大多数的游戏都有其既定模式，所以它们在玩了有限次数之后就变得重复了。而《迷宫骇客》则不然。玩了多年游戏的玩家，当有好的事情发生在他们身上时，当他们提升时，当他们发现开发团队想到的东西让他们印象深刻时，他们仍然会感到很兴奋。

Most titles run their course because they can only be played so many times before becoming repetitive. That cannot be said about NetHack. People who have been playing the game for years still get excited when something good happens to them, when they ascend, when they discover something that the dev team thought of that impresses them.

– Paul Winner,
《迷宫骇客》开发团队成员

– Paul Winner,
NetHack's developer

《迷宫骇客》的复杂程度堪称传奇——它具有数百种物品、怪物、效果和变量，但它们之间的互动却都有逻辑性。这导致了玩家中流行的一句口头禅：“开发团队什么都想到了”。

The complexity of NetHack is legendary – it has hundreds of items, monsters, effects and variables, yet they all interact with each other in logical ways. This led to a popular mantra among players: “the dev team thinks of everything”.

《迷宫骇客》是一款开源游戏，这导致了一些变体的诞生，粉丝制作的版本试图弥补它的一些缺陷或往里添加新功能。有几个变种：《迷宫骇客：下一代（NetHack: Next Generation）》添加了一个“极客”类设计和许多道格拉斯・亚当斯（Douglas Adams）的引用；UnNetHack 改进了 UI 并增加了随机性以增加多样性；Slash'EM Extended 则为游戏添加了更多内容，如新职业和新种族等。

大多数变体，往往是粉丝们以制作 mod 的方式来实现，甚至比原版游戏更难，更严重的甚至依赖于修改器。其中最受欢迎的更改有时还会被开发人员采用，拿回到初始版本中使用。

虽然很多玩家更喜欢 ASCII 图形的效率，但《迷宫骇客》附带了使用图形图块进行游玩的选项。有许多自定义选项，并且粉丝还创建了Vulture's Eye 客户端，该客户端提供了 GUI，音乐和等距外观的修改。

NetHack is an open-source game, and this has resulted in the creation of several variants, fan-made versions that seek to remedy some of its flaws or add new features. There are several variants: NetHack: The Next Generation, adds a “geek” class and many Douglas Adams references; UnNetHack improves the UI and ramps up randomness to increase variety; Slash'EM Extended adds even more stuff to the game, like new classes and races; and so on.

Most variants, as tends to be the way of fans making mods, are even harder than the original game, and are even more heavily reliant on spoilers. The most popular of these changes are sometimes adopted by the developers back into the original game.

While many players prefer the efficiency of the ASCII graphics, NetHack comes with the option to play using a graphical tileset. There are many custom ones, and fans have also created the Vulture's Eye client, which provides a GUI, music and an isometric look.

新来的人应该看看这本方便的初学者指南。它提供了重要的提示，而不会进行剧透。哪里还有建议使用的键盘命令列表等信息。

Newcomers should check the handy beginner's guide on www.nethackwiki.com. It provides important tips without going into spoilers. Having a list with the keyboard commands is also advisable.

《迷宫骇客》是《骇客（Hack）》的继承者，Hack 是 1982 年 Jay Fenlason 在大学期间创建的Rogue 变种。1987 年，开发团队重新编写了Hack，并在 Usenet（早期的 Internet 新闻组）上发布了它，并添加了“Net”前缀。虽然此后的更新不定期，但游戏仍在积极开发中——2016 年底，他们在中断 6 年后发布了 3.6.0 版。

开发团队很敬业，但很忙，世俗的纷扰也会占据他们的时间。背负着三十多年的历史，开始开发《迷宫骇客》时的团队成员还是大学生，现在已经五十多岁，甚至更老。当它的原始成员老去时，这个团队也不断稳定的融入新鲜血液，其中一些是其他游戏的开发者，因此新的创意也渗透到了游戏中。

在这些新来者的领导下，《迷宫骇客》将会成为什么样的游戏？恐怕连神谕都未必能回答吧。

NetHack is a descendant of Hack, a 1982 variant of Rogue created by Jay Fenlason during college. In 1987 the dev team re-wrote Hack and released it on the Usenet (an early Internet), adding the “Net” prefix. While updates have been irregular since then, the game is still under active development – in late 2016, they released version 3.6.0 after a hiatus of six years.

The dev team is devoted but busy, and mortality has begun to take its toll. With over thirty years of history on their backs, team members who were college students when they began working on NetHack are now in their fifties, or older. While its original members age, as do all human beings, the team has brought in a steady supply of new blood, some of them creators of balance variants, and so new ideas have infiltrated the game.

What will NetHack become under the stewardship of these newcomers? Not even the Oracle may say with certainty.