In this blog post, we’ll take a step-by-step look at Nethack’s history, its text-based graphics, high level of freedom, and brutal difficulty, as well as some simple tips to help beginners get started right away.

Overview

Nethack, released in 1987, is one of the representative titles of the early roguelike genre. Although it came out later than its predecessor, Rogue, it is certainly worthy of being called a classic masterpiece. The game’s setting and design have influenced many subsequent works; in fact, one game developer even mentioned in an interview that specific weapon settings were inspired by Nethack. It is said that various subsequent games—including Diablo, Lineage, Mabinogi, World of Warcraft, and League of Legends—have drawn partial inspiration from it.

Graphics and Interface

NetHack primarily uses text-based graphics composed of ASCII characters. Unlike modern games, you can’t expect flashy visuals or cinematic effects from the start; instead, players must interpret and visualize the various symbols and characters displayed on the screen. While its appearance might elicit laughter as “crap graphics,” this simple style actually serves as a catalyst for imagination and strategy.

Gameplay: Freedom and Difficulty

The core of NetHack lies in its high-quality gameplay, extreme freedom, and brutally high difficulty. The basic goal is to explore unknown dungeons, level up your character, and survive while encountering various monsters, traps, and mysterious items—yet at any moment, the game can end abruptly for completely unexpected reasons. This “uncertainty” and the variety of variables provide players with intense tension and a highly addictive experience.
From a game design perspective, the level structure, monster placement, and class differentiation are exceptionally well-crafted, so even in the same situation, gameplay unfolds completely differently depending on the chosen class or approach. In the author’s experience, reaching the ending was extremely difficult, and the difficulty is so high that even leveling up past level 10 is no easy feat. Because of this, it may hold less appeal for players who prioritize graphics, but for those who enjoy strategy and experimentation, it can be the ultimate experience.

Play Experience and Advantages

NetHack is best described not as a “game for the eyes” but as a “game for the mind.” Instead of flashy graphics, it requires imagination and situational judgment that unfold in your mind, and despite its small file size, it contains content that defies imagination. Some people find it highly addictive due to the combination of its simple interface and complex rules.
Additionally, because the game is so old and uses simple graphics, it has been ported to various platforms, and in the past, people even played it on devices like PDAs. There are also stories of players falling under the game’s spell the moment they get the hang of the control keys through repeated play.

Getting Started: A Quick Guide (Let’s Play)

If you want to try NetHack yourself, I recommend jumping right in without hesitation. At first, the text on the screen may seem completely incomprehensible, but once you learn the basic controls and the meaning of the symbols, the game opens up. Try to understand rules like permadeath (strict rules regarding item and status management and the consequences of death), and slowly learn the characteristics of each class, equipment, and the identification system.
For beginners, it’s better to make multiple attempts and pick up small details one by one (such as avoiding traps, identifying items, and monster weaknesses) rather than diving too deep all at once. If you’re eager to start playing right away, I recommend skipping the rest of this article and jumping straight to the “Let’s Play” section to get hands-on experience.

Story

Nethack’s overall plot is a patchwork of various myths and legends, so the terminology and background may be unfamiliar. Simply put, the core objective is the Amulet of Yendor—a talisman said to be particularly powerful among the artifacts created by the creator god Marduk.
Moloch, another god who coveted Marduk’s amulet, succeeded in stealing it and hid it in the Valley of the Dead within the deep dungeon known as the Mazes of Menace. Players start as an emissary of Marduk or one of the gods under his command, and must retrieve the amulet, ascend to the Astral Plane, and offer it at the altar of the god they worship.
Once the amulet is offered at the altar, the god is pleased and grants the player ascension. This process and the game’s lore blend various mythological elements with humorous parodies, leading parody websites to quote in-game text—messages related to death are often presented in a humorous manner.

