Pathos: Nethack Codex 9+

I love this game. I’m always on the look out for a good RPG thats similar to tabletops and this is it. I’ve been playing for a few weeks and I’m still sucked into the game. It does have a steep learning curve but as long as you are prepared to die a lot in the beginning it becomes easier.

I do have a couple suggestions about pets/companions...
1.There should be experience sharing for party members and pets. Right now experience is only gained by the specific character/pet that kills an enemy. I’m doing the most killing so my pets and mounts are quickly outclassed by monsters and end up dying very quickly. The way it works now it also makes some character almost useless. Necromancers and Druid’s for example are supposed to summon minions to do the actual fighting but then they don’t get any experience if their minions do the killing.
2. I would also like to see a way to improve pets more and resurrect them easier? Maybe a higher riding skill could let them share your resistances? Maybe pets could give you different talents to make them more useful? For example, having a dog companion could give your character ‘searching’ or ‘see invisible’.

I realize the game was not designed as a party system but improving pets and mounts would make certain classes and races more playable. As it is, pets/mounts die at almost every boss level and don’t survive beyond 5 lvls making them almost worthless.

I think first and foremost to new players the most important thing about this game is to be patient. It can be very frustrating at first and downright confusing. The game doesn’t hold your hand and it can be very punishing if you don’t know what to do, but that is a large part of its charm to me.

Figuring out a proper way to play the game is rewarding. I love seeing my spell book fill up, or my skillset and stats growing as I progress further I to the dungeons. Plus there is a surprising amount of depth to the game. There are many rules or mechanics to remember but I don’t find it tedious. Overall I think Pathos does an excellent job at making you feel satisfied with the time you’ve put into the game.

For new players I would recommend checking out the subreddit for the game. I know a common complaint is that the in game help menu can be hard to understand, and that some might say you shouldn’t need outside help. However, to me I find it more fun to ask questions and browse other posts. The community and the developer are active and ready to give hints and advice. I feel like I always learn something new and it I think the community aspect makes the game feel more lively.

I could say more, but the main point I want to get across is be patient, ask questions, and keep playing. It is well worth the effort!

If you like dungeon crawlers/roguelikes, you’ve hit the jackpot.

Pathos is a Nethack clone, but one that refines the original in all the best ways to bring it up to date. Other iOS nethack ports treat the keyboard-input interface like it’s some kind of sacred and essential part of the experience, awkwardly forcing you to bind keys to touch buttons, rather than just scrapping and replacing it like the dated and obsolete remnant if the past that it is.

Here we have a full touch interface. You want to move somewhere? Touch there. Want to pick up a thing? Touch it. Want to check it for traps, open it, kick it, lick it, meet its parents? Just touch it. No “q for Quaff, w for wield, period for inspect, comma for take…” it’s all touch menus now, like it should have been since 1990.