Game News ADOM released on Steam

[Infinitron]

Tags: Ancient Domains of Mystery; Thomas Biskup

Back in 2012, development on classic roguelike Ancient Domains of Mystery (commonly known as ADOM) was restarted after a nine year hiatus thanks to a successful IndieGogo campaign. After over three years of arduous development, during which creator Thomas Biskup nearly suffered an emotional breakdown or two, the game is now available on Steam for $15 minus 10% launch discount. Here's the trailer and description from its Steam page:

ADOM (Ancient Domains Of Mystery) is one of the most successful roguelike games ever created, boasting a brilliant mix of story, RPG, exploration, and intensely strategic and flexible combat. The Steam version adds various Deluxe features like achievements, difficulty level customization and various play modes (e.g. a story mode allowing to save and restore games, a weekly challenge game, an exploration mode and more). ADOM has been in development since 1994. In 2012 its development was revitalized with an immensely successful crowdfunding campaign on Indiegogo, now allowing us to offer ADOM both with ASCII and graphical modes enabling you to choose freely.

ADOM is primarily known for being the first roguelike to include vibrant towns, NPC dialog, and quests, but it offers more than just a rich story line in a complex fantasy world:

• a huge game world with hundreds of locations such as towns, randomized dungeons, elemental temples, graveyards, ancient ruins, towers and other secrets
• loads of races (dwarves, drakelings, mist elves, hurthlings, orcs, trolls, ratlings and many others) and even more classes (fighters, elementalists, assassins, chaos knights, duelists and much more) allowing for infinite play styles
• hundreds of monsters and items, many with enhanced random features
• a corruption system forcing you to balance lust for power with fear of damnation (corruptions slowly transform you into a vile monster but at the same time grant inhuman benefits - most of the time)
• spells, prayers, mindcraft, alchemy, crafting and more
• dozens of quests and branching story lines
• numerous wildly different endings that might alter reality itself (simply drive Chaos away or slay a god or even become an immortal yourself, and others more)!
• various game modes (story mode to be able to load and save games, challenge mode to face peculiar weekly challenges, exploration mode for a free wand of wishing and more)
• various customization options (turning hunger off, turning corruption off, modifying monster difficulty or treasure rates)

What's that, you say? "ADOM costs money now? Heresy!" Well, don't worry, earlier builds are still available for free on the game's website. To get the latest and greatest version with all the Steam features, though, you'll need to pay up. After working on this game for more than twenty years, I think the guy deserves it. For more information on ADOM, check out our review from earlier this year.

 

[Elwro]

Play at least the free ASCII version. It's still the awesome game it was years ago, with some welcome additions.

 

[Zephyr Arsland]

Cool. Perhaps a "true" roguelike will help define the term for younger generations.

 

[mediocrepoet]

How is this a roguelike? I don't see any jumping or shooting.

 

[Licaon_Kter]

No cover mechanics? Come on, this is 2015 FFS

 

[pakoito]

Cool. Perhaps a "true" roguelike will help define the term for younger generations.

If ToME couldn't do it, I doubt ADOM will.

 

[getter77]

A great classic that is well worth it. Also important to note: Once this Steam situation gets duly settled and situated, the team can finally get back to knocking out all the remaining new content they'd aimed to as per the IGG campaign---of which there's a fairly decent bit to look forward to once they start getting all the Roadmap stuff updated in full again.

 

[Licaon_Kter]

If ToME couldn't do it, I doubt ADOM will.

This should: www.pixeldungeon.watabou.ru/
It has mobile versions that work.

I die on the go in this version: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.shatteredpixel.shatteredpixeldungeon
The touch friendly interface makes it easy, digital natives like that, tested it

 

[Ignatius Reilly]

Is there any Lutefisk in this game?

 

[Jasede]

ADOM, Crawl and Nethack really make the three top rogue-likes IMO, and the best part is that they're all different and scratch different itches. And ADOM and Crawl are updated regularly so I would recommend this. But it feels weird paying for something that used to be free.

