The original roguelike, Rogue, is releasing on Steam
Yup, that smiley face is you
Neat news in the world of Rogue-likers, Rogue itself is getting a Steam release later this month. That's right, no flashy graphics here. Just good ol' text characters as the Dungeons of Doom were meant to be experienced. It will be available on October 20th.
If you've forgotten what Rogue was like before rogue-likes, here's your refresher course, courtesy of publisher Pixel Games UK: "In the early 1980s, a computer game emerged that changed the world of fantasy gaming forever. Randomly generated rooms meant that each journey into the infamous Dungeons of Doom was unique. The potent combination of random generation with perma-death proved to be intoxicating."
You're challenged to survive 26 levels of the Dungeons of Doom, gather gear, fight baddies, and sample magical potions. Most importantly, if you die, you're dead. No resurrections here, fellow fantasy dorks.
For the sticklers in the room, no, this is not the absolute first version of Rogue. It's Epyx Rogue, originally ported to the IBM PC by Jon Lane and original Rogue programmer Michael Toy. It was distributed by Epyx, voila: Epyx Rogue. This is Epyx Rogue v1.49. It's got colors, ooo!
You can drop into the Dungeons of Doom on October 20th over on Steam. A price hasn't been listed just yet.