the most anticipated deckbuilders of the summer, and it’s not difficult to see why. Rather than battling across static arenas, every encounter unfolds aboard a heavily armed train racing through a frozen world swallowed by deadly fog. Your convoy isn’t simply how you travel, it’s the heart of your strategy, with carriage placement, positioning, and explosive chain reactions all playing a role in every battle.
Every run encourages experimentation. New cards, train upgrades, and relics gradually reshape your deck, while the constantly changing battlefield forces you to think about more than simply playing the strongest card in your hand.
With a demo already attracting plenty of attention during Steam Next Fest and a day-one PC Game Pass release alongside Steam, Fogpiercer looks well placed to become one of this week’s biggest launches.
Cult of Shadows | 18th July
If your ideal roguelite sits somewhere between Diablo and Vampire Survivors, Cult of Shadows may already be on your wishlist. Launching later this week, the action RPG drops players into the cursed land of Bel Noa, where cultists, eldritch creatures, and towering bosses stand between you and the truth hidden beneath the darkness.
Combat revolves around carving through enormous enemy hordes while steadily upgrading your character, enchanting weapons, and returning stronger after every defeat. Permanent progression sits alongside fast-paced hack-and-slash action, creating the familiar loop roguelite fans know so well while wrapping everything in a grim Lovecraftian-inspired world.
It rounds off what has already been one of the busiest weeks of the year for new rogue-like releases and gives action RPG fans one more reason to keep an eye on Steam before the weekend arrives.
A Week Worth Remembering
It’s not often we see a week quite as packed as this one. We’ve already welcomed major launches and there’s still plenty to look forward to before the weekend arrives.
Whether you’re planning to captain a flying ship in Dead Weight, battle through the frozen wasteland aboard Fogpiercer, or test your luck against the Grim Reaper in Cheat Death, the next few days offer a fantastic reminder of just how varied the roguelike genre has become.
Action games, deckbuilders, strategy titles, horror experiences, and a few ideas that defy easy categorization all sit side by side in one remarkably busy release schedule.
If you’ve been waiting for an excuse to grow your Steam wishlist a little further, this week has provided more than enough candidates. The only difficult part now is deciding which one you’ll be playing first.