Fighting games are insanely popular. Roguelikes are also quite popular. Yet the two genres haven’t merged together. Sure, we’ve seen some elements appear sometimes in major fighting games, but PolyFighter isn’t interested in just flirting with the idea of combining the two genres. This is a true-blue roguelike that plays just like a fighting game and immediately won me over at PAX East 2026.
I’m shocked that it’s taken so long for this to happen, and it’s something that developer HeartLoop Games agrees with. “We’ve been playing fighting games, but the offering is always focused on versus. As we were looking into it, we found that most players actually play single-player, but the vocal amount of players are versus,” Yan-Simon Martel Lussier, Game Designer for PolyFighter at HeartLoop Games, told me. “So we tried to see if there was an offering, but most of the offerings are like arcade mode.”
So how did a roguelike fighting game come to fruition? It’s quite simple, actually. “We wanted to have something that changes every time. So we went into versus with randomly generated characters, but the muscle memory was very hard. Yeah, and we just like to play a lot of roadlikes, and then we were like, ‘Why don’t we just try it, right? Try the formula,’ and it ended up being very fun.”
PolyFighter seamlessly blends together fighting games and roguelikes, and I don’t know why other games haven’t done this before
The decision to place a fighting game into a roguelike environment is, unsurprisingly, a match made in heaven. Each character is set up with their own fighting style, though some will certainly feel familiar. As you defeat opponents throughout your run, you’ll obtain new abilities that improve your character. Sometimes, this pairs well with your fighter’s starting characteristics. Other times, it’ll open up new builds to fine-tune and tweak your character as you see fit.
As you can imagine, in typical roguelike fashion, the possibilities are endless. It’s an excellent way to add replayability to the genre without relying on multiplayer.
Fighting games have always rewarded practice, and the ability to constantly throw the player curveballs in a roguelike is a natural fit. Best of all, PolyFighter is being developed as a roguelike first and foremost, which means this doesn’t feel tacked on.
Best of all, PolyFighter does an excellent job of leaning into what makes fighting games and roguelikes great. There’s something incredibly satisfying about working your way up from the bottom and slowly becoming overpowered. Best of all, enemy fighters will keep pace with you, keeping you challenged the entire time. Unsurprisingly, you’ll see characters with movesets from Sub-Zero and Scorpion. Yan also mentioned inspiration from Marvel vs. Capcom and Bloody Roar to help design their characters.
PolyFighter is a game you’ll need to keep on your radar. Its gameplay represents everything we know and love about fighting games, and the decision to set it in a roguelike environment is a match made in heaven. Put this one on your wishlist now; you won’t regret it.
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