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NetHack
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NetHack
DeveloperThe NetHack DevTeam
Initial release1.3d / 28 July 1987; 38 years ago (1987-07-28)[1]
Stable release
3.6.7[2][3] Edit this on Wikidata / 16 February 2023; 2 years ago (16 February 2023)
Repository
Operating systemWindows, Linux, Mac OS X, Windows CE, OS/2, *BSD, System V, Solaris, HP-UX, BeOS, VMS, Haiku[4][5]
TypeRoguelike
LicenseNetHack General Public License (derivative of BISON general public license, a precursor to the GPL)
Websitewww.nethack.org Edit this on Wikidata

NetHack is an open source single-player roguelike video game, first released in 1987 and maintained by the NetHack DevTeam. The game is a fork of the 1984 game Hack, itself inspired by the 1980 game Rogue. The player takes the role of one of several pre-defined character classes to descend through multiple dungeon floors, fighting monsters and collecting treasure, to recover the "Amulet of Yendor" at the lowest floor and then escape.[6][7]

As an exemplar of the traditional "roguelike" game, NetHack features turn-based, grid-based hack and slash and dungeon crawling gameplay, procedurally generated dungeons and treasure, and permadeath, requiring the player to restart the game anew should the player character die. The game uses simple ASCII graphics by default so as to display readily on a wide variety of computer displays, but can use curses with box-drawing characters, as well as substitute graphical tilesets on machines with graphics. While Rogue, Hack and other earlier roguelikes stayed true to a high fantasy setting, NetHack introduced humorous and anachronistic elements over time, including popular cultural reference to works such as Discworld and Raiders of the Lost Ark.

It is identified as one of the "major roguelikes" by John Harris.[8] Comparing it with Rogue, Engadget's Justin Olivetti wrote that it took its exploration aspect and "made it far richer with an encyclopedia of objects, a larger vocabulary, a wealth of pop culture mentions, and a puzzler's attitude."[9] In 2000, Salon described it as "one of the finest gaming experiences the computing world has to offer".[10]

Gameplay

[edit]

Before starting a game, players choose their character's race, role, sex, and alignment, or allow the game to assign the attributes randomly. There are traditional fantasy roles such as knight, wizard, rogue, and priest; but there are also unusual roles, including archaeologist, tourist, and caveman.[11] The player character's role and alignment dictate which deity the character serves and is supported by in the game, "how other monsters react toward you", as well as character skills and attributes.[12]

After the player character is created, the main objective is introduced. To win the game, the player must retrieve the Amulet of Yendor, found at the lowest level of the dungeon, and offer it to their deity. Successful completion of this task rewards the player with the gift of immortality, and the player is said to "ascend", attaining the status of demigod. Along the path to the amulet, a number of sub-quests must be completed, including one class-specific quest.

There are three major antagonists in NetHack: the Luciferesque god Moloch, who stole the Amulet of Yendor from the creator god Marduk; the high priest (or priestess) of Moloch, who holds the Amulet of Yendor; and the most prominent antagonist, the Wizard of Yendor, who will stalk the player throughout the rest of the game after the first encounter by resurrecting and attacking them periodically. The game's final bosses in the Astral Plane are the Riders: three of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, Death, Famine and Pestilence. It is often proposed that the player character represents the fourth horseman, War.[citation needed]

The player's character is, unless they opt not to be, accompanied by a pet animal, typically a kitten or little dog, although knights begin with a saddled pony.[13] Pets grow from fighting, and they can be changed by various means. Most of the other monsters may also be tamed using magic or food.

Dungeon levels

[edit]

NetHack's dungeon spans about fifty primary levels, most of which are procedurally generated when the player character enters them for the first time. A typical level contains a way "up" and "down" to other levels. These may be stairways, ladders, trapdoors, etc. Levels also contain several "rooms" joined by corridors. These rooms are randomly generated rectangles (as opposed to the linear corridors) and may contain features such as altars, shops, fountains, traps, thrones, pools of water, and sinks based on the randomly generated features of the room. Some specific levels follow one of many fixed designs or contain fixed elements. Later versions of the game added special branches of dungeon levels. These are optional routes that may feature more challenging monsters but can reward more desirable treasure to complete the main dungeon. Levels, once generated, persist throughout a single game, in contrast to the non-persistent levels in Moria-style games.[14]

Items and tools

[edit]
A player's inventory

NetHack features a variety of items: weapons (melee or ranged), armor to protect the player, scrolls and spellbooks to read, potions to quaff, wands, rings, amulets, and an assortment of tools, such as keys and lamps.[15]

NetHack's identification of items is almost identical to Rogue's. For example, a newly discovered potion may be referred to as a "pink potion" with no other clues as to its identity. Players can perform a variety of actions and tricks to deduce, or at least narrow down, the identity of the potion.[16] The most obvious is the somewhat risky tactic of simply drinking it. All items of a certain type will have the same description. For instance, all "scrolls of enchant weapon" may be labeled "TEMOV", and once one has been identified, all "scrolls of enchant weapon" found later will be labeled unambiguously as such. Starting a new game will scramble the items' descriptions again, so the "silver ring" that is a "ring of levitation" in one game might be a "ring of hunger" in another.

Blessings and curses

[edit]

As in many other roguelike games, all items in NetHack are either "blessed", "uncursed", or "cursed".[17] The majority of items are found uncursed, but the blessed or cursed status of an item is unknown until it is identified or detected through other means. Such statuses can be changed (blessed to uncursed, uncursed to cursed, and vice versa) depending on player interaction.

Generally, a blessed item will be more powerful than an uncursed item, and a cursed item will be less powerful, with the added disadvantage that once it has been equipped by the player, it cannot be easily unequipped. Where an object would bestow an effect upon the character, a curse will generally make the effect harmful, or increase the amount of harm done. However, there are very specific exceptions. For example, drinking a cursed "potion of gain level" will make the character literally rise through the ceiling to the level above, instead of gaining an experience level.

Character death

[edit]

As in other roguelike games, NetHack features permadeath: expired characters cannot be revived.

Although NetHack can be completed without any artificial limitations, experienced players can attempt "conducts" for an additional challenge.[18] These are voluntary restrictions on actions taken, such as using no wishes, following a vegetarian or vegan diet, or even killing no monsters. While conducts are generally tracked by the game and are displayed at death or ascension, unofficial conducts are practiced within the community.

When a player dies, the cause of death and score is created and added to the list where the player's character is ranked against other previous characters.[19] The prompt "Do you want your possessions identified?" is given by default at the end of any game, allowing the player to learn any unknown properties of the items in their inventory at death. The player's attributes (such as resistances, luck, and others), conduct (usually self-imposed challenges, such as playing as an atheist or a vegetarian), and a tally of creatures killed, may also be displayed.

The game sporadically saves a level on which a character has died and then integrates that level into a later game. This is done via "bones files", which are saved on the computer hosting the game. A player using a publicly hosted copy of the game can thus encounter the remains and possessions of many other players, although many of these possessions may have become cursed.[20]

Because of the numerous ways that a player-character could die between a combination of their own actions as well as from reactions from the game's interacting systems, players frequently refer to untimely deaths as "Yet Another Stupid Death" (YASD). Such deaths are considered part of learning to play NetHack as to avoid conditions where the same death may happen again.[14]

NetHack does allow players to save the game so that one does not have to complete the game in one session, but on opening a new game, the previous save file is subsequently wiped as to enforce the permadeath option. One option some players use is to make a backup copy of the save game file before playing a game, and, should their character die, restoring from the copied version, a practice known as "save scumming". Additionally, players can also manipulate the "bones files" in a manner not intended by the developers. While these help the player to learn the game and get around limits of permadeath, both are considered forms of cheating the game.[21]

Culture around spoilers

[edit]

NetHack is largely based on discovering secrets and tricks during gameplay. It can take years for one to become well-versed in them, and even experienced players routinely discover new ones.[22] A number of NetHack fan sites and discussion forums offer lists of game secrets known as "spoilers".[23]

Interface

[edit]

NetHack was originally created with only a simple ASCII text-based user interface, although the option to use something more elaborate was added later in its development. Interface elements such as the environment, entities, and objects are represented by arrangements of ASCII or Extended ASCII glyphs, "DECgraphics", or "IBMgraphics" mode. In addition to the environment, the interface also displays character and situational information.

