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NetHack: Ahead of Your Time
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One Game Feature by MAtt Dujnic, 3/25/08
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NetHack. I remember you. You and your randomly-generated dungeons. The insurmountable difficulty. And those ASCII graphics, oddly charming. When we met, you were just 'Hack,' and I was just in middle school. I ran you off a five-inch floppy. You taunted me, murdered my @vatar, and deleted my game-saves, because you were a cruel mistress who believed in real death.
But you, yourself, did not die. The Internet got a hold of you, christened you NetHack, and poured even more monsters and traps into you. I'm not sure what brought me back to you, but you're free, and you run on everything, so it was easy. Exploring you again, I do feel the old magic. You were a game twenty years ahead of your time. Aside from visual limitations (which I still find charming), your sophistication is contemporary.
This gets me wondering. What modern classic is twenty years ahead of now? I can't find it. Peter Moleneux prattles about having pet dog in Fable 2. You have pet dogs, NetHack. And cats. And dragons, if I play cleverly enough.
Diablo, World of Warcraft: it's all about the mad loot. Well, you have mad loot. In fact, you have the maddest loot: you shuffle the names of all items every time I play and then challenge me to identify everything or die trying (commonly, the latter). It doesn't get much madder than that.
And then there's that procedural content buzzword. Will Wright's Spore, most prominently. I'll have endless worlds to explore in Spore. But you have that already, too. Randomly-generated dungeons ensure a fresh and unique adventure every time I play.
There are several things you don't have (sound, for one). But I navigate the map, read text, and use my imagination (remember imagination?). That's quite enough. In some ways, it's better, because I imagine your worlds in resolutions beyond 1080p.
So, NetHack, can any game stand up, in the way that you stand up, in twenty years? Pac-Man will still be around, but simple games are immortal because of their simplicity. What of a game that is so complex and sophisticated that it will be another twenty years before we match it (as we are, only now, matching your sophistication)? Or are you (like the aforementioned Pac Man) a foundational game, and no other foundations can be built?
Interesting questions, NetHack. I have lots of interesting questions. But none are as interesting as loading up a new dungeon and letting you kill me again. Twenty years from now, I might still be up for Yet Another Stupid Death.
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'Ahead of Your Time'
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#&rendershop#
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