Nethack

[Umiman]

I just started playing this... mostly because I never had the time to learn how to play it before this. The learning curve is not as steep as Dwarf Fortress, but still quite intimidating. If you're interested, you might want to check out the wiki: http://nethack.wikia.com/wiki/Main_Page

Anyway, this game is awesome. But it's insanely hard. Let me tell you some of the ways I've died so far. I've yet to beat the game, heck, I haven't even managed to get past the eighth dungeon level (ergo: not even close to halfway).

First time playing: Went the wrong way, exited dungeon

Second (30 seconds later): Pressed the wrong button, quit without saving

Third: Tried to rob a shopkeeper, got incinerated by magic missile

Fourth: Ate a kobold corpse, died of poisoning

Fifth: Murdered by a mimic hiding in shopkeeper's inventory, shopkeeper happily took all my items after my death... Itsuki.

Sixth: Electrocuted by electrical fungus

Seventh: Killed by a horde of sewer rats

Eighth: Bashed by a hobgoblin

Ninth: Bitten to death by a swarm of snakes who took offense to me drinking water from the fountain they were in

Tenth: Accidentally polymorphed myself into an ochre jelly, accidentally polymorphed my pet kitten into a clay golem when trying to unpolymorph myself, accidentally polymorphed all my gear into food, accidentally polymorphed a nearby monster into a frost giant, got kicked to death by a horse when trying to run away from the frost giant.

Eleventh: Exploded when I ate too much

Twelfth: Broke into a giant-ant hill, massacred by giant ants

Thirteenth: Died of food poisoning... damn merchant selling rotten food!

Fourteenth: Paralyzed by a floating eye and eaten alive by rats

15th: Disintegrated by my own god after I killed my pet

16th: Crushed by a water demon who took offense to me drinking from the fountain he was living in

17th: Accidentally polymorphed my buxom accidentally-turned-MALE valkyrie into a frail and geeky human and got stampeded by a black unicorn

[AuraTwilight]

Nethack is probably one of the coolest games ever made. I beat it on my 87th attempt. I feel like a pro.

[Umiman]

Took me 3 days. Muhahaha! Around my 20th attempt.

[Rectifier]

I have no idea what nethack is, where I can get it, and how to play it.

The most I know is that it is an (hard?) RPG game.

[Umiman]

Google is your friend.

Get it here (tiny program): http://www.nethack.org/

Lots of information here: http://nethack.wikia.com/wiki/Main_Page

Tutorial here: http://strategywiki.org/wiki/NetHack/Beginning

Controls here: http://strategywiki.org/wiki/NetHack/Controls

Information here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NetHack

It's one of the hardest games I played. It's quite possibly harder than most of those insane shoot'em ups too because those are essentially just lots and lots of memorization and with enough time, anyone can win. With enough time that is. This is more like Diablo (It's really the ancestor of Diablo, but that isn't right. More like the sequel to the ancestor of Diablo) with more content and a lot, lot more need on luck.

Really, it's impossible for your first few characters to live. Heck, most people would be shocked if your first character made it past level 10. That's one huge achievement.

[Rectifier]

Well, my first character got stuck in a trap and my second died of starvation....good times.