8 Games You Won’t Believe Were Made in Roblox
There’s a very specific look that comes to mind when you think of Roblox. Big, blocky bodies with chunky, linebacker shoulders. Simplistic meshes and basic, flat lighting. That goofy smiley face.
Things don’t have to be that way, though. The Roblox team has gradually built the platform’s engine so that it secretly is capable of some incredible, modern gaming experiences. You won’t find them in any of the Roblox Experience charts. Here are 8 games you won’t believe were made in Roblox.
1. Scrapbook Saga
My first thought when I saw Faded-B’s Scrapbook Saga was, “How?!” This is the kind of game that can change how you see Roblox for good (and was the inspiration for this piece). While most of the other games on this list chase realism, Scrapbook Saga is dripping in style. Inspired by Paper Mario (I mean, look at it), it’s a turn-based JRPG that turns your avatar into a charming paper cutout off on a goofy adventure through a papercraft world.
The look and kooky humour steal the show here. From the silly animations to cardboard paper buildings, there isn’t anything on the Roblox store quite like it. Based on the few video snippets I’ve seen, Scrapbook Saga will be a full-on JRPG experience, with spells, quests, and timing-based attacks Ă la Paper Mario/Super Mario RPG/Sea of Stars. Oh, and the soundtrack absolutely slaps.
Unfortunately, the developer says the project is still in the very early stages of development, so we’re in for a wait. Give Faded-B a follow on social media if you want to keep tabs on Scrapbook Saga’s progress.
2. Prehistory
The now defunct PREHISTORY was one of the biggest dinosaur survival sims for years.
In PREHISTORY, players are dinosaurs in an expansive, open-world map with limited resources. Your dinosaur needs to eat and drink to stay alive, forcing you to fight (or work together) with other players to secure clean water and food. The type of dinosaur you chose had a big effect on gameplayâherbivores grazed on plants and bushes; carnivores ate other dinosaurs. Theoretically, you can stay out of the way and mind your business, but like any great online PvP game, the meat is in encounters with other players. Friend or foe? Hungry or not? Even the most docile of dinos can turn into a toothy menace if you get too close.
While not as polished as some of the other games mentioned here, for many players, PREHISTORY was the first game on the platform that didn’t look like Roblox. Instead of Roblox’s blocky models, PREHISTORY featured detailed dinosaurs and custom animations. Survival mechanics were also deeper and more meaningful than your typical Roblox fare. Beside the hunger and thirst meters mentioned earlier, you gained experience by staying alive, which let dinos level up and become more powerful.
3. Nexus
Nexus is a psychological horror ‘dimension FPS’ where you have one gun with one bullet. . Heavily inspired by Cyberpunk and its anime, Edgerunners, the game closely replicates the high-tech, low-life aesthetic of its source material.
The actual game draws more from Portal than Cyberpunk. You have one gun that holds only one bullet. Every time your bullet ricochets, it jumps between dimensions. You advance through the game’s stages by bouncing your bullet off of panels and enemy bots, hitting enemies and switches found in each dimension.
Perhaps the most impressive thing about Nexus is that it was made in only 10 days. Ortho Games submitted the first version of Nexus as part of the Roblox Connect 2023 challenge. Unsurprisingly, it won.
4. Beyond the Dark
Beyond the Dark is a visual showcase by Alpha Strike Group, which is comprised primarily of Roblox employees. After all, who better to show off Roblox’s engine than its own developers? Beyond the Dark utilises all the bells and whistles that your average Roblox developer doesn’t touch, with custom characters, modular stage layouts, layered clothing, and advanced sound design.
At first glance, you might think this was the next Mass Effect or Obsidian title. Beyond the Dark offers an immersive, atmospheric experience that blends horror and survival elements. You play a lone agent tasked with investigating a deep space relay station whose crew has disappeared.
The coolest part is the developers have uploaded a write-up explaining how they made Beyond the Dark in Roblox. The documentation is full of best practices and helpful tips on how to make something similar on your own. If you’re an aspiring game developer, it’s definitely worth a read!
5. The Canyon
The Canyon is more of a tech demo than an actual game, but it deserves a spot here because, well… look at it! If you showed this to a hundred gamers, I don’t think even one would guess it was made in Roblox.
There are a lot of racing games in Roblox, but The Canyon is far and beyond the most visually impressive. The more you look at The Canyon, the more incredible its details, from the careful use of lighting to the subtle fog that gives depth to scenes. Artblox_460 is a young artist on Twitter who specializes in ‘hyperrealistic environment development’ who created The Canyon as a solo ‘teaser’, hinting at a full game.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, that same attention to detail carries over to the actual mechanics. Weight, momentum, and overall handling really feel like you’re playing an arcade racer, even if it’s not the deepest racing experience.
6. Caramel
2D Roblox games are few and far between, but you’ve probably never seen a pixel-art Roblox game like Caramel. In development by solo developer Coyan, this cozy farming sim invites you to take things slow and touch (digital) grass. You’ll have to wait a bit for a full releaseâit’s still early in developmentâbut the snippets of gameplay available are promising.
Built as a sort of counter-action against ‘low effort slop games’ in Roblox, Coyan channels the best pixel-art farm sims, like Stardew Valley, Harvest Moon, and even Farmville. Clearly, this is no low-effort project. Cute and charming but with a professional polish, Caramel wouldn’t look out of place as a standalone indie game.
Multiplayer is also planned, so you’ll be able to sit back and hang in a server. ‘Vibe’ and ‘hangout’ games are already really popular, but they’re usually light on actual gameplay and visually similar. Caramel looks like it could be the ultimate online hangâwork the farm for a bit, then lean back and shoot the breeze with your pals. That sounds just like the urban escapist fantasy farming sims have always promised.
7. Hellreaver Arena
A boomer shooter in my Roblox? Generational sensibilities are clashing, and I’m all for it. The Roblox store is chock full of COD- and CS-likes; but first-person shooters like Hellreaver Arena are a rarity. Drawing from a nostalgia-inducing aesthetic of early 2000s shooters, it only takes a few seconds for you to forget this is Roblox.
As someone who came up playing the original Quake and Unreal, Hellreaver Arena is the blast from the past I needed. The speed, the agility, the responsiveness, the twitch-heavy shooter actionâit’s a shockingly accurate replication of the boomer shooter best, made for a platform that’s dominated by whippersnappers.
8. Riotfall
There are a few first-person Roblox shooters inspired by Call of Duty, but RIOTFALL by Rodeo Interactive is the most polished of the bunch. This looks and feels like a profession productionâdetailed models, tight mechanics, and fast-paced, gritty combat. It only takes a minute before you’re fully immersed and forget that this was made in Roblox.
This is a game that shines in its attention to the details. Weapons and movements have a satisfying heft to them rather than the ‘floatiness’ of most Roblox games have. That sense of weight and inertia is what gives RIOTFALL that military shooter authenticity.
In development since 2020, RIOTFALL has been recognised by the community on multiple occasions. In 2023, the project was nominated for the Best Use of Tech award at that year’s Roblox Innovation Awards.