A detailed example: 

You see here a silver ring.
                                            ------------
                                          ##....._.....|
                                            |...........#          ------
                                           #...........|           |....|
                       ---------------   ###------------           |...(|
                       |..%...........|##########               ###-@...|
                       |...%...........###    #                 ## |....|
                       +.......<......|       ###              ### |..!.|
                       ---------------          #              #   ------
                                                ###          ###
                                                  #          #
                                               ---.-----   ###
                                               |.......|   #
                                               |........####
                                               |.......|
                                               |.......|
                                               ---------
  Hacker the Conjurer            St:11 Dx:13 Co:12 In:11 Wi:18 Ch:11  Neutral
  Dlvl:3  $:120 HP:39(41) Pw:36(36) AC:6  Exp:5 T:1073

The player (the '@' sign, a wizard in this case) has entered the level via the stairs (the '<' sign) and killed a few monsters, leaving their corpses (the '%' signs) behind. Exploring, the player has uncovered three rooms joined by corridors (the '#' signs): one with an altar (the '_' sign), another empty, and the final one (that the player is currently in) containing a potion (the '!' sign) and chest (the '(' sign). The player has just moved onto a square containing a silver ring. Parts of the level are still unexplored (probably accessible through the door to the west (the '+' sign)) and the player has yet to find the downstairs (a '>' sign) to the next level.

Apart from the original termcap interface shown above, there are other interfaces that replace standard screen representations with two-dimensional images, or tiles, collectively known as "tiles mode". Graphic interfaces of this kind have been successfully implemented on the Amiga, the X Window System, the Microsoft Windows GUI, the Qt toolkit, and the GNOME libraries.

Enhanced graphical options also exist, such as the isometric perspective of Falcon's Eye and Vulture's Eye, or the three-dimensional rendering that noegnud offers. Vulture's Eye is a fork of the now defunct Falcon's Eye project. Vulture's Eye adds additional graphics, sounds, bug fixes and performance enhancements and is under active development in an open collaborative environment.

  • NetHack for Microsoft Windows in "tiles mode"
    NetHack for Microsoft Windows in "tiles mode"
  • Vulture's Eye offers an isometric perspective.
    Vulture's Eye offers an isometric perspective.
  • NetHack on OPENSTEP/NeXTSTEP
    NetHack on OPENSTEP/NeXTSTEP

History and development

[edit]

Major NetHack releases
1987v1.3d (First public release)
v2.2a
1988
1989v3.0.0
1990
1991
1992
1993v3.1.0
1994
1995
1996v3.2.0
1997
1998
1999v3.3.0
2000
2001
2002v3.4.0
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
2012
2013
2014
2015v3.6.0
2016
2017
2018
2019
2020
2021
2022
2023
2024
2025

NetHack is a software derivative of Hack, which itself was inspired by Rogue. Hack was created by students Jay Fenlason, Kenny Woodland, Mike Thome, and Jonathan Payne at Lincoln-Sudbury Regional High School as part of a computer class, after seeing and playing Rogue at the University of California, Berkeley computer labs.[24] The group had tried to get the source code of Rogue from Glenn Wichman and Michael Toy to build upon, but Wichman and Toy had refused, forcing the students to build the dungeon-creation routines on their own. As such, the game was named Hack in part for the hack-and-slash gameplay and that the code to generate the dungeons was considered a programming hack.[24] After their classes ended, the students' work on the program also ended, though they had a working game. Fenlason provided the source code to a local USENIX conference, and eventually it was uploaded to USENET newsgroups. The code drew the attention of many players who started working to modify and improve the game as well as port it to other computer systems.[24] Hack did not have any formal maintainer and while one person was generally recognized to hold the main code to the current version of Hack, many software forks emerged from the unorganized development of the game.[24]

Eventually, Mike Stephenson took on the role as maintainer of the Hack source code. At this point, he decided to create a new fork of the game, bringing in novel ideas from Izchak Miller, a philosophy professor at University of Pennsylvania, and Janet Walz, another computer hacker. They called themselves the DevTeam and renamed their branch NetHack since their collaboration work was done over the Internet.[25] They expanded the bestiary and other objects in the game, and drew from other sources outside of the high fantasy setting, such as from Discworld with the introduction of the tourist character class.[26] Knowing of the multiple forks of Hack that existed, the DevTeam established a principle that while the game was open source and anyone could create a fork as a new project, only a few select members in the DevTeam could make modifications to the main source repository of the game, so that players could be assured that the DevTeam's release was the legitimate version of NetHack.[25]

Release history

[edit]

The DevTeam's first release of NetHack was on 28 July 1987.[27]

The core DevTeam had expanded with the release of NetHack 3.0 in July 1989. By that point, they had established a tight-lipped culture, revealing little, if anything, between releases. Owing to the ever-increasing depth and complexity found in each release, the development team enjoys a near-mythical status among fans. This perceived omniscience is captured in the initialism TDTTOE, "The DevTeam Thinks of Everything", in that many of the possible emergent gameplay elements that could occur due to the behavior of the complex game systems had already been programmed in by the DevTeam.[25] Since version 3.0, the DevTeam has typically kept to minor bug fix updates, represented by a change in the third version number (e.g. v3.0.1 over v3.0.0), and only releases major updates (v3.1.0 over v3.0.0) when significant new features are added to the game, including support for new platforms. Many of those from the community that helped with the ports to other systems were subsequently invited to be part of the DevTeam as the team's needs grew, with Stephenson remaining the key member currently.[28]

Updates to the game were generally regular from around 1987 through 2003, with the DevTeam releasing v3.4.3 in December 2003.[27] Subsequent updates from the DevTeam included new tilesets and compatibility with variants of Mac OS, but no major updates to the game had been made.[29] In the absence of new releases from the developers, several community-made updates to the code and variants developed by fans emerged.[28]

On 7 December 2015, version 3.6.0 was released, the first major release in over a decade. While the patch did not add major new gameplay features, the update was designed to prepare the game for expansion in the future, with the DevTeam's patch notes stating: "This release consists of a series of foundational changes in the team, underlying infrastructure and changes to the approach to game development".[30][31] Stephenson said that despite the number of roguelike titles that had emerged since the v3.4.3 release, they saw that NetHack was still being talked about online in part due to its high degree of portability, and decided to continue its development.[28] According to DevTeam member Paul Winner, they looked to evaluate what community features had been introduced in the prior decade to improve the game while maintaining the necessary balance.[28] The update came shortly after the death of Terry Pratchett, whose Discworld had been influential on the game, and the new update included a tribute to him.[31] With the v3.6.0 release, NetHack remains "one of the oldest games still being developed".[32]

A public read-only mirror of NetHack's git repository was made available on 10 February 2016.[33] Since v3.6.0, the DevTeam has continued to push updates to the title, with the latest being v3.6.7 on 16 February 2023.[34] Version 3.7.0 is currently in development.[35]

As of 2020, the official source release supports the following systems: Windows, Linux, macOS, Windows CE, OS/2, Unix (BSD, System V, Solaris, HP-UX), BeOS, and VMS.[36]

Licensing, ports, and derivative ports

[edit]
NetHack General Public License (NGPL)
AuthorMike Stephenson et al.
Published1989
OSI approvedYes
CopyleftYes
Websitehttps://www.nethack.org/common/license.html

NetHack is released under the NetHack General Public License, which was written in 1989 by Mike Stephenson, patterned after the GNU bison license (which was written by Richard Stallman in 1988).[37] Like the Bison license, and Stallman's later GNU General Public License, the NetHack license was written to allow the free sharing and modification of the source code under its protection. At the same time, the license explicitly states that the source code is not covered by any warranty, thus protecting the original authors from litigation. The NetHack General Public License is a copyleft software license certified as an open source license by the Open Source Initiative.[38][39]

The NetHack General Public License allows anyone to port the game to a platform not supported by the official DevTeam, provided that they use the same license. Over the years this licensing has led to a large number of ports and internationalized versions[40] in German, Japanese, and Spanish.[27] The license also allows for software forks as long as they are distributed under the same license, except that the creator of a derivative work is allowed to offer warranty protection on the new work. The derivative work is required to indicate the modifications made and the dates of changes. In addition, the source code of the derivative work must be made available, free of charge except for nominal distribution fees. This has also allowed source code forks of NetHack including Slash'EM,[41] UnNetHack,[42] and dNethack.[43]

Online support

[edit]

Bugs, humorous messages, stories, experiences, and ideas for the next version are discussed on the Usenet newsgroup rec.games.roguelike.nethack.[44]

