⚡ At a Glance
| Feature | 🧙♂️ NetHack | 🐺 GnollHack | 📱 Pathos: NetHack Codex |
|---|---|---|---|
| Faithfulness to NetHack | 💯 100% (The original) | ✅ High — Authentic NetHack engine, dungeon layout, and emergent mechanics, expanded with modern RPG depth | ⚠️ Moderate — Uses NetHack names and themes, but features completely rewritten rules and mechanics |
| Mobile & Touch UI | ❌ None officially (relies on third-party ports with on-screen keyboards) | ✅ Native touch-first UI with context menus (no keyboard required) | ✅ Native touch-first UI with context menus (no keyboard required) |
| Graphics & Animations | 🖥️ ASCII text or basic static 2D tiles | ✨ High-resolution 64x96–192x192 tiles with real animations | ✨ Retro 2D tile sets with animations |
| Audio | 🔇 Silent | 🔊 Full music soundtrack, spatial sound effects, and 5,000+ voiceovers | 🔊 Sound effects and background music (no voiceovers) |
| Beginner Accessibility | 💀 Brutal single difficulty; mandatory permadeath; requires external wikis | 🌟 7 difficulty levels, optional non-permadeath modes, in-game stats, hints, and the Gnoll Overseer AI assistant | 📖 Built-in encyclopedia/codex; instant revive upon death (with a score/fame penalty) |
🧬 The Core Difference: True Fork vs. Reimagining
New players often assume GnollHack and Pathos are simply different graphical skins over the same game. In reality, they are built on completely different foundations:
🐺 GnollHack: Authentic NetHack Engine, Modernized
Because GnollHack is a direct fork of NetHack 3.6.2, the original simulation is still running underneath the graphics:
- True Emergent Gameplay: Almost all of the classic "the DevTeam thinks of everything" interactions work just as they do in vanilla NetHack.
- Faithful Dungeon Topology: You explore the authentic NetHack world—the Dungeons of Doom, the Gnomish Mines, Sokoban, Vlad's Tower, the class-specific Quest, Gehennom, and the Elemental Planes.
- Expanded, Not Simplified: Rather than stripping away NetHack's mechanical richness to fit mobile screens, GnollHack makes that depth accessible through context-sensitive menus, detailed in-game item descriptions, and an overhaul of combat, loot, and magic.
📱 Pathos: A Streamlined Adaptation from Scratch
Pathos was written from the ground up by solo developer Callan Hodgskin to make a fast, approachable mobile roguelike inspired by NetHack:
- A Different Ruleset: While you will recognize familiar NetHack monsters (like grid bugs, mind flayers, and liches) and items (like bags of holding and scrolls of identify), the math and mechanics behind them are written from scratch. Strategies learned on the NetHack Wiki frequently do not apply to Pathos.
- Streamlined Systems: Pathos replaces several complex NetHack pillars with simpler RPG mechanics. For example, NetHack's intricate three-alignment religion, prayer, and sacrifice system is replaced by a single Karma resource, and elemental resistances work on a percentage scale rather than NetHack's intrinsic/extrinsic property system.
- Sandbox & Party Features: Because it is built on its own engine, Pathos offers features outside the traditional NetHack scope, such as controlling a party of up to six adventurers, local co-op, crafting workbenches, and alternative campaign modules (like overworld adventures).