High Gameplay Quality and Extreme Freedom

Games with excellent gameplay tend to be highly addictive, and Nethack is no exception. However, the barrier to entry is very high, making it difficult for beginners to judge the game after just an hour of play. Therefore, explaining the key elements of fun using screenshots or examples will help with understanding.
The fun of Nethack stems from various expressive techniques that are realistic yet stimulate the player’s imagination. For example, a scroll whose nature is already known can be torn up and used (described in-game as simply having that effect), or the corpse of a monster like a cockatrice—which turns you to stone upon contact—can be wielded while wearing gloves. These examples demonstrate how real-world constraints are resolved through gameplay mechanics.
In Nethack, where items are randomly generated, identifying (ID) them is crucial. It is common to use creative methods, such as gauging safety by observing a monster using a cursed item, or drawing a line on the ground to test a wand’s effect (Engrave ID).
The representation of vision also emphasizes realism. In dark areas, only the visible range is clearly shown, and for areas not illuminated by light, players must essentially rely on memory. Consequently, if a mind flayer steals your intellect, you’ll experience the loss of vision and memory firsthand—whether through that part of your vision vanishing or experiencing déjà vu.
The game is also tied to real-world time elements. Undead become stronger around midnight, and while a full moon brings good luck, Friday the 13th brings bad luck. These elements influence every small strategic decision.
For more experienced players, there is a challenge mode called “Conduct.” This artificially increases the difficulty by restricting specific actions. Examples include the Pacifist, who does not kill monsters directly; the Zen, who starts and ends the game blindfolded; the Illiterate, who does not read or write; and the Atheist, who refrains from any actions related to deities.
Conducts are merely additional rules for hardcore players; most people adjust the difficulty through their class (roles). The classes considered most difficult to ascend are the Priest and Healer, while relatively easier ones include the Valkyrie and Samurai. Traditionally, players can choose from about 13 classes to experiment with various playstyles.
Nethack’s unique freedom allows for virtually any combination imaginable. You can rebel against a god or ask for help through prayer (the #pray command is very useful when used appropriately), and if you’re not satisfied, you can simply switch to another god.
You can offer sacrifices to gain artifacts, resistances, or protection, and in shops, you can steal items or kill the shopkeeper to loot them. However, if your alignment is not chaotic, you may face severe penalties (such as reduced luck or damaged stats).
You can lure monsters to train them as pets to fetch items for you, or use the town’s buildings, shops, and residents to lay waste to an entire village. Unconventional behaviors, such as interacting with Incubuses and Succubuses, are also permitted.
A genie from a lamp or a water demon from a well may grant your wishes; you can break through walls with a pickaxe or a wand of digging; and there are many tricks involving the wand of polymorph to transform objects into something else. You can even wipe out an entire race with a blessed scroll of genocide.
With so many possible combinations of actions, it’s quicker to ask, “What can’t you do?” However, not every trick works; for example, “real cheats” like using a wand of wishing to wish for another wand of wishing are blocked.

Extremely High Difficulty

High freedom of choice also means there are many ways to die. While death in most RPGs tends to occur during combat, the ways beginners die in Nethack are far more diverse and bizarre. Even after mastering just the basic controls, beginners can die multiple times at intervals of 1 to 10 minutes.
Examples of deaths commonly experienced by beginners include the following. Even a slight lapse in caution or concentration can lead to dying multiple times from the same cause.
Starvation: It is common to choke to death while eating.
Death from food poisoning or toxic food.
Death by lightning struck down by the wrath of the gods.
Instant death from being kicked by a horse’s hind legs while riding, or fatal accidents caused by using dangerous items (e.g., a noose).
Being killed by a shopkeeper after kicking in the shop door.
Dying while wandering around blind and fighting a guard, or being killed by a priest after converting to another temple.
Drowning after a swarm of water snakes emerges while drinking from a well, or being dragged away and drowned by a giant eel.
Accidental death: Zapping a wand at random, only to be killed by a ray or beam attack that bounces off a wall.
Being petrified and killed by making eye contact with Medusa.
Beyond these, death comes in countless other ways, some of them downright absurd. In this game, dying means the game is over (a classic permadeath rule where save files are deleted upon loading).
While other games like Diablo also have hardcore modes, death in Nethack is particularly stressful because it wipes out all your time and effort in an instant. Keeping separate save files to avoid death is considered cheating and is strictly prohibited.
To minimize pointless deaths, study and research are essential. Unless you enjoy the process of analyzing and figuring out many elements on your own, it’s wise to accept a few spoilers and consult resources like the Nethack Wiki. However, the sense of accomplishment you feel when you achieve a single ascension after countless deaths—all without any outside help—is indescribable.

Playing Online

The advantage of online mode is that, while it doesn’t support cooperative play in the form of partying up with others, it offers the joy of encountering items left behind by other players who have died or their ghosts. It’s easy to compare your ascension or death records with other users without needing personal gameplay videos or long logs, and features like spectating and messaging make it great for enjoying both competition and communication.
Overseas, a community called Devnull hosts an annual Halloween week tournament. Since there aren’t many participants, it’s relatively easy to become a national representative, so I recommend entering with friends to create lasting memories. The public server I frequently use to warm up is nethack.upnl.org, which you can access using a terminal program like PuTTY.
It’s simple to use—just download the PuTTY program compatible with your operating system (enter nethack.upnl.org as the hostname) and connect. The default login credentials are nethack for the username and Elbereth for the password.

Offline: Download and Recording Tools

To play offline, simply download the client and play locally. A well-made tool available recently is Roguelike Studio; this tool has excellent recording, replay, and compression capabilities, making it useful for recording tutorials or analyzing replays.
You can download this tool and the NetHack client from repositories like nethack.byus.net, so please refer to them if you need to play locally or record.

Spoiler Sites and Communities

Spoiler-containing materials such as play tips, item information, and walkthroughs can be found on various communities and wikis. For example, nethack.egloos.com and the NetHack Wiki (nethack.wikia.com) offer a wealth of useful information for both beginners and experts.
Additionally, the public server (nethack.upnl.org) supports chat, allowing you to interact with other users or check rankings, similar to the #nethack channel on IRC. Maps and manuals can be conveniently accessed at sites like nethack.byus.net/manual. Advanced information useful for delving deeper into the game, such as EngraveID and PriceID, is also compiled in various resources.