XLarn Reviews

Sorry, this game, even at five bucks, is too rich for my blood. I get it -- it's a nostalgic look at the past. Here's the thing: When I was a kid, my first computer was a TRS-80. Many people reading this might not know about the TRS-80 so let me describe it. The year was 1978. The TRS-80 was black and white, had the type of monitor that -- well, it was the stone age of computers, if that makes sense. The memory size? 4k. That's K. Four-thousand bytes. That's it. You could upgrade to the TRS-80 Level II and this took you to a memory size of 16k. What's that, you ask? How did programs get loaded into the memory? Floppy disk? LOL, seriously, Silly Rabbit. There were tape drives. That's right, cassette tapes. And a game like "Asylum" could take fifteen to twenty minutes to load. And if the volume was too high on the cassette player? NO GAME FOR YOU, RELOAD. If the tape was old and the tape player kicked off in the middle of loading? There were these flashing asterisks in the upper right corner of the screen and if there was an **E* for error -- time to load it again. NO GAME FOR YOU, RELOAD. One of the first games I had (and I loved) was Dancing Demon. Check it out here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YNT7nVOugTM Another of my favorite games? The Temple of Apshai. WHich you can see here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HiMtY5BxdM0 So let me explain -- the actual descriptions of a the rooms, you had to look them up in a manual. That's right, memory was so precious that the programmers couldn't even put the descriptions of the rooms in the programming. Finally, check out another one of my favorites --Scarfman. I got this for Christmas in 1980: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uIUxmqe3jA4 Okay, so this gives you a little background about XLarn. How did computer games come about? Basically, there were bored graduate students who needed a break from keying in punch cards into the mainframe. What's a punch card? Basically, each card was a line of code. You stacked them all together, perhaps two or three hundred cards, and you would stack them in a reader that would load them, one after the other, into the computer. Check it out here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=se0F1bLfFKY Okay, so what's the point? The point is that no matter how nostalgic you feel about something, don't let the feeling separate you from your money. In case you didn't know, the word nostalgia includes the Greek root for "pain" -- alg. Why did I want to experience a game like this? This game proves that if you take a forty year-old game which essentially was made by bored graduate students to see them through the wee hours of the morning -- well, you can't turn a sow's ear into a silk purse. No matter how nostalgic you might feel about those days and these days, don't spend your money. $5 is way way WAY too much to pay for something that people that was cool before there were video arcades. There have to be so free versions somewhere on the web. And if there aren't -- well, you don't need it that bad anyway. One of the reasons that people liked games as they evolved and as the computers changed to meet the wants of the public -- there began to be this concept of "Saving" progress. People now talk about these kinds of adventures being rogue-like. If this is what you could classify this as, then all I have to say is that rogue-like adventures p*ss me the f*ck off. And the more suspicious I get that any modern developer creates a game as rogue-like to distract the gamer from a lack of depth and content. What's a way to keep people playing? Well, you could basically provide them with a sh*t-ton of stuff to do. Or you could have death be permanent and make the gamer start over. Which is cheaper to make? The little boy in me misses the days of "Dancing Demon" and "Crush, Crumble, and Chomp". But the adult in me, you would think, would be smart enough to understand that, just as Thomas Wolfe wrote, you can't go home again. Well, here's the sad fact -- we're all getting older and marking time waiting for that ultimate moment that all mortals must face. We're getting older and fatter. And no matter how much you want it, you can't get that feeling back, even for $5.

I made it to the end of the caves, i was about to get the eye of larn, i was just gonna mow down the invisible demon with fireball like the multiple other times i did it, but no. I didnt have a single healing spell, he kept giving me confusion like every 2 turns, and i "couldnt aim my magic". Needless to say i died and lost the entire run. Im fucking pissed. I love it, please buy this, it's not a roguelike if it isnt bullshit sometimes

A quirky & charming game that doesn't seem to have an auto-explore button & desperately needs one. It isn't really worth paying for this when 'Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup' exist for free & is better in every way. The only reason for getting this would be nostalgia or an interest in the history of gaming.

