NetHack
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| d . _ |
+---+---.---+-----+
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| bones: do not |
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ASCII illustration
A dungeon dense with consequences.
1987: first NetHack releases; 2026: version 5.0.0.
By Mike Stephenson and the NetHack DevTeam.
Mike Stephenson brought together changes from Hack and its ports into NetHack in 1987. Its name refers to development through the network. The ordinary game remains a solitary expedition.
NetHack’s distinctive pleasure is learning how things interact. A pet can be useful in ways a sword is not. An object may be food, a tool, a hazard or an answer to a problem you have not met yet. Surviving requires more than comparing equipment bonuses. It requires paying attention to the world’s peculiar rules.
Later versions added a branching dungeon, role quests and a much larger endgame. The shared work continued over decades: version 5.0.0 appeared on 2 May 2026. A release number here describes one point in a long conversation among maintainers and players.
Its bones levels can also carry traces of a previous dead adventurer into a later game. Few features make a shared dungeon feel haunted so economically.
Kernigh’s session on nethack.alt.org, 22 October 2005. This is NetHack 3.4.3, not the current edition.
Sources
NetHack guidebook, including bones and development history