EvilHack

So you thought NetHack was a punishingly tough game that took ages to clear for the first time?

You haven't seen anything yet.

EvilHack is a NetHack variant created by Keith "K2" Simpson. Initially based on NetHack 3.6.2, the variant has since diverged into its own relatively unique take on the old-edition-Dungeons & Dragons-like world that NetHack began life with, while merging in interesting-enough changes from later versions of NetHack as it is developed (along with other variants).

EvilHack was designed from the outset to be a much more difficult game to win; while not at all impossible to ascend, several aspects of this game that the player might take for granted from vanilla NetHack have been changed and can easily end a promising run. In general, monsters are tougher and have more hit points, they can fight more intelligently, and they can and will use a variety of items and spells against you that previously only the player could use. While plenty of improvements have been made for the player as well, EvilHack still present a significant challenge for even the seasoned player.

The variants GruntHack and SporkHack are cited as major inspirations, incorporating many of the same features that make those variants difficult in their own right. Elements from other variants (e.g. Slash'EM, SpliceHack, UnNetHack, and xNetHack) as well as from later and newer version of the vanilla NetHack are included; while some of those features have remained many have been altered to set them apart and provide the player with a new experience, and there is also a significant amount of custom content not found in any other variant, with much more to be added in the near future.

Work on EvilHack first began on October 20th, 2018, and it was released for public play in April of 2019 on the Hardfought public NetHack servers. The Github repository for EvilHack can be found at https://github.com/k21971/EvilHack; a direct link to the change log can be found here, and is updated on a regular basis.

The game can be played on Hardfought, and the official releases, which include Windows binaries, can be found at this link. This page lists the players that have successfully ascended.


 * Acquired Poison Immunity: Played with from the original NetHack; intrinsic resistances are now obtained and measured by percentage, and can wear off as time passes. Depending on the corpse, you can gain anywhere from 5% to 50% of a given resistance.
 * Adam Smith Hates Your Guts: In addition to the vanilla game's instances, EvilHack allows shopkeepers to be a variety of different species, and pricing can be further affected by how your player character's race is regarded by theirs.
 * And Your Reward Is Clothes: Regular clothing and armor can now be gifted by your god, among various other things. Great if you get a solid set of magical gloves or a shirt as a gift - not so great if you get a pair of fumble boots...
 * EvilHack also integrates modified versions of the popular "object materials" and "object properties" patches to increase the variety of types of clothing and armor you can encounter in the game, ranging from mundane materials such as cloth and plastic to more exotic ones such as dragonhide.
 * Artificial Brilliance: Every single intelligent monster now has a greater capacity for item usage - all monsters now have the same armor class damage reduction as players, and intelligent monsters can use many more items against the player or for their own benefit - making use of bags and taking them back out, obtaining wishes and using them, activating figurines, unlocking and looting locked containers, wearing most rings, reading scrolls of remove curse to uncurse items, recharging wands using scrolls of charging, utilizing more powerful wands against the player...
 * Cerberus: Now guards the entrance to Gehennom.
 * Color-Coded for Your Convenience
 * Contractual Boss Immunity: Expanded from the original game. All quest leaders and nemeses, along with all demon lords and princes, are now immune to magic-based scaring.
 * Demon Lords and Archdevils: The demon lords from NetHack are all given their own special levels, meaning that theres no longer any Optional Bosses among them. Hope you're prepared to take down Demogorgon!
 * Detect Magic: Wizards now have a similar ability to Priests that gives them innate knowledge of whether or not an object is magical in nature.
 * Eldritch Abomination: Shambling horrors, whose basic stats and qualities change from game to game.
 * Epic Flail: Yeenoghu now has his trademark triple-headed-flail, named Butcher, as an artifact weapon.
 * Even Evil Has Standards: Not any more, they don't!
 * ...okay, that's not completely true, but the gloves are very much off this time. For example, per Artificial Brilliance above, monsters will play a lot more unscrupulously in their attempts to kill you. What do you mean that soldier wished for a cockatrice corpse!?
 * In a straighter example, however, almost every monster will try to kill zombies as soon as possible, even if only to avoid being infected themselves.
 * Everything Trying to Kill You: If you thought NetHack had it out for you, think again!
 * Half-Human Hybrid: Half-dragons are a playable race, and even come with their own breath weapon (randomly selected at generation).
 * Let's You and Him Fight: EvilHack uses a heavily modified variant of something known as the "grudge patch", which causes monsters with enmity between each other (e.g. elves and orcs) to fight among themselves.
 * Master Swordsman: The Knight's skill tree is adjusted to improve their proficiency in all types of swords.
 * Mirror Boss: Player monsters are far more frequent and can now spawn in the main dungeon, including as part of bones files, and will have kits similar to what an average player would be expected to have at their level.
 * Mounted Combat: Made available to all roles. Enemies are now capable of this as well, and many new and returning monsters are generated riding steeds of some kind.
 * Nintendo Hard: Even the most seasoned veteran NetHackers will have their hands full.
 * Nonstandard Game Over:
 * Our Dragons Are Different: There are far more variants, and almost all of them can now engulf and digest the player similar to purple worms. Dragon scales also take a page from SporkHack's book, possessing new secondary abilities based on their element. Unfortunately for the player, that also applies to the dragons themselves.
 * Knights are now incapable of taming dragons, as they are considered natural enemies.
 * Of particular note is the pseudodragon from dNetHack, which resembles a "true" dragon in appearance but is smaller and far more docile on average, making it more suitable as a familiar; half-dragons and wizards can start with a tiny pseudodragon, and they can grow to rival "true" dragons in size and power.
 * Our Zombies Are Different: Probably the most significant monster change in EvilHack, and one of the key changes that makes this variant so difficult. Zombies now have poisonous 'claw' attacks and disease-inducing bites that target the head and can cause amnesia. Both attacks alone can more then easily end an early-game character; being killed by illness from the latter (or else eating a raw zombie corpse) turns the player into a zombie, and even if they luck out and are able to continue playing, they'll be stuck in that form for the remainder of the game. The same can happen to other monsters, who will also take the necessary precautions to avoid dying if possible.
 * Required Secondary Powers: Half-dragon characters are immune to damage from the element of their breath weapon.
 * Rodents of Unusual Size: One of the new creatures added to the other large rats within the "rodent" class - giant rats can now grow up into enormous rats, which in turn can become R.O.U.S.
 * Shapeshifter Mode Lock: Some tamed shape-changing monsters, minus vampires and were-creatures, will revert back to their original form if "killed" in their polymorphed form, and cannot change form again once this happens.
 * Unusable Enemy Equipment: Played straight with Orcus's wand, now an artifact heavy mace that he drops upon his defeat - it can't be picked up by the player, and will harm them if they try. This is otherwise averted as with vanilla NetHack.
 * Downplayed with certain artifacts that cannot be wished for; these are mostly associated with bosses you are guaranteed to encounter, and thus do not count the towards the number generated for purposes of wishing for others.
 * Video Game Stealing: The Rogue now has an actual theft attack.