NetHack, one of the best and most beloved roguelike games, gets a new version after over 12 years of development. The new version doesn’t introduce too many changes to the game but it redesigns the structure of its source code for the sake of easier development of future releases (hopefully more often than before).

The most obviously visible  changes to the game are in its interface as it includes several fan patches and interface improvements from variants (mods) of the game like NetHack 4 and UnNetHack. Many of those features could be seen in the leaked 3.5 version from the late 2014. On a more substantial level, some of the gameplay features have been rebalanced: crowning is more useful as it gives players an additional skill slot, engraving ‘Elbereth’ is less powerful as it works only if the player stands on a  square which contains it, an extended command #tip has been added to allow players to tip the containers to empty them (useful when unable to open them manually due to having a cursed two-handed weapon equipped). The update also limits the efficiency of farming tactics.

It’s great to see the return of such a classic title. Let’s hope that DevTeam will keep improving NetHack and doesn’t make us wait 12 years for the next version.