Articles Dead Cells

The soulslike genre owes its existence to Demon's Souls, released by FromSoftware in 2009. A PlayStation exclusive, it first earned a cult following among hardcore players in its homeland of Japan. From its core mechanics, FromSoftware's lead designer Hidetaka Miyazaki built a new game — Dark Souls — which launched a series that became iconic the world over. Soon the "soulslikes" started arriving: games that copy the Dark Souls formula of success. An entire genre was born, built on the hallmarks of Dark Souls — punishing difficulty, "bonfires" (checkpoints for saving and leveling up), enemies that respawn on a location once you die, collecting experience ("souls"), stamina management in combat, fragmentary storytelling, and — most importantly — gruelling boss fights that force you to learn every move set.

The best roguelikes on PC, PS5, Xbox, and Nintendo Switch — we have put together a top 35 list of roguelike and roguelite games of every kind, from genre classics to hits like Hades, Balatro, and Vampire Survivors. A roguelike is easy to recognize by two key features: the levels are generated anew each time, and after death you have to start over. It sounds harsh, but that is exactly what creates the “one more run” effect that makes players fall in love with the genre. Roguelikes are thriving right now — there are so many interesting and unusual releases like Balatro or Vampire Survivors that everyone can find something to suit their tastes.

Metroidvanias are one of those genres where world exploration matters just as much as combat. The best games in the spirit of Metroid and Castlevania gradually reveal the map, hide new abilities behind locked passages, and constantly push you to return to familiar locations to find secrets, bosses, and optional challenges. In this list, we have collected the best metroidvanias on PC, consoles, and handheld platforms — from acknowledged classics to modern indie hits.

The most optimized PC games: a selection of hits that run great even on weak and mid-range hardware — with graphics settings for maximum FPS. Good optimization isn't just a post-release patch or an upscaler slapped on top of a messy render. It's the result of working with the engine: when a game runs equally smoothly on a top-end RTX 5090 and a modest three-year-old GTX 1660 Super. Only such projects made it into this list.

Handheld PCs like Steam Deck and ASUS ROG Ally are rapidly gaining popularity, but in 2026 more and more games refuse to run well on them without serious graphical compromises. For example, the recent The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion Remastered and Doom: The Dark Ages leave a lot to be desired even on the powerful Asus ROG Ally X, let alone the weaker Steam Deck or the standard ROG Ally. That is why we decided to prepare a selection of the best games for modern handheld PCs — projects that do not force players to seriously sacrifice visual quality for optimal performance.

If you are tired of overly forgiving games where it is almost impossible to fail, this article is for you. We have put together some of the hardest games across different genres — from soulslikes and hardcore action titles to punishing survival games, roguelikes, platformers, tactical strategies, and puzzle games that truly test your reflexes, patience, attentiveness, and ability to stay calm under pressure.