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See, that’s what the app is perfect for.

Sounds perfect Wahhhh, I don’t wanna

I’ve been poking around at the NetHack types of adventure games, where everything is randomised - including you.

NetHack is deep: in your first game, you will die quickly, and come back worrying about how to survive. You will learn, eventually, and move onto higher concerns. You will stop worrying about your score, and start considering questions of optimality, efficiency, and elegance. You will consult tables and guides in search of an edge because everyone knows the best way to have fun in a game is to take 20 until you beat an impossible DC, rather than try to actually succeed at something hard yet possible. You may dive into the very source code, looking to explain that one-in-a-thousand shot you just pulled off. You will probably learn some C, and possibly get into heated debates about the merits of pseudorandom number generators, expected returns, inconsistencies between competing mythologies, and the ethics of exploiting bugs.

Hack Slash Crawl is less complex - it’s a game where you score points (mana pearls) by exploring a randomly generated isometric maze and killing enemies. Just point and click to move, fight, collect, and pick and choose which bits you’ll keep for later and which bits are going to be sold for profit (and high scores.)

There are some problems. For instance, if you have a ring which gives you a healing spell, armor that gives you a healing spell, and a helmet that gives you a healing spell, you’ll find three of your spell slots are filled with healing spells. That’s a bit annoying. Also, the enemies are never identified; there doesn’t appear to be a bestiary telling you what you’re fighting or about to fight.

At the same time, it’s a nice bit of fun, letting you fret over whether or not to simply charge in, or try to draw out the enemies one by one, or maybe sneak around them. Also, in the times I played, the mazes were always logically designed - no dead end corridors, and every monster waits patiently in a room - until you get too close.

If NetHack variants scare you, Hack Slash Crawl is a stripped-down no-frills version that will probably appeal.

games flash NetHack Rogue-like Armor Games