Going Rogue

I have been travelling quite a bit lately, which has meant that I've being making do with a netbook computer. So in order to still get my gaming fix, I've been playing quite a bit of the roguelike games Ancient Domains of Mystery (ADOM) and Dungeons of Dredmor. Roguelike games are a subset of the roleplaying genre that usually use ASCII art, random dungeons, and permadeath (when a player's character dies they have to start the game again from the beginning with a new character).

Most roguelike games are quite simple and often feature only one dungeon and a randomly generated character. However, ADOM is much more complex; incorporating ten races, twenty classes, skills, talents, an overworld map linking multiple dungeons, towns, quests and an overarching story. Another interesting feature of ADOM is that it keeps track of the in game date and certain quests and the main plot depend on you achieving various feats by a certain time. The high level of complexity and the way that the different races and classes have a distinct feel, are what I consider to be ADOM's greatest strengths, since when you die and have to start over again it really doesn't feel like you are just replaying the same first hour each time.

Dungeons of Dredmor on the other hand is much simpler, with only one dungeon, one race, and thirty four skills (from which you pick seven at the start). There are also side quests but these are randomly generated and are very simple. Unlike ADOM and most other roguelikes, Dungeons of Dredmor uses real graphics instead of ASCII, although the art is limited in that your charcter looks the same regardless of what they are actually wearing. Another thing that sets Dungeons of Dredmor apart is its sense of humour, which is very European and involves movie references, eyebrow jokes, and lutefisk.

What appeals to me about roguelike games is that they take a very simple and basic concept and craft a challenging and sometimes deep experience from it. The permadeath feature adds tension to the game, since if you are not prepared and careful you will die; actually even if you are prepared and careful you will also sometimes die although cheap deaths are rare. Of the two games discussed here ADOM is my favourite, as the ASCII interface has allowed the game's designer, Thomas Biskup, to focus on plot and character advancement the complexity of which rivals and sometimes exceeds what is seen in AAA title RPG's. Dungeons of Dreadmor is still a good game that's worth a look, and it's point and click controls make it better suited for novice dungeoneers.