It's really hard to say "Play ADOM" or "Play Crawl Stone Soup" because they're both so very, very different in systems and skills and challenges. Just play both. Also ADOM has the interesting distinction of having the prettiest, cleanest ASCII graphics I've ever seen in a rogue-like.

 

[Serus]

Play at least the free ASCII version. It's still the awesome game it was years ago, with some welcome additions.

You can download for free (legally i mean) the graphical version too... the only advantages the steam version offers over the free one are things like achievements and some really minor addons and customization options afaik. :D

 

[Zdzisiu]

Here you have a screencap from the Free version of ADOM r60 that you can download from their site right now. It shows the differences between the free and paid version:

 

[Arthandas]

Wow, this game has some seriously autistic mechanics.
The more you use a particular spell the faster you'll forget it (logical). You can learn it again by re-reading the spellbook but it will also disappear if you read it too much...
Combining herbs can produce instakill explosions...
Raised skeletons can randomly turn hostile and murder you, which defeats the purpose of playing as a necromancer.
Typical RNG faggotry like instakill traps or ambushes...

 

[Elwro]

I wouldn't recommend a necromancer for a new player.

As for exploding herbs -- have you checked if they aren't cursed?

 

[Severian Silk]

The game needs attack animations IMO.

 

[dibens]

How does it compare to ToME?

 

[thesheeep]

The more you use a particular spell the faster you'll forget it (logical).

While I like that mechanically (as ADOM in general), where the hell is that logical?
The more you do something, the sooner you forget it? I'm afraid that's not how my logic works.

Oh wait, did I fail my irony check?

 

[a cut of domestic sheep prime]

Here you have a screencap from the Free version of ADOM r60 that you can download from their site right now. It shows the differences between the free and paid version:

so, basically, there's very little reason to buy this other than supporting the dev. Does "TBD" mean "to be developed"?

 

[Mackerel]

I like how ToME and ADOM now have a pay to turn on a half-assed Wizmode option now, ToME's is actually billed as a Hepler mode where you get to have the "story unfold faster". It's like the guys can't help milking the feeble.

 

[Kz3r0]

I like how ToME and ADOM now have a pay to turn on a half-assed Wizmode option now, ToME's is actually billed as a Hepler mode where you get to have the "story unfold faster". It's like the guys can't help milking the feeble.

I am in favor of this, true harcore games are a niche that can't sustain itself so give them for free and make the drooling retards pay for easy mode and shit like that.
Vault Dweller what do you think?

 

[a cut of domestic sheep prime]

I am in favor of this, true harcore games are a niche that can't sustain itself so give them for free and make the drooling retards pay for easy mode and shit like that.
Vault Dweller what do you think?

not a far fetched concept when you consider that cheathappens has basically taken over the trainer scene with this sort of thing in mind. one could even go full cell phone game and give players the option to pay for fate points or similar. still, i consider this concept part of the decline that's making games into meaningless pay-to-win schlock - like buying special weapons in multiplayer games or unbalanced preorder junk.

 

[MrBuzzKill]

The more you use a particular spell the faster you'll forget it (logical). You can learn it again by re-reading the spellbook but it will also disappear if you read it too much...

If that's actually true, it's retarded. I was on the verge of buying the game before I read that

 

[Elwro]

Meh, it's just so you have a resource you need to take care of and are sometimes forced to diversify your casting tactics (which will pay off in the long run).

 

[Taka-Haradin puolipeikko]

And free version is still available.

 

[a cut of domestic sheep prime]

If that's actually true, it's retarded. I was on the verge of buying the game before I read that

isn't it similar to the standard D&D? You have to memorize spells before resting in Baldur's Gate and then you only have a limited number of casts the next day until you forget them and have to re-memorize them. how does it make sense for you to have to re-memorize them every night? magic, that's how.