GnollHack

GnollHack is a modern take on the legendary NetHack — the deepest traditional roguelike ever made. Experience the same intricate gameplay, emergent interactions, and brutal challenge, now brought to life with full graphics, sounds, and voiceovers. Playable on PC and mobile, GnollHack makes the roguelike classic more immersive and accessible than ever — without losing the hardcore depth veterans love.

Overview

Traditional Roguelike

GnollHack is a traditional roguelike, being based on the game design of Rogue. Thus, GnollHack features:

  • Turn-based gameplay
  • Grid-based movement
  • Procedural generation of dungeons and items
  • Permadeath (classic mode only)
  • A great number of different game mechanics
  • High fantasy world

NetHack Variant

GnollHack is also a true NetHack variant that retains most of its mechanics, complexity, and spirit, while adding new features. GnollHack is aimed at making NetHack more beginner-friendly while at the same time trying to keep the game interesting for veterans, especially in the late game. In this regard, GnollHack introduces:

  • Difficulty levels
  • In-game item and monster information
  • In-game hints and quest and gameplay guidance
  • Removal of unnecessary instant-death situations
  • Large number of new late-game monsters
  • Interesting late-game items

NetHack Remaster

GnollHack can also be viewed as a NetHack remaster, adding the following modern features:

  • Graphics
  • Animations
  • Sounds
  • Music
  • Voiceovers
  • Cross-platform support: Android, iOS, macOS, and Windows
    • macOS can run the iOS version (Macs with an M1 or later processor)
  • Mobile touch-based UI on Android and iOS
  • Modern UI for desktop, adapted from the mobile UI
    • Windows supports touch, mouse, and keyboard
    • macOS supports mouse only (keyboard support coming in the future)

Open Source

GnollHack is an open-source game, based on NetHack's source code. This means that you can fork it.

  • GnollHack's code is licensed under NetHack General Public License.
  • GnollHack's graphics and sounds are licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International Public License.

GnollHack is developed by Sound Mind Games, a nonprofit organization based in Finland, working in the fields of gaming and mental health.

Getting Started

Playing

Dungeons of Doom

Game Configuration

  • Settings — GnollHack's modern ports have settings, which can be used to configure the game
  • Options — You can configure GnollHack via a NetHack-style Options file

Online Sharing

Additional Information

Development

Contributions

Contact Us

Legal Information