Think what you will about Roblox, but PC players are still hooked on its hardcore soulslike RPG

With permadeath PVP, killer loot, and grotesque monsters at its core, Roblox Replay outlines Deepwoken as the preferred pick for PC players.

With Roblox doing absolutely silly numbers this year with games like Grow a Garden and, worryingly, Steal a Brainrot pulling tens of millions more concurrent players than almost any game in history, it's getting harder to suggest the platform is just a blip in the long history of gaming. Just as Minecraft kids are now young adults who still enjoy mining for virtual coal, those growing up with Roblox are likely to come back time and again as they age. And if the 2025 Roblox Replay is anything to go by, the proof is in the oof, as one of the best Roblox games around continues to dominate on PC.

Despite the aforementioned Roblox experiences both breaking the 20 million concurrent player mark this year, which is around 10x more than the platform's previous record, a breakdown of how Roblox players search for games has unearthed an interesting distinction in platform-based gameplay trends, with one of its best RPGs leading the way on PC.

Let's start with the basics. The most popular games differing on each platform doesn't come as much of a surprise. After all, little kids glued to bargain tablets and their parents' smartphones are bound to go for simpler games than those sitting at a desk with a store-bought PC. Games that play well with a mouse and keyboard don't always translate well to tiny touch devices.

With this year's Roblox Replay breaking down search terms by platform, we get to see this effect in all its glory. On phones and tablets, Roblox players were flocking to social roleplay games like Berry Avenue and Dress to Impress, or games with simple mechanics like Brainrot Evolution (oh dear) and various "escape" games. On console, where a controller allows for more complex gameplay, Sonic, sports, and even Five Nights at Freddie's homages performed well. And with good reason: Sonic Speed Simulator is an official Sonic game that's actually well worth a go.

But one look at the 'web' category shows a different story for our PC brethren. While 'anime' isn't a surprising search term given the wide variety of copyright-skirting Roblox titles that come and go each year, with Anime Vanguards, a tower defense title, being the biggest, the rather more specific 'RPG' term showing up is a sign of PC players having more traditional tastes. And if the top search term is any indication as to why they're looking for RPGs of the more adventurous variety, Deepwoken is it.

We've covered Deepwoken here before. In fact, I spent a good chunk of January diving deep into its world for that very reason. It's an award-winning hardcore RPG with around 1.5 billion plays. And given it launched as a paid game on the largely free-to-play platform years ago now, Deepwoken continuing to dominate the PC (Roblox) space is proof that my fellow keyboard connoisseurs can't get enough of punishing melee-action RPGs. And with permadeath being a major component of this one, I'm worried they're all a tad sadistic, too. Hey, are you guys alright?

I'll admit the stress of permadeath is a tad too much for me. Losing a good chunk of gear (and cash) in Runescape was about all my heart could handle back in the day, and a fun hardcore run in Diablo 4 is about all I can brave today. But crawling across some top-tier loot and praying to the Roblox gods you'll get to keep it for more than five minutes does have its charms. You learn with each defeat, and every loss only makes you more compelled to try harder the next time. Maybe one day you'll actually level up enough to use half the stuff you rob off another man's sorry corpse.

It's a complex game modeled on the modern soulslike with random cataclysmic world events and spontaneous wars forever keeping players on their toes. Not only are you venturing deep into the unknown to face menacing bosses, but you're always looking over your shoulder and steeling yourself for a fight that more often than not begins with a greedy player taking a blind chance on your skill.

If you want your heart beating as if you're working out while sat at your desk, Deepwoken is one of those games. And going off the 2025 Roblox Replay, it's the blocky game of choice for those partial to the often controversial user-generated content platform. Data shows search for Deepwoken is down around 30% this year, but that only makes it still being the top choice for PC punters that much more impressive.