A public server at nethack.alt.org, commonly known as "NAO", gives players access to NetHack through a Telnet or SSH interface. A browser-based client is also available on the same site. Ebonhack connects to NAO with a graphical tiles-based interface.[45]

During the whole month of November, the annual /dev/null NetHack Tournament took place every year from 1999 to 2016.[46][47] The November NetHack Tournament, initially conceived as a one-time tribute to devnull, has taken place each year since 2018.[47] The Junethack Cross-Variant Summer Tournament has taken place annually since 2011.[48]

NetHack Learning Environment

[edit]

The Facebook artificial intelligence (AI) research team, along with researchers at the University of Oxford, New York University, the Imperial College London, and University College London, developed an open-source platform called the NetHack Learning Environment, designed to teach AI agents to play NetHack. The base environment is able to maneuver the agent and fight its way through dungeons, but the team seeks community help to build an AI on the complexities of NetHack's interconnected systems, using implicit knowledge that comes from player-made resources, thus giving a means for programmers to hook into the environment with additional resources.[49][50] Facebook's research led the company to pose NetHack as a grand challenge in AI in June 2021,[51] in part due to the game's permadeath and inability to experiment with the environment without creating a reaction. The competition at the 2021 Conference on Neural Information Processing Systems involved agents of various designs attempting to ascend. None of the agents managed this; the results were ranked by median in-game score, with the highest-ranked agent (Team AutoAscend) using a symbolic (non-machine-learning) design.[52]

Legacy

[edit]

NetHack has influenced ADOM,[53] Minecraft,[54] Spelunky,[55] Diablo[56] and Mystery Dungeon.[57] Time included NetHack in its top 100 video games list in 2012.[58] The game was part of the video game exhibit "Never Alone", in the Museum of Modern Art's collection, which ran from September 2022 to July 2023.[59]

See also

[edit]

References

[edit]
[edit]
Revisions and contributorsEdit on WikipediaRead on Wikipedia

NetHack

View on Grokipedia
from Grokipedia
NetHack is a single-player dungeon exploration where players control a character navigating procedurally generated levels filled with monsters, traps, and treasures, with the ultimate goal of retrieving the Amulet of Yendor from the deepest and escaping alive. The game features , meaning character death ends the game permanently, and emphasizes complex item interactions, elements such as character classes and alignments, and humorous, unpredictable events that arise from its intricate ruleset. Originally released in 1987 as an open-source project, NetHack has been continuously developed by the NetHack DevTeam, with the latest major version, 3.6.7, released on February 16, 2023, and it supports a wide array of platforms through text-based ASCII interfaces, graphical tilesets, and even accessibility features like for blind players. NetHack traces its roots to the 1980 game Rogue, which inspired Jay Fenlason's Hack in 1982, a simplified dungeon crawler that evolved through community modifications into the 1985 rewrite by Andries Brouwer at the Stichting Mathematisch Centrum. The NetHack DevTeam, initially formed from the Unix Users Group at , released the first version in 1987, incorporating contributions from dozens of developers over the years and adopting the NetHack General Public License to ensure its free distribution and modification. Key innovations include random dungeon generation for replayability, hundreds of items and monsters with emergent behaviors, and branching questlines tied to the player's chosen role, such as or Wizard, making each playthrough uniquely challenging and exploratory. The game's enduring popularity stems from its depth and community-driven evolution, with and ports expanding its reach, and it received cultural recognition when inducted into the Museum of Modern Art's permanent collection in 2022 as a landmark in . Despite its retro aesthetic, NetHack remains actively maintained with bug fixes and patches as recent as July 2025, underscoring its status as one of the longest-running open-source games in history.

Gameplay

Core Mechanics

NetHack is a dungeon crawler where the primary objective is to retrieve the Amulet of Yendor from the deepest level of a procedurally generated known as the Mazes of Menace and then ascend back to the surface to escape alive. Players must navigate through multiple dungeon levels filled with monsters, traps, and treasures, managing resources carefully to survive the journey. Success requires strategic decision-making, as death is permanent, ending the game and forcing a new attempt with a different randomly generated . The gameplay operates on a turn-based system, where each player command—such as moving, interacting with objects, fighting, or using items—advances the game by one turn, during which monsters also act. Levels, monsters, and events are generated randomly at the start of each game, ensuring high replayability and unpredictability. Core character attributes include strength (affecting damage and ), dexterity (influencing accuracy and stealth), (impacting hit points and resistance to ailments), (boosting spell success), (enhancing ), and (improving shop prices and ), each typically ranging from 3 to 18. Additional vital statistics are hit points (HP, representing health), energy or power (used for spellcasting), and alignment (lawful, neutral, or , which influences interactions with certain monsters and deities). Combat forms a central pillar, with melee attacks initiated by moving into an adjacent monster, ranged attacks via throwing weapons or projectiles, and spellcasting that consumes energy to unleash magical effects at a . Monster behaviors are driven by simple AI: many are hostile by default, but those sharing the player's alignment may remain peaceful unless provoked, while opposing alignments increase aggression; provocation, such as attacking or trespassing, can turn neutral monsters hostile. Survival mechanics include hunger, which progresses from satiated to fainting if not addressed by consuming , potentially leading to , and , where carrying too much weight slows movement and heightens food consumption based on load levels from unencumbered to overloaded. Time-sensitive elements add urgency, such as shopkeepers becoming angry and summoning aid if debts are unpaid or shops are damaged, and pet management, where owned creatures require feeding and proximity to follow through levels, lest they turn wild. Randomness permeates outcomes through underlying dice rolls that determine combat hits, damage, trap activations, and other events, creating variability in every encounter. Item identification relies on this uncertainty, as most objects start unknown and must be tested through use, price identification in shops, or tools like scrolls of identify to reveal properties, blessings, or curses.

Dungeon Exploration

The in NetHack, known as the Mazes of Menace, consists of multiple interconnected levels that players must navigate to retrieve the Amulet of Yendor and ascend. Exploration occurs in a turn-based manner, where each level presents a unique layout filled with rooms, corridors, monsters, and hazards. The environment emphasizes discovery and risk, with deeper levels introducing greater challenges and rarer rewards. Most levels are procedurally generated upon first entry, creating random arrangements of rooms, corridors, traps, doors, and special features such as vaults or thrones to ensure replayability. This generation process draws from predefined room templates and algorithms that connect elements via hallways, incorporating elements like fountains, altars, and shops in a semi-random fashion. Procedural creation applies to the majority of the , though certain areas use fixed designs for narrative or mechanical purposes. The dungeon is structured around several branches that diverge from the main path, each offering distinct environments and objectives. The main dungeon, or Dungeons of Doom, spans levels 1 through approximately 10 or more, serving as the primary descent with escalating difficulty. Early on, the Gnomish Mines provides an optional side area accessible via a side staircase, featuring ore veins and goblin inhabitants but ending in a dead end. is a puzzle-oriented with pre-designed levels requiring boulder manipulation to solve challenges and access rewards. Mid-game includes the level, a quest-like area where players consult the of for cryptic information about the Amulet. The endgame transitions to Gehennom, a hellish beyond the 20th level filled with demons and , culminating in the Planes, including the astral realm for final ascension rituals. Special levels feature fixed layouts to enhance and challenges, contrasting the of standard levels. Quest branches are role-specific areas with predetermined maps, often involving unique objectives tied to the player's class. In Gehennom, Vlad's Tower is a multi-level structure housing the lord , complete with and traps. The Wizard's Tower serves as a fortified lair for the antagonist, accessible via a magic portal and containing protective summons. The is a sprawling, multi-room level with a , , and wand-wielding guards, designed for strategic siege-like entry. The forms the ultimate special level, an open expanse where players confront cosmic forces during ascension. Navigation relies on specific tools and features, each carrying potential risks. Stairs marked as '<' for upward and '>' for downward movement provide reliable vertical travel between levels, though pets may follow or block paths. Teleportation traps or items can shift players randomly within or between levels, often without control. Levelporting, invoked via magic or the '^T' command, allows direct jumps to other depths but risks stranding players in unprepared areas. Environmental hazards include lava pools that burn on contact, water bodies traversable only by certain means or races, and chasms that drop items or characters to lower levels. Monsters populate levels dynamically, contributing to an emergent ecology through random spawns tailored to depth and branch. Placement occurs upon level generation or as players explore, with stronger creatures appearing deeper; monsters remain active only on their current level until encountered. Unique bosses like the Wizard of Yendor serve as recurring adversaries, initially guarding the Amulet's theft and later pursuing the player with spells and minions across branches. Faction dynamics include peaceful monsters, such as certain humanoids or animals, that coexist neutrally unless provoked, allowing for diplomatic interactions or alliances.