⚔️ Gameplay and Mechanics Comparison
| System | 🧙♂️ NetHack | 🐺 GnollHack | 📱 Pathos: NetHack Codex |
|---|---|---|---|
| Religion & Alignment | ⚖️ Lawful, Neutral, and Chaotic gods; altar sacrifices, prayer timeouts, and crowning gifts | ⚖️ Faithful NetHack deity, altar, and prayer system, expanded with temple services for gold | ☯️ Simplified Karma points gained by killing enemies and spent at shrines |
| Magic & Spells | 🧠 Memorize spellbooks; spells fade from memory over time (~40 spells) | 🔮 Prepare 200+ spells using material reagents; spells are never forgotten | ⭐ Read spellbooks to learn and upgrade spells up to 3 stars; uses mana |
| Loot & Equipment | 🗡️ Standard items with +1/+2 enchantments; 7 armor/weapon slots |
💎 ARPG-style loot with quality tiers, mythic/legendary affixes, and 22 equipment slots | 🛠️ Standard items with crafting workbenches to scrap and forge gear |
| Identification | ❓ Tedious price-ID, engraving-ID, and blind-testing; relies on external spoilers | 🔍 Plentiful identification scrolls/wands, paid NPC identification, and detailed in-game item stats | 📖 Built-in Codex shows item pools; NPCs and shrines can identify gear |
| Lethality & Insta-Deaths | ☠️ Sudden, unforgiving instant deaths (drowning, stoning, sickness, choking) | ⏳ Many instant deaths are delayed by several turns, giving you a fair chance to react | ⚖️ More predictable damage scaling and fewer obscure instant-death traps |
| Permadeath & Modes | 🔴 Mandatory permadeath only | 🟢 Choose between strict permadeath (Classic Mode) or checkpoint resurrection (Modern Mode) | 🟡 Instant revive on the spot whenever you die, at the cost of leaderboard eligibility |
| Difficulty Settings | ❌ 1 fixed, brutal difficulty | ✅ 7 difficulty levels (from beginner-friendly Standard to Grand Master) | ❌ 1 standard difficulty per campaign module |
💻 Platform Availability and Ecosystem
Both GnollHack and Pathos are 100% free with no ads, microtransactions, or paywalls.
| Platform / Feature | 🧙♂️ NetHack | 🐺 GnollHack | 📱 Pathos: NetHack Codex |
|---|---|---|---|
| Android | ⚠️ Unofficial ports only | ✅ Official on Google Play | ✅ Official on Google Play |
| iOS (iPhone / iPad) | ⚠️ Unofficial ports only (e.g., iNetHack2) | ✅ Official on Apple App Store | ✅ Official on Apple App Store |
| Windows | ✅ Official download from nethack.org
|
✅ Official on Steam | ✅ Official on Microsoft Store and desktop installer. Coming to Steam. |
| macOS | ✅ Official download / Homebrew | ✅ Runs on Apple Silicon Macs (M1+) via App Store | ❌ No native macOS app |
| Linux | ✅ Official support. Many distributions' package managers may include a prebuilt binary. | ✅ Official on Steam | ⚠️ Unofficial ports only |
| Cross-Device Cloud Saves | ❌ Only when playing ASCII via SSH on public servers | ✅ Built-in cloud Save File Transfer across Android, iOS, and Windows | ❌ Local saves only |
| Bones Sharing | ⚠️ Requires public SSH servers or third-party Hearse tool | ✅ Automatic cross-platform Bones Sharing via GnollHack Account | ✅ Built-in revenant/bones sharing |
| Language Support | 🌐 English only | 🌐 English only | 🌐 Translated into multiple languages |
💡 Which One Should You Play?
- 🐺 Play GnollHack if:
- You want the authentic NetHack experience—with its legendary depth, emergent interactions, and classic dungeon branches—brought to life with a modern touchscreen UI.
- You appreciate high production values, including hand-drawn animated graphics, a full musical score, and over 5,000 lines of human voice acting.
- You are a new player who wants selectable difficulty levels, optional non-permadeath modes (Modern Mode and Casual Mode), and an in-game AI assistant to help you learn without constantly alt-tabbing to a wiki.
- You are a NetHack veteran looking for a fresh tactical challenge with ARPG-style mythic loot, 200+ reagent-based spells, and expanded late-game content.
- 📱 Play Pathos: NetHack Codex if:
- You want a lighter, faster-paced adaptation inspired by NetHack that doesn't require learning NetHack's quirks, alignment rules, or survival hazards.
- You want to experiment with multi-character party control, co-op multiplayer, or custom campaign modules.
- You need a game localized into a language other than English.
- 🧙♂️ Play Vanilla NetHack if:
- You are a traditionalist who prefers playing with a physical keyboard and ASCII characters in a terminal (or on public SSH servers like Hardfought), and you enjoy mastering an uncompromising 1980s classic alongside the community wiki.
📖 See Also
- Comparisons to Other Games
- How GnollHack differs from NetHack
- NetHack 5.0 vs. GnollHack Release 3
- Roguelike Comparison
- Starting Guide for Beginners
- Download