Angband

Name: Angband
Rating: 4.1429 (14 reviews)

Version 4.2.1

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Angband overview

Angband is a freeware computer dungeon exploration game based (loosely) on the books of J.R.R. Tolkien. You explore a very deep dungeon, kill monsters, try to equip yourself with the best weapons and armor you can find, and finally face Morgoth - "The Dark Enemy".

Angband has a very long history. It started in 1990 as an improved and "Tolkienized" variant of Moria. Moria itself was created in 1985 and was inspired by Rogue (from the late 70s). The first version of Angband was created by Alex Cutler and Andy Astrand at the University of Warwick. The notable maintainers in the 90s were Charles Swiger and Ben Harrison. In 2000, Robert Ruhlmann took over. Starting March 2006, the game was looked after by Julian Lighton, and since April 2007 by Andi Sidwell. Starting the release of 3.5.0 on Christmas Day 2013, the game is maintained by Nick McConnell.

Angband is a member of a family of similar games called rogue-likes. Other well-known games of this type are Nethack, Slash'Em, or ADOM.

It's addictive, very addictive. Your REAL life will be influenced by playing! Don't say I didn't warn you! Angband was originally text-based, but graphical versions are now available for almost every computer system. Some Angband players still use the old ASCII-based graphics. There are even a few sound effects available for multimedia freaks ;-).

The original name "Angband" was created by J.R.R. Tolkien in the stories about "Middle Earth". Angband was a mighty fortified citadel originally constructed by Morgoth (Melkor) in the earliest days of the world as an outlying fortress to his northern stronghold of Utumno. Utumno was destroyed by the Valar, and Morgoth imprisoned in Valinor for three ages, but on his return to Middle-earth, he took Angband as the seat of his power and raised the towers of Thangorodrim above its gates.

Angband was besieged by the Noldor during the early part of the First Age, but the Siege of Angband was broken at the Dagor Bragollach. It was finally destroyed by the forces of the Valar at the end of the First Age, in the War of the Wrath.

The details of the story can be found in J.R.R. Tolkien's book "The Silmarillion". You can also take a look at the entry for Angband in The Encyclopedia of Arda.

What’s new in version 4.2.1

Updated on Apr 16 2021

Version 4.2.1:

Percentage combat is refined to become an actually playable option
Improvements to throwing
Udate to town generation
A major update to the new blackguard class
Several tweaks to the other new classes
Many improvements to the MacOS front-end particularly, but also others
Improvements to tiles
Addition of fancy color-cycling of monsters
Configurability of charecter sheet
Inclusion of some new, rare level types
Experimental Windows curses and SDL2 console ports added
Many small bugs fixed and quality-of-life improvements made

Information

License

Free

Size

24 MB

Developer’s website

https://rephial.org/

Downloads

14785

App requirements

Intel 64
OS X 10.9 or later

0.0

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Comments
User Ratings

bbw7

Jul 1 2013

3.1.2v2

Version: 3.1.2v2

Am glad that the related/forked game, FAangband, had an update, otherwise I would never have been aware of these games. At the developer's website there is a ver. 3.4.1 available (MU download links is to 3.1.2), which is about 16 Mb and appears to have a bit more in the way of graphics -- for those require such fluff.

Londonskater

Feb 20 2010

5.0

Modern games leave very little to your imagination: there's usually a set goal, one or few set ways to reaching it, and heavily detailed graphics that show you exactly what the game developers want you to see. Angband and all the rogue-like variants are not about this. The graphics are non-existent or limited to tiles, the gameplay is entirely open, and your goals may be different: you might want to collect magical weapons, or learn all the spells, or whatever, but it's a rich, rich world down there, and we're all the richer for it. It may take a little getting used to if you're coming from Doom III or Half-Life 2, but if you love gaming, love fantasy, then you may find something new and brilliant here. There's nothing like a little frustration and disappointment (carting unknown weapons and armour; finding out they're rubbish) to make the triumphs (finding a Holy Avenger; killing a Multi-Hued Dragon) even sweeter. Try it, you'll like it :D

Dremwkr

Dec 28 2009

3.1.1

Version: 3.1.1

I have been playing Angband and the like, a long time before I played WoW. I enjoy the thoughtful pacing and using my imagination. I still play it because it is rich in RPG aspects, the way that a movie isn't as rich and in depth as a book is. Before there was a WoW, Warcraft, etc. there was Moria and its variants, Angband. This is a remarkable piece of gaming software. (I give it a 5 for Graphics and Sound because I have a good imagination)

Kris-Browne

Jul 27 2009

3.1.1b

4.0

Version: 3.1.1b

Amid the Rogue family of games, there are those descended of Nethack (which are direct Rogue descendants) and those descended of Moria. Of the Moria family, Angband is the most successful, most consistent, and to my mind most fun. While there are tilesets available to play with a modicum of graphics, I still always play text only. I know in my minds eye what the various creatures look like, and no game will ever match the resolution of my imagination, even if they might have superior framerates.

nargot

Jan 8 2009

3.1b

Version: 3.1b

perfect osx port of angband. havn't had time to test stability however, due to the nature of the game i would hazard a guess that it would be fine. I'll play it for a while when i get time. To those who want a fast action paced graphics based game this is not for you. Those who love moria/anband this is for you. i have given 5 star review as angband as is a fantastic game and the 1 star reviews are complete rubbish.

Frosty

Jun 1 2007

3.0.5

Version: 3.0.5

Seeing as some have totally misunderstood this genre of computer game and have therefore given it a very low rating because they thought there ought to be graphics in a 1.7mb download, I felt the need to give a positive review. I have played this game on and off for ten years. It is an extremely challenging game (for me) and will offer hours of gameplay if you like RPGs. I wish there was continued development on this game, but it seems that steam has run out of the project. I'm glad it was ported to OS X though. Thank you developer. Good job.

Guest

Apr 24 2005

1.0

It was boring and needed some graphics.

Jan 28 2005

Most kids 15 and under would not like it maybe even 20 and under... personaly I will probably never play it again. :) CAUTION: THIS IS A TEXT ONLY GAME!!

Jan 13 2005

Excellent dungeons&adventure type of game for intelligent players that have imagination, persistence, skills, strategic thinking and ... ehem, courage :) Most recommended !!! Five stars !

Sep 4 2004

Very addictive and intelligent old school game. It is refreshing to play a game that doesn't rely on the latest video card or needs multi gigs of files. Unlike other games this one depends on the player for imagination. Much like reading a novel instead of watching the movie. To get the most out of the game, it is best to read the help files by typing '?'.

Wormwood

Jun 13 2004

A more serious, less tougue-in-check game than NetHack, Angband is a classical "roguelike" game inspired by The Lord Of The Rings. While its dated "emacs" like interface will turn off many modern game players, the replay value and game depth puts most 3-D games to shame.

Note: this is not a game for idiots. Angband is a tremendously rich and enjoyable fantasy adventure game with a difficult-to-learn interface, more so for younger players who have never experienced a text-based or Apple II-style game. Some people love it, and some people don't get it. So try downloading Angband and figure out which one you are.

The-Valrus

Had you bothered to read the readme or tried pressing "?" while playing (reasonably intuitive if you want help, I think), you might have found help files available in abundance. Angband's been around for 14 years, and for good reason; your inability or unwillingness to figure it out doesn't merit a one-star rating and probably reflects more on you than on the game.

This is just about the worst mac application (let alone game) that I have ever opened. It is played within a terminal window (fair enough), but after creating your character, you're subjected to a clueless textual interface. I died within five seconds of holding down the arrow keys (ie, moving around the "world"). After this, I promptly trashed this download.

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