Character Creation and Progression

In NetHack, character creation involves selecting a , race, , and alignment, which collectively define the player's starting capabilities, , and interactions within the . There are thirteen roles available: Archeologist, , , Healer, , , (or Priestess), Ranger, Rogue, , Tourist, , and Wizard. Each role comes with a tailored starting kit of items and proficiencies; for example, the begins with a dwarvish mithril-coat (), a two-handed sword, and high strength, while the Tourist starts with ample gold, a Hawaiian shirt, and a camera for taking "proof" photographs. These kits provide immediate utility suited to the role's archetype, such as the Healer carrying potions and a scalpel for medical applications or the Wizard equipped with spellbooks and a . Players choose from five races—Dwarf, Elf, Gnome, Human, or Orc—each imparting inherent traits that influence attributes and gameplay. Dwarves and possess expertise and infravision for detecting warmth, gain enhanced dexterity and perception but vulnerability to iron, offer balanced versatility without extremes, and provide brute strength at the cost of poorer equipment quality and enmity from other races like . selection is binary (male or female) and primarily affects role nomenclature (e.g., vs. Priestess) without altering mechanics. Alignment options are Lawful, Neutral, or , shaping social dynamics: co-aligned monsters tend to be neutral or friendly, while opposed alignments provoke hostility, influencing temple access and divine favor. Some role-race combinations are restricted, such as Orcs being unable to select certain Lawful roles, ensuring thematic consistency. Character progression occurs through accumulating experience points (XP), primarily earned by defeating monsters, though secondary sources include reading certain books or successful prayers. Upon reaching XP thresholds, the character advances (up to a maximum of 30), randomly increasing hit points (typically by 1d10 plus Constitution modifier for most roles), enhancing physical and magical resistances, and boosting combat prowess. Leveling also improves weapon and spell skills, with spellcasters like gaining access to new spells from their spellbook as power increases. Role-specific intrinsics—innate abilities such as poison resistance for Healers or stealth for Rogues—may activate at designated levels, providing passive benefits that grow with further advancement. A pivotal aspect of progression is the role-specific quest, a unique multi-level branch accessed around dungeon level 15, where the character retrieves a quest artifact essential for ascension. These quests are tailored to each role's lore; for instance, the undertakes a mission in a fortified to recover the Sceptre of Might, while the journeys to a lord's palace for the Mikaboshi. Success requires navigating role-themed challenges, guardians, and the quest nemesis, often involving puzzles, combat, and moral choices that test the character's alignment. Completing the quest not only grants the artifact but also unlocks deeper dungeon access and potential intrinsic enhancements tied to the role. Alignment is dynamic and shifts based on in-game actions, tracked on a scale from +10 (extremely lawful) to -10 (extremely ), with Neutral at 0. Benevolent deeds, such as aiding peaceful beings or sacrificing at co-aligned , nudge toward Lawful, while aggressive acts like slaying non-hostile or co-aligned creatures push toward ; extreme shifts (beyond ±5) can alter the character's official alignment, affecting attitudes, altar conversions, and artifact wielding. Certain conducts—voluntary restrictions like maintaining a vegetarian diet (no meat consumption), (no or ), or (no killing)—are automatically tracked by the game and displayed via the #conduct command, offering score bonuses if upheld but increasing difficulty by limiting options. Breaking a conduct removes it from the list, with no penalty beyond lost achievement. Most characters begin with a loyal pet—a little , , or (the latter for mounted roles like or Ranger)—which accompanies the player, assists in , and shares experience from kills to grow stronger over time. Pets evolve in capability as they gain levels; for example, a may mature into a or large , increasing damage output and hit points while retaining tameness to prevent . Additional pets or followers can be acquired by taming wild monsters with thrown food, using a magic whistle to summon allies, or attracting humanoid followers through high , offerings at altars, or demonstrations, forming a that aids and fights but requires to avoid or abandonment.

Items and Equipment

In NetHack, items and equipment form the core of player strategy, enabling combat, exploration, and survival in the dungeon's procedurally generated levels. These objects are diverse, ranging from basic tools to powerful artifacts, and are essential for progressing through the game's challenges. Players must manage inventory space carefully, as encumbrance levels—from unencumbered to overloaded—affect movement speed and combat effectiveness. Items are categorized by type, each with specific uses and commands for interaction. Weapons, represented by the ')' symbol, include melee options like swords and maces for close combat, as well as ranged ones such as arrows and spears that can be thrown or fired. Armor, shown as '[', provides protection via armor class (AC) values, with heavier pieces like plate mail offering better defense (base AC 5) than lighter leather armor (base AC 8); enchantments adjust these values further. Tools, marked '(', encompass utility items such as pick-axes for mining or grappling hooks for retrieving distant objects. Potions ('!') are quaffed for immediate effects, identified often by color (e.g., clear for water), while scrolls ('?') are read once for magical results, with randomized labels per game. Rings ('=') grant ongoing benefits when worn on fingers (limited to two), wands ('/') deliver directed magic via charges that can be zapped or broken, and spellbooks ('+') allow learning spells through repeated reading. Food ('%'), vital for preventing starvation, includes perishable rations and tins that provide nutrition. Artifacts represent unique, powerful items, such as the elven dagger Sting or the sword Excalibur, which possess special properties beyond standard gear. Identification is a key mechanic, as most items appear unidentified upon discovery, with randomized appearances to encourage caution. Players can use price identification by inquiring about an item's cost in shops via the #chat command, revealing base value clues to narrow possibilities. Testing methods include quaffing potions or reading scrolls, though this risks unintended effects; dedicated tools like the scroll of identify provide safer revelation of properties, including remaining charges on wands. The #name command allows labeling for tracking, and items in shops or from generation start unknown, requiring systematic deduction. Wielding equipment involves specific commands: 'w' to wield a primary weapon, 'X' for two-weapon combat (with limitations based on handedness and skill), and 'a' to apply tools or wands. Armor is worn with 'W' and removed via 'T' or 'A'. Artifacts often require invocation via #invoke, sometimes involving multi-step rituals, such as the sequence for the Bell of Opening. Gear can be erosionproofed to resist damage from monsters or environmental hazards, preserving durability through targeted applications. The 'x' command exchanges weapons, and '#enhance' improves weapon skills for better handling. The economy revolves around shops, where players buy items with gold using 'p' to pay or sell by dropping objects near the shopkeeper, who appraises based on base prices adjusted for factors like enchantment. Theft provokes hostility, leading to combat or barred access; unpaid debts are tracked, and inquiring prices aids identification without commitment. Wishing for specific items is possible through rare mechanics like polydilution (polymorphing into forms that generate objects) or certain artifacts, but remains probabilistic and resource-intensive. The '$' command displays gold and debts. Random generation ensures replayability, with items spawning unidentified in dungeons, their appearances, charges (for wands), and nutrition values (for food) varying per game. Bones levels—preserved from prior ascensions—may include artifacts or charged items, adding risk. Inventory management uses 'i' to list all items or 'I' for types, with autopickup options configurable to handle the influx.

