Picked up Cult of the lamb on ps+ essentials catalogue and was struck by how much instant fun it is to play, I thought rouglikes were a genre that you had invest a few deaths in to start to enjoy and I thought Hades was the pinnacle of the genre or that what the Internet had me believe. I was sure Cult of the Lamb looked too simple for it's price point, I was wrong. This is very easily become my favourite in the genre already at only 4 and a bit hours of attempts. The simplistic design is what I think may be the cuase for this, it's just pure fun and dying truly doesn't feel like failure something Hades and dead cells get wrong after you've invested 45 minute and your build is going great only to be shot down by a stray projectile from a spastic enemy.

I can't say if this is my favourite yet but it's certain the most fun I've had with the genre and I'm only 4 or so hours in. I've not played rouge Legacy or rouge legacy 2 which I now assume will actually be fantastic and not the simple games they look to be. I get it now, the more you simplify this genres core the better and more addictive it it is. One more turn. Not to say this is a simple game, there's a lot going on, on the side, even a pretty cool story. Lots of stuff to keep you entertained between runs that I won't spoil, I'll just say it's a bit of a management sim also. 

Which is your favourite? I know I'll miss some in the poll. Give me a heads up and I'll update it with obvious suggestions. Looking forward to suggestion now my mind is open that there are possibly better titles out there than Hades and dead cells, my two go to evergreen rougelikes. 

Games I forgot in poll:

Outer wilds

Enter the Gungeon

Cryth of the necromancer 

Slay the spire

I've yet to play Vampire surbivors, that looks like a lot of fast fun now that I know what males the genre truly tick. Pure dopamine fuel. Couldn't get inscription to stick and Darkest Dungeon, while brilliant is somewhat unfairly punishing by design, punishing for the sake of it which drains some fun. I've got Spelinky on my switch by only booted it once, seemed really slow.

Rogue Legacy 1, Slay the Spire and for co-op Enter the Gungeon and Gunfire Reborn. Unfortunately Gunfire Reborn on PlayStation is stuck on an old version because the publisher won't return the rights to the devs or something.

I haven't played hardly any Roguelikes, but the one I've enjoyed the most is Mullet MadJack.

I'm hoping to try out Hades here in the near future though.

Cult of the Lamb is great! One of my favorites from 2022. I actually like the colony management aspect even more than the rogue-lite loop. And that music!

Some more nominees:

Shiren the Wanderer: The Mystery Dungeon of Serpentcoil Island. Challenging tactical gameplay, an interesting cast of characters and seemingly endless replay value.

Void Bastards. Great comic-book aesthetic, cool weapon designs, and an addictive gameplay loop.

The Binding Of Isaac: Afterbirth+

I'm really surprised by how fun it is, it does not look that fun. I didn't know going in that it has the whole town setup and got nicely surprised. Void bustards looks good, Indeed.

Hades is well made and really polished but it's slow and sluggish to keep any pace going. Really only a game you're gonna give on or two tries a session, it doesn't have an addicting approach that many others do, Dead cells for example.

The best game of this generation, Returnal (though I'm admittedly very partial to that Alien/Metroidesque abandoned sci-fi vibes).

Hades comes in a strong second, though.

Vampire Survivors. It's so ridiculously easy to just grab and play. Co-op on Nintendo Switch is a ton of fun as well.