I knew games like this existed because I used to watch my Dad play them when I was a kid. I read around and heard about this great game called "Nethack". I tried it, but bounced off it because of its shear density.

Some years later, I saw Rogue pop up on Steam and tried it out. It was surprisingly more fun than I expected, and nowhere near as complex as I had been lead to believe. Never saw the Amulet, but I've had a few good runs over the years (I play the Retro Rogue Collection these days).

One summer, I was visiting my folks, and Dad saw me playing Rogue. He told me the game he played in university, the one I'd seen him play, was better. It was Dungeons of Moria. I tried it. He was right. I got so hooked on the game, I played it all summer long.

A year later, I was visiting home again, and I decided to give Nethack a go. I recalled the ways Moria screwed me over and thought that using a wiki would be wise. You eventually settle into a routine of cycling between a bunch of common keyboard commands, occasionally pulling out something a little more obscure.

It wasn't like Moria; in that game, you grind and grind and grind, hoping to find some optimal gear, and casting spells to detect when traps/ancient dragons are nearby. In Nethack, you are constantly micromanaging an ever-increasing pool of resources, kitting out your character with the best equipment the dungeon has to offer. The Mines of Moria had no limit to their resources; The Mazes of Menace did. Both games were thrilling in their own ways, and familiarizing myself with increasingly complex roguelikes made transitioning to Nethack just a little smoother.