Magical Effects

In NetHack, items and certain game elements possess a beatitude status—blessed, uncursed, or cursed—that profoundly influences their functionality and interaction with the player. Blessed items exhibit enhanced properties, such as increased damage output for weapons against specific foes like demons or improved success rates for scrolls and potions, while also facilitating easier identification through price checks or priestly appraisal. Uncursed items operate at neutral baseline performance, whereas cursed items impose hindrances, including the inability to remove worn equipment (such as armor or rings that "weld" to the body) and negative enchantments that reduce efficacy, like lowered to-hit bonuses or reversed effects for consumables. Priests and priestesses inherently detect an item's beatitude upon examination, aiding players in early identification without expending resources. To alter beatitude, players employ holy or unholy water, produced by dipping a potion of water on a aligned altar, which blesses or curses the target item accordingly; direct dipping of items into such water achieves similar results, though with risks of destruction for fragile objects. Removal of curses typically requires uncursing via holy water, successful prayer, or altar offerings, as cursed items resist ordinary unequipping and can lead to perilous situations if equipment fails during combat. Levels themselves can become blessed through divine favor, granting protective effects like temporary alignment boosts or monster repulsion, but curses on levels are rarer and often tied to desecrated altars that spawn hostile forces. Spellcasting forms a core magical system, where players learn incantations by reading spellbooks, which appear as unidentified tomes that may confuse or backfire if mishandled. Upon successful reading, spells integrate into the player's spell slots, limited by and attributes, with certain roles like the Cleric starting with intrinsic knowledge of basic divine spells such as or . Casting occurs via the 'Z' command, consuming power (mana) proportional to the spell's complexity and the caster's skill level—ranging from unskilled (high failure chance) to expert (maximal potency and reliability)—with costs scaling from 5-50 points per use, regenerating slowly over turns or faster with rest. Skill advancement happens through repeated casting or enhancement commands, categorized by spell schools like attack, matter, or , and failure risks include fainting, power drain, or explosive backlash, particularly if the player's experience level is insufficient. Divine intervention manifests through prayer and sacrifice, governed by the player's piety—a hidden meter reflecting alignment adherence and devotional acts. The #pray command invokes aid at altars or in desperation, yielding effects scaled to piety: high piety might grant full healing, curse removal, or smiting bolts against nearby threats, while low piety risks divine anger, such as summoned minions or attribute penalties. Prayers carry a cooldown of approximately 5000 turns to prevent abuse, and outcomes align with the player's role and deity, like chaotic favors for neutral or evil shifts. Sacrificing corpses via #offer on aligned altars boosts piety, potentially rewarding artifacts, intrinsic protections, or alignment changes, though unsuitable offerings (e.g., wrong alignment) can desecrate the altar and spawn undead. Beyond these, polymorph represents transformative magic, altering the player's form into monsters via spells, wands, or potions, conferring new intrinsics like breath weapons or flight but often complicating access and risking stat loss upon reversion. Monsters employ spells offensively, such as liches hurling missiles or clerics summoning elementals, which players counter through resistance gained via amulets or spells. Elemental resistances—against fire, cold, shock, poison, and acid—arise magically from spell effects, role intrinsics (e.g., Wizards' innate resistance), or temporary buffs from divine pleas, mitigating damage by 50-100% depending on the source and stacking rules.

Death and Permadeath

NetHack enforces a strict system, where character is irreversible and ends the current game session without the option to reload previous saves, emphasizing risk and consequence in gameplay. This design prevents "save-scumming," a practice common in other games where players reload to avoid mistakes, forcing players to accept the finality of their decisions. Upon , the game may generate a "bones file" that preserves the deceased character's corpse, inventory items, and the level state for potential discovery by subsequent characters in future games, adding a layer of persistence across playthroughs. Characters can meet their end through various means, including quitting via the #quit command, which ends the game voluntarily without combat or hazards; escaping the prematurely, often resulting in a lower score; or fatal events such as being killed by monsters (including one's own pet turning hostile), poisoning from venomous attacks or traps, or starvation after prolonged hunger leads to fainting and eventual demise. The sole path to victory is ascension, achieved by retrieving the Amulet of Yendor from the deepest levels, returning to the surface, and offering it to one's , granting and concluding the game successfully. A notable aspect of NetHack's death mechanics is the concept of "Yet Another Stupid Death" (YASD), a community-coined term for humorous or avoidable fatalities stemming from player errors, such as carelessly triggering traps, misidentifying items, or overlooking environmental dangers like a floating eye's gaze. These incidents underscore the game's steep , where seemingly minor oversights can prove lethal. Following death, the game displays a tombstone screen allowing players to input a custom , which serves as a humorous or reflective on the character's and may appear in bones files for others to encounter. A score is then calculated based on factors like accumulated gold, experience level, dungeon depth reached, and achievements, with the results appended to a high-score listing in the record file; only the best non-winning score per player is retained for ranking. Players can review a game logfile—enabled by default—to analyze events leading to death, fostering improvement through repeated playthroughs, as the mechanic encourages starting new characters to apply lessons learned. While standard play upholds rigorously, exceptions exist in non-competitive modes: explore mode permits saving and restoring progress for testing purposes, though games do not qualify for high scores; wizard (debug) mode grants godlike abilities like unlimited wishes, effectively bypassing death's permanence but restricting access to developers and trusted users. Self-imposed conducts, such as or illiteracy, add optional challenges but breaking them merely ends the conduct without altering the rule.

User Interfaces

NetHack's traditional user interface relies on an ASCII-based display, where the game world is represented using standard text characters on a terminal or console. The dungeon map occupies the central portion of the screen, with symbols denoting terrain, the player, monsters, and items; for example, @ represents the player character, $ indicates gold pieces, and > marks downward stairs. Monsters and objects are shown with uppercase and lowercase letters, respectively, often color-coded in supported terminals to distinguish types, such as red for hostile creatures. This text-only format emphasizes efficiency and portability, allowing play on minimal hardware since the game's inception. Input in the core interface is primarily keyboard-driven, using single-character commands for actions like movement. Directional movement employs the yuhjklbn keys, corresponding to the eight cardinal and ordinal directions on a grid (e.g., h for left, j for down), or alternatives if enabled via configuration. Extended commands, prefixed with #, access more complex functions through menus or prompts, such as #loot for searching containers. Mouse support, available in certain ports like the Qt and Windows GUI variants, allows clicking on distant locations to invoke movement or targeting commands beyond adjacent cells. The interface includes dedicated areas for additional information: a at the bottom displays key metrics like hit points (HP), magical power, armor class (AC), gold, and conditions such as or , updating in real-time (e.g., "HP:12(12) Pw:5(5) AC:10 Gld:0"). The top line shows recent messages, such as combat feedback ("The kobold hits!"), with a --More-- prompt for longer sequences; players can review history using ^P to repeat the last message or access a full log. Inventory management occurs through the i command, presenting a lettered list (a-z, A-Z) of carried items in a menu-style prompt, supporting actions like wielding (w) or dropping (d), with options for sorting and bulk operations. Graphical variants extend the traditional setup by replacing ASCII symbols with tilesets—small images for entities and terrain—in ports supporting libraries like SDL or X11. These include official Windows and X11 interfaces, as well as unofficial adaptations like glHack, which uses for accelerated rendering, and web-based clients such as Tilehack that enable browser play with mouse-driven tiles. Menu styles are configurable (e.g., traditional text lists or full graphical pop-ups via extmenu), and some implementations add sound effects for events like item pickups, though remains limited to user-defined files in select ports. Accessibility options cater to diverse needs, including support for screen readers and displays in , with configuration flags like symset:NHAccess for alternative symbol mappings. Color-blind modes can be enabled by disabling hues, and keybinds are customizable through the .nethackrc file or in-game Options menu, allowing remapping of directions or commands. These features ensure broad usability across console, GUI, and remote sessions. Since its 1987 origins as a text-only , NetHack's interface has evolved from pure ASCII in early versions to multimedia-capable builds in release 3.6.7 (2023), incorporating tiles, mouse input, and configurable visuals while preserving the command-line core for compatibility.

Development History

Origins

NetHack traces its roots to the genre pioneered by Rogue, released in , which introduced procedural generation, , and turn-based exploration in a fantasy setting. Inspired by Rogue's core mechanics of randomized levels and high-stakes gameplay, Jay Fenlason developed the original Hack in 1982 as a student project at the , with assistance from Kenny Woodland, Mike Thome, and Jon Payne. Hack expanded on Rogue by incorporating more intricate object interactions, additional monsters, and multiple branches, aiming to create a deeper adventure experience while retaining the procedural randomness. The evolution toward NetHack began in the mid-1980s within the Unix hacker community, where enthusiasts shared and modified Hack over early networks. Andries Brouwer significantly rewrote Hack during the 1984 Christmas holidays, adapting it for Unix systems and enhancing its adventure-like qualities to better emulate classic text adventures such as . By 1985, Don G. Kneller initiated efforts to produce a public release, collaborating with veterans of computer role-playing games to introduce structured character classes—including the Wizard, , and —along with expanded monster rosters and persistent elements like "bones" files, which save remnants of previous adventurers' demises for later games to encounter, simulating a shared dungeon history. These internal builds circulated informally among Unix users from 1985 to 1986, blending Rogue's with influences from , such as role-specific abilities and complex item synergies like cursed equipment or polymorphic wands. In 1987, the NetHack DevTeam formally coalesced under the leadership of , Izchak Miller, and Janet Walz, forking Hack to implement ambitious features like tamed pets that accompany players and further refine character roles for varied playstyles. This collective effort marked the transition from ad-hoc modifications to organized development, emphasizing through intricate systems where items could be blessed, identified via price testing, or combined in unexpected ways, setting NetHack apart as a more simulation-rich successor to its predecessors.

