FOSSPicks
Roguelike
Shattered Pixel Dungeon
This is a roguelike RPG with beautiful 8-bit style graphics, fabulous retro sound, and a brilliantly addictive explore-and-combat style gameplay. It's actually a fork of Pixel Dungeon, created initially to improve on the original game's "quirks," but it's blossomed into a fully fledged alternative title with the same style of play. And unlike many games that name-drop "Rogue," Shattered Pixel Dungeon actually plays like the original Rogue, complete with fog of war, dungeon levels, and items and magic. But the first thing you notice about it, at least on the Linux desktop, is the aspect ratio of the default main window as soon as the application is launched. It's best described as an elongated portrait, and there's a good reason for this. Shattered Pixel Dungeon is primarily a game to run on your phone.
But because Shattered Pixel Dungeon is open source, it's not just available on F-Droid for your phone. You can also install it on your Linux desktop. On the Linux desktop, the aspect ratio is only temporary. Just drag the corners of the window to change the play area to any aspect ratio or size. Equally modern is the internal scaling that sizes up or down those chunky pixels to best suit the density of your screen. This is a common theme in modern games that take their inspiration from the procedurally generated nature of Rogue games, and it also makes the game both difficult and addictive. This is what Shattered Pixel Dungeon does, because you will die. But you'll also want to play again. There are four different character classes, eight different subclasses, five different areas of each dungeon to explore, and over 150 items. The style of click-and-move, click-and-hit gameplay is addictive enough to pull you through the random design. And like the original Rogue, it's completely free.
Project Website
http://www.shatteredpixel.com/

Even more Roguelike
Buy this article as PDF
(incl. VAT)
Buy Linux Magazine
Direct Download
Read full article as PDF:
Price $2.95
Subscribe to our Linux Newsletters
Find Linux and Open Source Jobs
Subscribe to our ADMIN Newsletters
Find SysAdmin Jobs
News
-
The Next Major Release of Elementary OS Has Arrived
It's been over a year since the developers of elementary OS released version 6.1 (Jólnir) but they've finally made their latest release (Horus) available with a renewed focus on the user.
-
KDE Plasma 5.27 Beta Is Ready for Testing
The latest beta iteration of the KDE Plasma desktop is now available and includes some important additions and fixes.
-
Netrunner OS 23 Is Now Available
The latest version of this Linux distribution is now based on Debian Bullseye and is ready for installation and finally hits the KDE 5.20 branch of the desktop.
-
New Linux Distribution Built for Gamers
With a Gnome desktop that offers different layouts and a custom kernel, PikaOS is a great option for gamers of all types.
-
System76 Beefs Up Popular Pangolin Laptop
The darling of open-source-powered laptops and desktops will soon drop a new AMD Ryzen 7-powered version of their popular Pangolin laptop.
-
Nobara Project Is a Modified Version of Fedora with User-Friendly Fixes
If you're looking for a version of Fedora that includes third-party and proprietary packages, look no further than the Nobara Project.
-
Gnome 44 Now Has a Release Date
Gnome 44 will be officially released on March 22, 2023.
-
Nitrux 2.6 Available with Kernel 6.1 and a Major Change
The developers of Nitrux have officially released version 2.6 of their Linux distribution with plenty of new features to excite users.
-
Vanilla OS Initial Release Is Now Available
A stock GNOME experience with on-demand immutability finally sees its first production release.
-
Critical Linux Vulnerability Found to Impact SMB Servers
A Linux vulnerability with a CVSS score of 10 has been found to affect SMB servers and can lead to remote code execution.