Release: Hydra Slayer 9.4

[Z]

Hi,

version 9.4 of Hydra Slayer is out! Much has changed since its last 
announcement to the newsgroups (which was version 2.0).

http://www.roguetemple.com/z/hydra.php

Hydra Slayer is a Roguelike game focused on one thing: slaying Hydras. It is
inspired by Greek mythology, Dungeon Crawl, MathRL seven day roguelike, and
some mathematical puzzles about brave heroes slaying many headed beasts.

Hydra Slayer features:

* a unique (AFAICT) gameplay mechanics (although the main idea is based on
  old mathematical puzzles). To defeat a Hydra, you have to choose your
  attacks carefully, just bashing it with your "best" weapon is not likely
  to be a successful strategy. To win the big game, you have to choose your
  set of weapons wisely, and use your resources efficiently!

* a theme which mixes high fantasy and mathematics

* traditional roguelike ASCII graphics, or tiles/3D display via NotEye

* 5 player character races with very distinct tactics:
      o Humans - the simplest but versatile race
      o Elves - equipped with the unique Bow weapon, powerful when close to
        mushrooms
      o Nagas - slow, but able to deliver mighty ambidextrous attacks
      o Trolls - can carry lots of weapons, but no other items
      o Halfling Twins - control two characters instead of one

* 14 enemy types:
      o 10 basic types of elemental hydras
      o 4 types of special enemies
      o harmless mushrooms for strategic advantage

* 15 types of equipment (not counting material and size/power variations)

* 15 weapon materials:
      o 10 elements corresponding to basic hydra types
      o 4 gem types for non-elemental equipment
      o 1 mighty special material

* 18 types of items:
      o 7 runes to be used on your enemies
      o 3 scrolls to be used on equipment
      o 8 potions to empower yourself

* 8 level topologies (including the Mobius strip and Klein bottle)

* 11 level generators

* 2 endings:
      o a small one for compatibility with the 2DRL version and for
        short challenge games
      o a big one for those who want more hydra slaying

Have fun slaying hydras!