Release Timeline

NetHack's development began with its initial public release in 1987, marking the start of a series of iterative updates that expanded its play mechanics and stability over decades. The first version, NetHack 1.3d, was released on July 28, 1987, as a basic fork of the earlier Hack game, introducing core features such as character roles and companion pets. Subsequent early versions built upon this foundation during 1989 and 1990. NetHack 2.2 through 2.3 introduced significant additions, including a spellcasting system and the Gehennom level structure, enhancing magical and endgame elements. A major overhaul occurred with the NetHack 3.x series from 1989 to 1993. Versions 3.0 and 3.1 represented a complete rewrite, incorporating artifacts, multiple planes, and improved for greater depth and replayability. The period from 1999 to 2003 saw incremental refinements in versions 3.2 to 3.4.3, focusing on balance adjustments, new monster types, and interface enhancements, culminating in a long stable era that lasted until 2015. Notably, NetHack 3.3.0, released in December 1999, is often regarded as the "golden version" due to its exceptional stability and popularity among players. After a 12-year gap, NetHack 3.6.0 arrived on December 7, 2015, integrating long-standing community patches and tributes such as references to author . Follow-up releases from 2016 to 2023, including 3.6.1 through 3.6.7, primarily addressed bug fixes and security vulnerabilities; for instance, 3.6.7, released on February 16, 2023, patched critical exploits while maintaining core gameplay. As of November 2025, NetHack 3.7.0 remains in development by the DevTeam, with planned enhancements to mechanics such as new interaction systems, though no specific release date has been announced.

DevTeam and Contributions

The NetHack Development Team, often referred to as the DevTeam, formed in as a loose collective of volunteer programmers who took over maintenance of the game from its original Hack codebase. Initially coordinated through mailing lists, the team transitioned to public repositories in 2016 for collaborative development, enabling broader patch submissions and issue tracking. There is no formal leader; decisions are made by consensus among core members to ensure changes align with the game's balance and traditions. Key figures include founders Mike Stephenson, Izchak Miller, and Janet Walz, who restructured Hack into early NetHack versions, starting with 1.3d in 1987 and leading to version 2.2. Early contributors such as Ken Arromdee and Jean-Christophe Collet expanded core mechanics in versions 3.0 through 3.3. Long-term maintainers like Pasi Kallinen, who joined in 2013 and contributed features such as menucolors and level compiler enhancements for version 3.6.0, have been instrumental in recent stability improvements. Other notable members include , added in 2016 for interface and internal refactoring work tied to proposed successors like NetHack 4, and Patric Mueller for integrating variant-inspired changes. The development process is entirely volunteer-driven, with infrequent major releases due to the emphasis on thorough testing and minimal disruption to gameplay—exemplified by the 12-year gap between versions 3.4.3 (2003) and 3.6.0 (2015). Patches for bug fixes, balance adjustments, or minor features are reviewed via public betas and mailing lists before integration, prioritizing community-submitted code that fits vanilla 's scope. Community input plays a central role, with bug reports submitted through official channels like [email protected] and JSON-formatted lists since 2018, often inspiring patches or variant developments that feed back into the mainline. Tools like the proposed NetHack 4 (NH4) successor emerged from DevTeam offshoots, such as Alex Smith's AceHack project, exploring architectural evolutions while maintaining compatibility. As of 2025, the DevTeam remains active on , focusing on the 3.7 development branch initiated in 2019, which emphasizes stability enhancements, bug fixes, and minor features like improved savefile portability without major overhauls. The latest stable release, 3.6.7 in 2023, incorporated security fixes and community patches; as of November 2025, maintenance continues with updates such as a GCC 15.1 compatibility patch in April 2025 and new Windows binaries in July 2025, underscoring the team's commitment to incremental, reliable progress.

Licensing and Adaptations

Licensing Model

NetHack has been distributed under the NetHack General Public License (NGPL) since version 3.0, released in 1989. The NGPL, authored by , is a custom patterned after General Public License but adapted specifically for the game, with an emphasis on ensuring broad access to the source code and modifications. Prior to the NGPL, earlier iterations such as the original Hack (1985) operated under BSD-like terms or were treated as effectively , allowing unrestricted redistribution and modification without the share-alike requirements that later became central. This shift to the NGPL marked a deliberate evolution toward stronger protections, aiming to prevent the emergence of proprietary derivatives that could restrict community access to improvements. Key provisions of the NGPL include the right to freely redistribute verbatim copies in source or binary form, provided all copyright notices and the license text remain intact. For derivative works, any modifications must be distributed under the same NGPL terms, with the complete source code made available to recipients either directly or via instructions on how to obtain it. The license explicitly disclaims any , stating that NetHack is provided "as is" without guarantees of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. Commercial ports and distributions are permitted, but only if the source code sharing obligations are met, thereby balancing openness with potential monetization. All official NetHack releases continue to adhere to the NGPL, which has facilitated community-driven ports while upholding the requirement for source disclosure.

Ports and Platforms

NetHack originated as a Unix-based game, with its initial releases targeting (BSD) and other Unix variants in 1987. Early expansions to non-Unix platforms began shortly thereafter, including ports to the in version 2.3 (1985 for Hack, extended to NetHack 3.0 in 1989) and around 1988–1990, maintained by developers such as Norm Meluch and Kevin Smolkowski for version 3.1. The NetHack 3.0 release in July 1989 marked significant porting efforts to Macintosh (by Johnny Lee), Atari ST (by Eric R. Smith), (by Timo Hakulinen), and VMS (by David Gentzel), broadening accessibility beyond Unix systems. In the modern era, NetHack 3.6 and later versions (starting from 3.6.0 in 2013) provide native support for contemporary desktop operating systems, including pre-built binaries for Windows 7 and later (with native executables since 3.6), Linux distributions (via standard package managers or direct compilation), BSD variants, and macOS 10.11 and above (including Apple Silicon via Xcode builds). The source code remains highly portable, with tested configurations for systems like Intel-based Linux, Windows 10/11, macOS 10.11–14 (Intel and M-series), MS-DOS via DJGPP, and OpenVMS 8.4. Official binaries are distributed through nethack.org, offering source tarballs and platform-specific installers to facilitate cross-platform compatibility. Graphical enhancements were introduced in version 3.6, supporting tile-based displays alongside traditional ASCII text, with the SDL interface enabling color tilesets for improved visual representation on supported platforms. Touchscreen adaptations appear in community builds for mobile environments, such as Android via (a ), allowing play on handheld devices without native official binaries. Browser-based ports exist for web play, leveraging or compilations of the source, though these are not officially distributed. Official distribution emphasizes open-source accessibility, with source code available via tarballs on nethack.org and the project's repository on ; pre-built binaries cover major desktops, while integration via the graphical frontend (updated for 3.6.7 in 2023) provides an easy-access option for Windows and users seeking enhanced visuals. Cross-platform challenges have included maintaining compatibility across diverse architectures, such as transitioning from 16-bit to 32/64-bit systems and dropping support for obsolete platforms like classic Macintosh, , and 16-bit in 3.6.0. () support was enhanced in 3.6 for international play, enabling community translation efforts, with further refinements in 3.6.7 to handle multilingual text rendering consistently across ports. These efforts ensure robust operation on modern hardware while preserving the game's core mechanics.

