Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup
Hacker ApprovedRanked 3 of 12 roguelike games by recommenders
A free, open-source roguelike that people recommend as fun and fair for players who are new to the genre, with a design that makes it approachable even when you know little about it.
A free, open-source roguelike that people recommend as fun and fair for players who are new to the genre, with a design that makes it approachable even when you know little about it.
22 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 16
- criticize it
- 6
- approval share
- 73%
Recommended in 6 of 13 months
- November 2025: recommended
- December 2025: not recommended
- January 2026: not recommended
- February 2026: not recommended
- March 2026: not recommended
- April 2026: recommended
- May 2026: recommended
- June 2026: recommended
- July 2026: recommended
- August 2026: not recommended
- September 2026: recommended
- October 2026: not recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it carries the badge
- 16 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, met.
- 2.7 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 6 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Fun and fair for new players
“anti-Nethacks like Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup make it a design goal to be fun and playable even assuming a totally spoiled player”
Comment from 3 May 2026 in “NetHack 5.0.0” “DCSS is actually a better nethack than nethack is in that the game is more discoverable and fair and less arbitrary.”
Comment from 3 May 2026 in “NetHack 5.0.0” Tactical combat-focused encounters
“DCSS focused on tactical encounters which I enjoy a lot more than”
Comment from 3 May 2026 in “NetHack 5.0.0” “much more combat oriented than the Slashem combinatorics”
Comment from 6 Apr 2026 in “Battle for Wesnoth: open-source, turn-based strategy game”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Feels changed from original roguelike
“It's maybe a better game in many ways, but it's not the game I spent time getting to know and getting good at.”
Comment from 3 May 2026 in “NetHack 5.0.0” “But it says something about how much of the original game they ditched.”
Comment from 20 Sep 2026 in “An open source roguelike adventure through dungeons” “it's not the game I liked anymore”
Comment from 20 Sep 2026 in “An open source roguelike adventure through dungeons” Loses rough edges and feels soulless
“DCSS has had every single one of its rough edges sanded off, leaving it a rather soulless game.”
Comment from 13 Nov 2025 in “NetHack4 Philosophy” “DCSS pretty much plays itself and not in a good way.”
Comment from 12 Nov 2025 in “NetHack4 Philosophy” Food system simplified to one type
“entire major game mechanics changed, like moving from many kinds of food, to only one kind of food”
Comment from 20 Sep 2026 in “An open source roguelike adventure through dungeons” “Food was almost never interesting in DCSS, except for maybe Centaurs.”
Comment from 12 Nov 2025 in “NetHack4 Philosophy” Gets repetitive and boring for some
“I never "got" DCSS and despite several tries I always got bored immediately”
Comment from 2 Nov 2025 in “HyperRogue – A non-Euclidean roguelike” “I always got bored immediately”
Comment from 2 Nov 2025 in “HyperRogue – A non-Euclidean roguelike”
Other roguelike games people recommend
The four most recommended other roguelike games, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| NetHack | 60 | 7 | 90% | 11 | 26 yrs6 owners | Approved |
| Chess-Inspired Roguelike | 33 | 3 | 92% | 1 | — | — |
| Dungeon Crawl Stone SoupThis page | 16 | 6 | 73% | 6 | — | Approved |
| Xs of Y | 14 | 5 | 74% | 1 | — | — |
| Noita | 13 | 3 | 81% | 9 | — | Approved |
What people said
26 of the 27 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“But it says something about how much of the original game they ditched.”
“the theme especially suffered from it”
“entire major game mechanics changed, like moving from many kinds of food, to only one kind of food”
“I love that you can play every previous version for free too”
“it's not the game I liked anymore”
“Rouguelike where when you die you inhabit the dungeon.”
“Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup does this very openly and to fairly good effect”
“Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup approached it relatively similarly for WebTiles, yet... it's infinitely different magnificent titles”
“highly recommend checking out Crawl”
“as you go along it becomes more and more about”
“DCSS focused on tactical encounters which I enjoy a lot more than”
“It's maybe a better game in many ways, but it's not the game I spent time getting to know and getting good at.”
“DCSS is actually a better nethack than nethack is in that the game is more discoverable and fair and less arbitrary.”
“they have a very carefully designed system for sunsetting removed features”
“anti-Nethacks like Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup make it a design goal to be fun and playable even assuming a totally spoiled player”
“amazing game, been playing for soon 40 years”
“much more combat oriented than the Slashem combinatorics”
“Brogue, Nethack, DCSS are good if you like roguelikes.”
“DCSS has had every single one of its rough edges sanded off, leaving it a rather soulless game.”
“It's a _much_ better game now.”
“Food was almost never interesting in DCSS, except for maybe Centaurs.”
“DCSS pretty much plays itself and not in a good way.”
“I wish they cared more about maintaining the qualia of the game itself.”
“I always got bored immediately”
“I never "got" DCSS and despite several tries I always got bored immediately”
“Dungeon Crawl Soup (on pc) 4/5”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.