These days, it's hard to imagine an RPG without breathtaking vistas, huge monsters and intricately-detailed characters. As gaming has evolved, so too have RPGs — compare the simple, text-based adventure games to something like Final Fantasy XV, and it's easy to see just how far the genre has come.
Even with the grandiose visuals and gameplay mechanics of modern role-playing games, there's something charming about the old-school RPGs of yesteryear — and that's why NetHack is still around after all these years. The ASCII-based browser game might not have quite as big a following as it used to, but there are still plenty of dedicated fans jumping in to play the randomized dungeon crawler, despite the fact that NetHack's last proper update launched over a decade ago.
Now, for the first time in well over a decade, NetHack is getting an upgrade: on Dec. 7, the development team behind the game broke a months-long silence to announce that NetHack would finally be updated for the first time since 2003.
For those who have never heard of NetHack, it basically plays like any number of early role-playing games: players navigate through dungeons, slay monsters, use magic, find treasure and ultimately save the day. Also, just like its inspirations, NetHack can be brutally punishing: as a Rogue-like, players don't get any extra lives. Once your character bites the dust, that's it.
The game's major twist is two-fold: not only is the entire game playable in-browser, but all of its visuals are handled with simple ASCII characters. It can be somewhat overwhelming at first, but once you understand what all of the different characters are supposed to represent, it's easy to start hacking and slashing your way through the game's tiny text-based world.
It'll be interesting to see where NetHack goes from here: while there's no guarantee that the game will be updated any more frequently than it has been, there's always a chance that the 3.6 update is the start of something bigger. At this point, there's no telling where NetHack will go — but if it can survive for more than a decade without an update, it probably won't be going anywhere anytime soon.
If you're looking to try the game out for yourself, head on over to the official Nethack site for the free download.
