ADOM (Ancient Domains Of Mystery)

Ancients Domains of Mystery is a classic game by every possible standard. It was originally released twenty-seven years ago for PC, by an independent group of developers and programmers, and published by Thomas Biskup. This classic title was a huge success amongst the gaming community upon release, but its success endured decades granting it a high-definition re-release in 2015.

The game was also one of the first roguelikes to achieve mainstream success, and reach a wider audience of dedicated fans. The remastered version is surely an improvement in numerous ways, even if it retains a lot of the original game’s visuals, features, and mechanics. Most notably though is the backend part of the title which runs a lot smoother, cleaner than its original counterpart.

Ancient History

Players are placed on a planet called Arcadia, a fictional world that resided in the Drakalor Chains, a mountainous environment that for six centuries has known peace and quiet. Suddenly though things start to change as random reports of frightening monstrous inhabiting dungeons and creating havoc start to surface.

Intrigued by the stories being told through arcadia a powerful sage named Khelavaster, uncovers and relays the prophecy of Coming of Chaos to the people. The prophecy tells the story of a hero that will combat and stop the chaotic events that will befall arcadia. Players are tasked with that hero and set out on a journey to fulfill their prophecy. A nice touch here is that even twenty-seven years ago the game had multiple endings that took into consideration the player’s actions and decisions in-game.

Roguelikes is not Lite

The genre has had an extensive love & hate relationship with the gaming community, especially in recent years, where accessibility, inclusion, and social responsibilities became important topics within the industry. Ancients Domains of Mystery, is a roguelike just like modern ones, it is hard, unforgiving, randomly generated, exhaustive and extremely challenging.

At the same time, the game seemed very ahead of its time for the complex and rich features it included from choosing the sex of the characters to offering over twenty sub-classes that influenced the game. Features like corruption which can benefit or damage characters were recently seen in games such as Returnal (PS5), harvesting, smithing, and “monster memory” (database), were also seen in games such as the extremely awarded Hades.

It is always worth noting that roguelike games are hard, unforgiven, and borderline unfair at times. Losing most - if not all your progress, getting instantly killed off, and losing a character or a save is not a pleasant experience for all gamers. The game is extremely fun for fans of the genre, and way ahead of its time, the challenge is finely tuned and isn’t as hard as some other roguelike titles.

Players can have multiple characters, which means exploring multiple runs, but every time the game is loaded that save is deleted, which means players can’t abuse save files, and all deaths are permanent.

PROS:

• Challenging
• Original Concepts
• Vast Customization
• Consequence on Choices
• Cool Story

CONS:

• Difficulty Can Be Dissuading
• Feels Strictly Unfair at Times