Variants and Forks

NetHack has inspired numerous variants and forks, which modify its core gameplay, balance, and features while adhering to the game's licensing terms. These derivatives often introduce new content, adjust difficulty, or experiment with mechanics to enhance replayability and accessibility. Major variants include SLASH'EM, UnNetHack, and NetHack 4, alongside others like SporkHack that emphasize randomization and balance tweaks. SLASH'EM, released in 1997 by Warren Cheung, extends NetHack 3.3.1 by incorporating elements from earlier patches like Tom Proudfoot's SLASH and Larry Stewart-Zerba's Wizard Patch. It adds five new roles and five new races, along with numerous monsters, items, artifacts, and special levels, while increasing overall difficulty through expanded content and a larger structure. This served as a for innovative features and inspired further developments, including SLASH'EM Extended, which builds upon it with even more roles, races, and challenges. Development remains active, with stable version 0.0.7E7F3 and development builds available for platforms like Windows and . UnNetHack, initiated in 2007 and maintained by Patric Mueller and contributors, forks NetHack 3.4.3 to prioritize balance and fun through increased randomness and challenges. Key changes include new conducts for restricted playstyles, improvements like customizable UI colors and autotravel, and balance adjustments such as reduced weights for certain armors and modified generation probabilities (e.g., Fort Ludios appearing at 93.51% frequency compared to 74.80% in NetHack). It incorporates features from other variants, like a level from SporkHack, and supports reproducible s via seeds. As of 2025, UnNetHack is actively developed, with version 5.3.1 released in 2023 and ongoing updates for public servers and tournaments. NetHack 4, an experimental project started around 2012 by developers including those from the original DevTeam, aims to modernize NetHack's codebase while preserving its gameplay depth. It introduces 3D graphical elements, a less hostile interface, and a rewritten engine for better maintainability and cross-platform support. The project combines elements from prior forks like AceHack and NitroHack, focusing on quality improvements rather than a direct sequel to official releases. Still in development as of 2025, the latest beta is 4.3-beta2, available for download with ongoing community contributions via GitHub. Other notable variants include SporkHack, created by Derek S. Ray in 2007 based on NetHack 3.4.3, which emphasizes balance through randomized intrinsics (ranging 0-100%), tougher high-level monsters, and new items like the wand of wind, while avoiding overpowered exploits. Development ceased in 2011 after version 0.6.3, though builds remain playable on community servers. All these variants operate under derivatives of the NetHack General Public License (NGPL), a license that permits modifications and redistribution provided the is distinctly named, includes the original , and supplies full . This ensures community-driven evolution while maintaining transparency and attribution to the original NetHack project.

Community and Online Ecosystem

Online Servers and Play

Public servers enable multiplayer-like experiences in NetHack by allowing players to connect remotely and interact with shared elements, such as bones files left by deceased characters from other players' games. These servers support NetHack as well as , providing persistent character storage across sessions without requiring local installation. Major servers include Hardfought.org, established in the early as a hub for including NetHack, and nethack.alt.org (commonly known as NAO), one of the oldest and most popular public servers for NetHack. Hardfought.org supports web login for easy access and maintains persistent characters, while NAO is geared toward quick with recorded sessions available for viewing. Key features of these servers include web-based play directly in a browser using tools like hterm, eliminating the need for software downloads, and session recovery mechanisms such as auto-resume after disconnections or email requests to administrators for crashed games. Chat integration occurs through associated IRC channels, like #hardfought on , where players discuss strategies and share experiences in real-time. Variants such as UnNetHack are hosted on dedicated servers like Hardfought.org, offering modified rules while preserving core NetHack mechanics. These features adapt traditional text-based user interfaces for modern web and remote access, enhancing . Dynasty leagues operate on persistent worlds, particularly during events like the Junethack tournament, where a shared server environment allows dead characters to leave lasting legacies through bones files that other players can encounter, fostering a communal progression system across multiple games. Access to servers is facilitated via traditional methods like SSH or Telnet for secure or legacy connections, and HTTP for browser-based play; mobile users can connect using SSH client apps on Android or iOS devices. Servers are maintained by dedicated volunteers who handle updates, such as the rollout of NetHack 3.6.7 in 2023 to address issues and improvements, often resulting in brief downtimes for patching. Both Hardfought. and NAO exemplify this volunteer-driven model, with administrators ensuring stability and compatibility across global locations.

Spoiler Culture and Resources

NetHack's spoiler culture emphasizes preserving the game's sense of discovery and surprise, core elements of its , while acknowledging the immense complexity that often necessitates some external guidance for players. The game is structured to reward exploration and experimentation, with mechanics like the providing in-game hints rather than explicit instructions, allowing unspoiled ascensions—where players reach the end without external knowledge—which have been documented as achievable through persistence and the official Guidebook alone. However, the dungeon's vast array of interactions, items, and monsters leads many players to seek partial spoilers, such as basic FAQs on server sites like alt.org, which cover fundamentals without revealing comprehensive strategies or endings to maintain the thrill of surprise. Full spoiler dumps are generally avoided in discussions to honor this exploratory ethos, as even detailed knowledge fails to capture the improvisational depth required for success. Key resources for the NetHack community include the NetHack Wiki at nethackwiki.com, a comprehensive repository of strategies, item effects, monster behaviors, and identification techniques that serves as a central hub for player-shared knowledge without endorsing blind reliance on spoilers. The rec.games..nethack , active since the , remains a foundational forum for discussing spoilers, advice, player experiences, and triumphs, with posts propagated across servers for broad accessibility. Official guides like the "A Guide to the Mazes of Menace: Guidebook for NetHack," included in every release since version 2.2a, provide non-spoiler introductions to gameplay basics, commands, dungeon features, and options, authored initially by and maintained by the DevTeam to support new players without diminishing discovery. Online tools further aid navigation of the game's system, such as ascension logs and death trackers on public servers like alt.org, alongside heuristics for item identification derived from community analysis of price, appearance, and effects. Community etiquette around spoilers reinforces the game's exploratory spirit, with norms discouraging unsolicited revelations in casual conversations to avoid ruining surprises for others, often channeling detailed discussions to dedicated sites marked with explicit warnings. Players frequently engage in by avoiding meta-knowledge in shared stories, treating in-game discoveries as genuine rather than referencing external spoilers, which fosters a culture of shared peril and ingenuity. This approach extends to resources like the NetHack Wiki's spoiler category, where files are archived with version checks to ensure relevance, prioritizing player agency in choosing how much to reveal. The community's evolution reflects broader shifts in online interaction, originating in early Usenet discussions in the 1990s and progressing to modern platforms that facilitate real-time sharing while upholding spoiler-sensitive norms. By 2025, forums like the rec.games.roguelike.nethack group continue alongside newer venues, including Discord servers established around 2018 for live chats on strategies and experiences, adapting the collaborative spirit to contemporary tools without compromising the game's traditional etiquette.

Tournaments and Events

The NetHack community organizes several annual tournaments and events that emphasize competitive play, skill demonstration, and communal engagement, primarily hosted on public servers like hardfought.org. These events encourage participation across and promote achievements such as ascensions, where players complete the game's main quest by retrieving the Amulet of Yendor. Junethack, the NetHack Cross-Variant Summer Tournament, has been held annually in June since 2011, spanning the entire month and involving multiple public servers. Participants compete individually or in teams, earning points for ascensions and other feats in NetHack and like UnNetHack and Slash'EM. The event features leaderboards tracking progress, with custom trophies for categories such as fastest ascension or most games played, fostering a collaborative yet competitive atmosphere. In 2025, Junethack incorporated compatibility updates for NetHack 3.7, attracting over 200 registered players and thousands of games. The November NetHack Tournament (TNNT), running every November since 2018, is a month-long event focused on speedruns, challenges, and clan-based using a modified version of NetHack 3.6.7. Players join clans to accumulate points through ascensions and specialized trophies, including role-specific ones like ascending all playable roles for a given race (e.g., Great Dwarf for all dwarf roles). Formats include no-spoiler modes to preserve discovery and best-of-variant challenges, with prizes such as custom tilesets awarded to top performers. Leaderboards on hardfought.org highlight ongoing progress, emphasizing endurance and strategy over raw speed. NetHackathon occurs twice yearly in and , featuring a 48-hour continuous Twitch livestream since 2021 where content creators take shifts on a shared account to attempt ascensions. This charity-driven event raises funds for causes like Extra Life, blending entertainment with competitive play and drawing new players through accessible streaming. It includes role-specific challenges and variant experiments, tracked via public logs. These tournaments cultivate skill-sharing through clan discussions and post-event analyses, while attracting newcomers via inclusive formats and online visibility. Events like TNNT's seasonal resets for dynasty-style clan progression encourage long-term commitment, enhancing the community's vibrancy.

