Zengeon Hack and slash through the darkness

You can take on the Dark Emptiness alone, but Zengeon is built for company: up to three friends can join online, and a full squad makes the hordes and bosses far more manageable. There is no in-game chat, so plan your callouts before you queue up, and note that a fallen student stays down, so keeping each other alive matters. One thing to know before you commit: if the host leaves, the whole group leaves with them. Sessions are short, a full run takes about an hour or two, which makes it an easy pick for a casual evening of shared demon-slaying.

You start with two of the six playable characters and unlock the rest as you go, each with their own attacks, skills and items. A melee brawler and a ranged fighter play nothing alike, and even the same character supports different tactics depending on what you pick up. Enemies come in mobs that force you to swap approaches: what works on a clustered group falls apart against spread-out ranged attackers. The cast wears it well too, with several detailed outfits per character beyond simple recolors. A controller is the way to play; the keyboard controls can be flaky.

Death resets your level and your picked-up items, that is the roguelite deal. What keeps you coming back is that each venture into the Blessed Land shuffles its stage layouts, enemy placements and item pick-ups, so no two attempts play out the same. Between runs you keep what matters: every character has unique story items that stay unlocked permanently once found, nudging each attempt a little further than the last. Runs are short enough that one more go is always tempting, and the bright, saturated art and lively skill effects make even a failed attempt a good-looking one.