Everyone thinks of Rogue for Roguelikes as a genre and while Rogue is the father of the genre, Angband is its more successful but also somewhat neglected son that lingers on in undeserved obscurity but thrives nevertheless in the knowledge that its obscurity grants it safety.
Angband, particularly its modernized evolutions that most people play today, really does a lot of work to demystify the actual act of playing and leave the mysteries where they belong, in the actual act of playing the game itself. While the genre of Roguelikes has done much to polish all of its edges and friction away into a smooth orb that is magnetically attracted to your player and dispenses health boosts, Angband retains much of the unrestrained systemic interactions that make a dungeon crawler good. The exploits remain present as both a method to rapidly advance and as a way to endow you with unbridled hubris and blow yourself up fighting a chaos drake that you thought was a baby dragon.
The joy of roguelikes ultimately comes from how much they allow the random generations to run wild, and Angband really is the penultimate form of that unbridled randomness coupled with the haphazard pastiche Tolkeinsian mythology of 90s rpgs to really immerse you in its simple but deep world. Every time you die and see your high score climbing a little bit higher you are overcome with an urge to immediately start another 14 hour run but this time you won't fall for that infinitely spawning Hummerhorn shit...
Angband, particularly its modernized evolutions that most people play today, really does a lot of work to demystify the actual act of playing and leave the mysteries where they belong, in the actual act of playing the game itself. While the genre of Roguelikes has done much to polish all of its edges and friction away into a smooth orb that is magnetically attracted to your player and dispenses health boosts, Angband retains much of the unrestrained systemic interactions that make a dungeon crawler good. The exploits remain present as both a method to rapidly advance and as a way to endow you with unbridled hubris and blow yourself up fighting a chaos drake that you thought was a baby dragon.
The joy of roguelikes ultimately comes from how much they allow the random generations to run wild, and Angband really is the penultimate form of that unbridled randomness coupled with the haphazard pastiche Tolkeinsian mythology of 90s rpgs to really immerse you in its simple but deep world. Every time you die and see your high score climbing a little bit higher you are overcome with an urge to immediately start another 14 hour run but this time you won't fall for that infinitely spawning Hummerhorn shit...
lot of depth and probably the pre-2000s roguelike i enjoy the most in the context of modern developments in the genre. encourages scumming a little too hard as a consequence of its much more ponderous approach towards pacing, but if you're not rushing to progress it can feel almost relaxing. realistically you're probably playing one if its many variants as opposed to the base game, as angband has a ton of them in active development even now
okay guys i have an idea,. what if. check this out are you listening. what if diablo,, was good
the tactical combat and loot table aspects of roguelikes polished to a sheen, and absolutely nothing else. dont expect to like it if you are primarily into hack or qud. rumour has it beating frogcomposband gets you guaranteed entry to greybeard valhalla
the tactical combat and loot table aspects of roguelikes polished to a sheen, and absolutely nothing else. dont expect to like it if you are primarily into hack or qud. rumour has it beating frogcomposband gets you guaranteed entry to greybeard valhalla
One of the classic Roguelikes! Long, complicated, rewarding.
You guys. I've played this game off and on for 26 years as of the writing of this review. I have never beat it. Probably never even made it halfway. I'm just too impatient and unlucky, I guess!
I started playing Angband in college. I was stuck with an x86 PC of some kind I can't remember that a parent got from a work trash can, probably. Having grown up with video games, I wasn't about to quit just because my computer was trash (literally). I found a few games the old beast could play, and Angband became one of my favorites.
No-nonsense, Ascii graphics defined the dungeons and monsters that would repeatedly murder me over the years. Like any fantasy/sci-fi admiring nerd, the Tolkien world provided the motivation to return to the mines of Moria... I mean Angband, many times on many different personal computers. Mostly I've played it on Mac and tend to play with the graphic tiles now, to be honest, but it all started on that old PC.
The gaming is surprisingly complex, with various types of combat and magic, a wide array of items to manage, a horde of monsters and unique monsters, and numerous traps and dangers like starvation or just plain getting lost. It's not an easy game, but it does draw you back in to give it another go. Actually, doing the research for this little review has informed me there's a new version, so I should probably download that and see how fast I die these days...
Review from thedonproject.com
I started playing Angband in college. I was stuck with an x86 PC of some kind I can't remember that a parent got from a work trash can, probably. Having grown up with video games, I wasn't about to quit just because my computer was trash (literally). I found a few games the old beast could play, and Angband became one of my favorites.
No-nonsense, Ascii graphics defined the dungeons and monsters that would repeatedly murder me over the years. Like any fantasy/sci-fi admiring nerd, the Tolkien world provided the motivation to return to the mines of Moria... I mean Angband, many times on many different personal computers. Mostly I've played it on Mac and tend to play with the graphic tiles now, to be honest, but it all started on that old PC.
The gaming is surprisingly complex, with various types of combat and magic, a wide array of items to manage, a horde of monsters and unique monsters, and numerous traps and dangers like starvation or just plain getting lost. It's not an easy game, but it does draw you back in to give it another go. Actually, doing the research for this little review has informed me there's a new version, so I should probably download that and see how fast I die these days...
Review from thedonproject.com
The beginning of the end of video games.
Play Frogcomposband, the bigger variety of stuff makes the grind easier on the soul.
#2 install on a new linux system
most old traditional roguelikes suck, sorry