With the slogan of “Plays great, less killing”, Hack Lite is part of the Hack lineage, the result of a merge of PC Hack and Amiga Hack (the latter a port of UNIX Hack 1.03), with version 2 also bringing enhancements from NetHack.
The objective is to venture down a multi-level dungeon to retrieve the Amulet of Yendor and bring it back to the surface. It uses a graphical character set from the start and offers several playability enhancements such as new enemies and artifacts, while staying true to the character-based movement and keyboard commands, but also using drop-down menus and mouse clicks to identify characters or move around. There are three character sets; one with 16 colours, one with 8 colours and one using plain ASCII letters. Using a supplied program, the user can create his own character sets as well. Another included program, HackConfig, lets the user create different profiles for use with the game.
New enemies include Quantum Mechanics, Demon Lords, Princes, Liches, Golems and the Medusa. New objects include leashes, blindfolds, mirrors, stethoscopes and magic markers. You can #sit on thrones and #dip things into fountains. If things look bleak, you can #pray to the gods, as long as you don’t overdo it. Spell books teach you spells, but casting them takes mental energy, and your memory of the spell fades with time.
A “tournament mode” allows several players to compete by generating the same dungeon for each player, so that they can see who scores the most under the exact same circumstances.
