OVER

Typical roguelike game has wide array of commands to remember, plethora of stuff to use and multitude of mysterious creatures. Add ASCII graphics with several other minor gameplay quirks and you have succesfully scared away another newbie. Over is largely unfinished but it has core elements of roguelikeness implemented. Just a few keys, almost no complexity. This makes it ideal to recommend for newcomer to the genre.

Enter name, pick a class and you are playing already. Well-drawn tiles allow to identify enemies by sight. If this is not the case approach it and whack over head (if it has one) to get its name revealed in message area. Over is typical hack and slash. See monster => kill monster. See a bunch of monsters => retreat into cooridor => kill monsters one by one. After gaining few levels check your pack out. There must be some toys to try out.

Inventory is accessed by pressing ‘i’. Clean and simple window appears where worn equipment can be changed. No sticky curses make it easy to discover properties of found items. Just try it out and see if its better. Spoilers are not needed. WC is weapon class. More is better. AC is your armour class. See WC. Deeper in game protection is slightly more important than offense.

Character has scores in three attributes. Strenght and dexterity are pretty obvious in what they do but intelligence plays a curious role. Every time you read a scroll or quaff a potion a roll is made against your IQ to determine whether you are able to remember glyphs or taste. In fact it makes identification by use much more advantageous for smart characters. Over is only game I know where players drink non-beneficial potions more that once because trying unidentified consumables gets them considerable benefits in the long run. Intelligence helps to take advantage of this faster.

Intense combat and some inventory management with minor tactical excersices is all Over has to offer. If you like this game you will soon crave to explore another roguelike to experience more of this goodness. This is why Over is worth notice. Unfortunately only supported platform is DOS. No go without DOSBox.

If you want some advice or spoilers read Over FAQ

More screenshots:

Reviewed for Roguetemple by Michal Bielinski