At the moment I can't recommend Xlarn for the money. :( Although it does bring back a lot of nostalgic memories at the moment I think its really only worth $1.00 max. it should actually be free in my opinion, but credit where credit is due, it IS a reworking of Larn for the modern day devices but sorry it just doesn't take it far enough, no sound, levels don't fill the playing area (height wise).. It is a start but there still a lot more to do. I've contacted the team and made my suggestions and they say they'll take them onboard and see what they can do. This game has a lot of potential. but at the moment, sorry i can't recommend it. We'll see what time brings to the game

If you want some quick challenging fun get yourself a copy of Xlarn. It's just like the original we played 25 years ago but with pretty pictures instead of keyboard characters. This game is fun each and every time you play it. Basically you want to get the Lance of Death. It has multiple difficulty levels to keep you coming back for more after you conquer it, also has local, friend and global high score charts so bring it on. 100/100 Also it won't be quick if you finish the game but all the times you die will be and they will inspire you to come back for more. ~Mazaraku~

It's nice to see this old classic being ressurected and some additions made, but losing the original key-bindings and replacing them mouse-clicks makes playing a frustrating affair. For example, to cast a fireball to the left: In the original game: 1. Type "cbalh" (simple and quick) This verion: 1. Type 'c' 2. Wait for a menu of known spells to appear. 3. Search through the list and click the fireball spell 4. Wait for another menu to appear presenting the available directions 5. Click the required button PLEEEEASE restore the original key-bindings!

[b]Touted as one of the five [url=http://www.roguebasin.com/index.php?title=Major_classic_roguelikes]Major Classic Roguelikes[/url] that started it all, [i]XLarn[/i] is mind-bogglingly addicting even to this day.[/b] It is recognized as the first in the genre to have an above-ground hub and shop area that forever changed the roguelike landscape. Now to be crystal-clear, [i]XLarn[/i] is a heavily edited version of the original [i]Larn[/i] title, but thats often the case with games that [b]originated decades ago[/b]. [b]I bought this title for historical purposes - never expecting to [i]really[/i] play it because I assumed it would be too dated - and oh boy, I was wrong.[/b] This is a heavy hitter, and [i]easily[/i] still competes with the best modern roguelikes out there. There are multiple layers of complexity and risk/reward systems. First, there is a bank system where you invest your money in order to get score as well as earn interest. That part gets tricky because the higher your score when you win, the characters proceeding deal with forever harder situations - [b]yeah, it's meta like that.[/b] Crazy. [i]The weird thing is, even with all the complexity packed in - it's super easy to wrap your head around and get playing.[/i] Keyboard only, mouse optional. There is ample text to help you along. Just dive in. [b]No 'pros', no 'cons'. This is a piece of roguelike history. This is one of the pillars that the whole genre rests upon. Whether you get it for historical purposes, or you get it to experience an awesome game - just play it at some point.[/b] You can download the original for free, or pay a few bucks here on Steam for a version with some quality-of-life upgrades.

Another 'Ancient School' golden oldie, the graphics have a suitable beating with the ugly stick +2 and the sound of silence is deafening the gameplay is where it's at. A Roguelike RPG that's as hard as nails and drippng in atmosphere. Forget the basic graphics. Forget the sound of silence. Enjoy a game from yester year and give XLarn a go.

Ugggh... I love, love, love the original Larn, and so very much wanted to like this version... but this game isn't really good. It's missing useful features from the old versions and the stuff that's been added doesn't make the game any better. In fact, the game omits certain things that make the original game play better (showing what floor tiles you've seen, being able to unwield a weapon, etc.) (As an aside, there's also the concern that this game uses code from the original, which cannot be used in a commercial project. It's probably a full-blown rewrite, but it plays distressingly similar to the original. Also, I don't know what the legal (or ethical) situation is in using nearly the same name as the original without permission of the original author or his family...) Seriously, if you really want to play a Larn (and you should, they are great introductory-level roguelikes with some unique features), or if you have nostalgia for the original, just play the old DOS version, find a modern source port, or play the browser-based one. The addition of mediocre graphics doesn't justify spending money on this.

I thought 5 dollars was a little steep as well but then I discovered it is difficult to find a compiled version of this game to run on windows. So considering all the work to make a piece of video game/ roguelike history easily available I would say 5 dollars isn't a rip off if you like these kind of games. I have played a few hours and I have to say this game is really fun. Similar to Nethack and the like except I have noticed there is more of a maze set up rather than connected dungeon rooms and I think food just heals HP since I haven't had my character go hungry. There are also no classes to choose from. So yeah 5 dollars is a little steep but so far I don't regret buying the game but I can only recommend it to hardcore roguelike fans.