Nethack is basicly a Dungeons and Dragons™ game, it uses most of their rules with a few of it's own thrown in to make it a stunning game. Nethack is a 'infocom' game, what this means is that it uses keyboard characters and colors instead of graphics, therefor making the game allot larger and allot more involving. A Nethack screen would usually consist (although it's customizable) of a black background with rooms and corridores linking those rooms.

Ok, thats about the look of it (the @ being you), although the walls look allot better than that, I just couldn't find the characters to use here, but this gives you the general idea, the monsters class is represented by letters (i.e V are vampires,D's are Dragons etc, then each type of monster in that class are represented by a different color, i.e. a H's are Giant Class, a Orange H would be a Minotaur and a Blue V would be a Vampire Lord etc, you'll pick it up), items are represented by other characters (the ? is a scroll for instance and the * is a gem).

The stats at the bottom (taken from my saved game, I am near to completion with this game so the stats are very high) are as follows:

The version I have on here for you to download is, I think, the latest version of SLASH (super lotsa added stuff hack), it is a very advanced version of Nethack boasting hundreds of items and monsters and about 80 levels in all, the main part of the dungeon is always random, therefor no game will be the same, there are also many 'side' quests to keep you going too. It, in my opinion, the best game ever, all you need to do is give it a chance, read the instructions and be patient, you won't complete it staight away, hell I have only completed this version once, other versions I have completed in total about 5 times, so you can imagine how hard it is, but that is the point to it. The characters you can choose from are : Archeologist, Barbarian, Caveman, Doppelganger, Elf, Flame Mage, Gnome, Healer, Ice Mage, Knight, Lycanthrope, Monk, Necromancer, Priest, Rogue, Samurai, Tourist, Undead Slayer, Valkyrie or a Wizard. As you can see you get plenty of choice, each class starts with different items and have different skills (which is a big difference, like doppelgangers can shapechange and priests can turn undead). Also, each class has to complete a different quest and recieve a different artifact in aid to complete the game. What I am getting at it that even if you complete the game with a Barbarian that doesn't mean you can complete it with a Necromancer (which was my character) as a Barbarians tactics would be complete suicide for a Necromancer or Wizard. In short, get this game, it is simply awesome in it's involement.

Give me Nethack (or Slash) NOW !!

If you have any problems at all please feel free to E-Mail me.

  P.S. If you are lucky enough to get a wish (which you can get from a wand of wishing, a blessed magic lamp, a water demon from a fountain or by sitting on an opulent throne, never wish for a wand of wishing or a blessed magic lamp) then I suggest you wish for 'the blessed rustproof vorpal blade' (decapitates enemies with heads on a good hit). (although when you wish for a unique item like this there is a small chance you will get something cruddy instead like a longsword named vorpal bwade), other good items to wish for are: blessed grey dragon scale mail (or silver), blessed rustproof gauntlets of power, amulet of life saving, blessed rustproof helm of brilliance (or telepathy), blessed boots of speed or a blessed bag of holding. If you are a Samurai then don't wish for the Vorpal blade as their artifact from the quest is the Tsurugi of Murumassa (a two handed katana that slices enemies in half, by far the best weapon in the game).