Applications in AI Research

NetHack Learning Environment

The NetHack Learning Environment (NLE) is an open-source (RL) framework developed by Facebook AI Research to facilitate the training of RL agents within the complex, procedurally generated world of NetHack. Introduced in 2020 and presented at NeurIPS, NLE provides a standardized Gym-compatible interface that wraps the NetHack , exposing key elements such as observations (e.g., ASCII grid views, status information, and logs), discrete actions (e.g., movement, interaction with objects), and rewards derived from game progression. This setup enables researchers to test algorithms on tasks requiring exploration, planning, and adaptation in a environment with partial . A core feature of NLE is its emulation of NetHack's inherent challenges, including partial observability through a "" that reveals only the player's immediate surroundings, fostering the need for memory and inference in agents. The environment incorporates multi-agent dynamics, where non-player monsters act as independent opponents with their own behaviors, adding unpredictability and requiring strategic decision-making. Episodes feature long horizons, often spanning thousands of steps to achieve victory (ascending the ), which tests sample efficiency and long-term planning in RL models. NLE leverages NetHack's to produce diverse training scenarios, ensuring variability in dungeon layouts, item placements, and encounters. The original NLE is built on NetHack version 3.6.6 and has evolved through repository updates, with the released in 2020 and the project archived in May 2024 before migrating to a community-maintained fork at github.com/NetHack-LE/nle, which supports NetHack 3.6.7 as of November 2025. It supports a suite of benchmark tasks, such as navigating to staircases, managing pets, or collecting gold, which serve as proxies for measuring agent progress toward full game completion. These tasks highlight NLE's scalability, achieving up to 14,400 environment steps per second on standard hardware, allowing for rapid training on millions of steps daily with a single GPU. Setup involves installing the Python package via pip after meeting dependencies like Python 3.8 and 3.15, enabling seamless integration with RL libraries through the API. For instance, agents can be trained using frameworks like TorchBeast for distributed RL, with provided examples demonstrating baseline performance on early-game tasks such as and . Despite its efficiency, NLE's high complexity—stemming from hundreds of interactable objects, monsters, and rules—often results in sample inefficiency for agents, making it particularly suited for evaluating generalization and robustness in RL rather than quick wins. This positions NLE as a rigorous benchmark beyond simpler grid worlds, emphasizing real-world-like challenges in AI training.

Research Impact and Studies

NetHack has emerged as a prominent benchmark in (RL) research, particularly for evaluating agents in complex, long-horizon environments with sparse rewards and . The (NLE), introduced in , has facilitated studies on exploration strategies, where agents must navigate vast state spaces to achieve distant goals like reaching deeper dungeon levels. For instance, DeepMind's work demonstrated that random network distillation (RND) for intrinsic motivation underperforms in gold-collection tasks due to the environment's sparsity, highlighting the need for more robust curiosity-driven methods. Key empirical studies have leveraged NetHack to test advanced RL paradigms. In the NeurIPS 2021 NetHack Challenge, participants developed agents aiming for ascension—the game's ultimate win condition—revealing that hybrid symbolic-neural approaches outperformed pure deep RL by over fourfold in median scores, underscoring challenges in generalization. The challenge evaluated performance on held-out seeds, with top entries achieving scores equivalent to early-game milestones but far from completion; it was a one-time event with no annual continuation. Applications include testing hierarchical RL for skill acquisition, where high-level policies decompose complex quests into subtasks like inventory management, and curiosity-driven to mitigate reward sparsity in procedurally generated levels. A 2023 NeurIPS paper on sample-efficient agents further explored these, showing that progress functions derived from data can guide RL to solve intermediate tasks like monster evasion with fewer samples than standard methods. Broader impacts include exposing the "roguelike hardness" of NetHack compared to simpler benchmarks like , where AI masters short-term tactics but falters on NetHack's combinatorial puzzles and long-term planning—demanding millions of steps without dense feedback. This has influenced research by modeling risks in extended horizons, such as unintended behaviors in sparse-reward settings that mimic real-world deployment challenges. Despite advances, limitations persist: RL agents often fail at logic-based puzzles requiring symbolic reasoning, as seen in challenge submissions where neural models scored below rule-based bots. Recent 2024-2025 works address this with transformer-based architectures, including large language models (LLMs) for zero-shot action prediction, achieving modest gains in mid-game survival by leveraging textual game logs for strategy inference—though full ascension remains unsolved. For example, 2025 studies have explored LLM-guided skill selection and scalable option learning in NetHack, continuing to push boundaries in agentic reasoning.

Legacy

Influence on Genre

NetHack played a foundational role in establishing core standards for the roguelike genre, particularly through its adherence to and expansion of elements like permadeath and procedural level generation. Permadeath, where character death is permanent and requires restarting from the beginning, became a defining feature codified in the Berlin Interpretation of 2008, with NetHack exemplifying this mechanic by deleting saves upon loading to emphasize replayability through randomness. Similarly, NetHack's procedural generation creates unique dungeons with fixed levels upon first entry, promoting exploration and unpredictability, which influenced the genre's emphasis on non-linear, replayable environments in games such as ADOM (Ancient Domains of Mystery), Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup (DCSS), and Brogue. These standards transformed roguelikes from simple dungeon crawlers into complex, high-stakes experiences focused on player adaptation rather than linear progression. Specific mechanics from NetHack, such as taming pets for combat assistance, powerful artifacts with unique properties, and alignment systems affecting monster interactions and divine favor, have been widely adopted across the genre. For instance, the pet system—introduced in NetHack's predecessor Hack and refined in NetHack—allows players to tame monsters that level up and aid in battles, a feature echoed in titles like Tales of Maj'Eyal, where companions provide tactical depth, and Pixel Dungeon, which incorporates tameable creatures for survival strategies. Artifacts, often tied to alignments (lawful, neutral, chaotic), introduce role-playing elements and risk-reward decisions, influencing games like Brogue with its rare, game-altering items and ADOM's alignment-based quests and penalties. This complexity encourages emergent gameplay, where interactions between items, monsters, and environments yield multiple solutions to challenges. NetHack's open-source model, released under a permissive since its early versions, democratized development and inspired a proliferation of free s, such as Angband and its derivatives, as well as mobile adaptations such as Shattered Pixel Dungeon, which builds on traditions for touch-based play. This philosophy fostered community-driven evolution, leading to balance approaches that prioritize "fair but punishing" design—where deaths stem from player error or misfortune rather than unfairness—as seen in DCSS, which refines NetHack's depth into a more streamlined yet unforgiving experience. By 2025, NetHack's legacy has contributed to the genre's expansion, with over 25 historical variants directly derived from it and the broader category on platforms like hosting hundreds of titles, evolving from a niche hobby to a mainstream indie staple.

Cultural Impact

NetHack has permeated gaming culture through its distinctive memes, particularly those centered on player mishaps and the game's notorious randomness. The term "YASD," standing for "Yet Another Stupid Death," emerged in the 1990s to describe avoidable character deaths caused by player error, such as quaffing unidentified potions or mishandling pets, and has been shared extensively on forums and Reddit since then. Similarly, "RNGesus" personifies the game's pseudorandom number generator (RNG) as a capricious deity players invoke for favorable outcomes, a slang term originating in roguelike communities, including those for NetHack and Angband, and spreading to broader gaming lexicon. These memes, often illustrated in fan animations and image macros on platforms like Imgur, underscore NetHack's permadeath mechanic and its role in fostering humorous post-mortem storytelling. Beyond memes, NetHack appears in various media as a touchstone for roguelike tropes and hacker culture. The webcomic Dudley's Dungeon is explicitly set in the NetHack universe, parodying its dungeon-crawling perils through ASCII-inspired art since 2000. In software, the GNU Screen terminal emulator incorporates NetHack-derived messages, such as "Suddenly, the dungeon collapses!" during disconnections, nodding to the game's environmental hazards. Other games feature subtle Easter eggs: the GCC compiler once attempted to launch NetHack upon detecting invalid C++ code as a humorous penalty, while Watch Dogs includes a "NetHack View" mode that overlays a blue-tinted, grainy filter to highlight hackable objects, evoking the game's interface. Books on game history, like David L. Craddock's Dungeon Hacks: How NetHack, Angband, and Other Roguelikes Changed the Course of Video Games (2015), highlight its enduring influence on procedural generation and player agency, positioning it as a foundational text in roguelike literature. NetHack's cultural significance is affirmed through its 2022 induction into the Museum of Modern Art's permanent collection as a landmark in , alongside scholarly and retrospective praise in retro gaming analyses, emphasizing its open-source evolution and depth since 1987. Community artifacts further amplify this legacy, including fan art shared on —such as pixelated depictions of monsters like the xenomorph or grid bugs—and chiptune soundtracks inspired by its ASCII aesthetic, like the orchestral score for the 2018 NetHack: Legacy port. Fanfiction archives host over six stories reimagining NetHack scenarios, blending its lore with original narratives. As of 2025, NetHack enjoys renewed interest through active community events, including the annual Junethack tournament and the Spring NetHackathon, which draw hundreds of participants to public servers for collaborative ascensions. Variants like NetHack: Legacy on since 2018 have introduced graphical interfaces to new audiences, sustaining discussions on podcasts about history and amplifying spoiler-free memes in online ecosystems.

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