NetHack

RPG 1987 Dos devteam@nethack.org Fantasy Dungeons and Dragons

One of the best randomly generated top down dungeon crawler ever

NetHack uses randomness in smart ways, to create always exciting adventures for you. The game steals many of its ideas from Rogue, from the myriad of top down dungeon crawlers out there, but, what it does really great is know how to use randomness smartly, to create spaces that look almost as if they've been created by an author. This is achieved, or rather, has come to be achieved by the game being tweaked and worked to perfection through multiple iterations, each one tacking a certain issue or imbalance in the game. Nonetheless, you are still faced, at times with campaigns/games that are harder, at times immediately sentencing you to a reload. But you know what? This is the spirit of roguelikes, and that element of danger and unknown works magic for this game, makes it so much more enticing and interesting. The game allows you to play as a barbarian, a rogue, a knight, a wizard and a priest, and each class starts out with its own perks and abilities, furthermore adding value and diversity to the game. Sure enough, visually, this will be a love it or hate it kind of game, as it's all about black and white graphics, but the style, minimalist is really well suiting the experience. Play it, rarely any other top downers from the era were as good as this one. Maybe some of the Ultima games, but remember, these were authored from start to finished not produced randomly!

Games related to NetHack