Retro Replay Review

Gameplay

What Fools These Mortals puts you in the sandals of a capricious deity who oversees a lone adventurer delving into procedurally generated dungeons in pursuit of the Amulet of Yendor. Unlike other god-sim titles such as Actraiser or Populous, your direct intervention is limited: you bestow boons or smite your champion at key moments, and you choose whether to accept or reject sacrificial offerings delivered at the altar. This restrained control creates a unique tension between guiding your mortal and watching them act autonomously.

The core loop is simple yet endlessly replayable. Each run initates a fresh dungeon crawl filled with gnomish mines, undead crypts, and eldritch horrors. Your champion moves and fights on their own, making decisions based on the equipment and blessings you grant. When they pray for divine aid, you can answer their plea with healing light, protective wards, or a thunderbolt to remind them who’s really in charge. Victory comes when the Amulet is recovered and sacrificed back to you, while death or desertion of the adventurer spells failure.

The limited interface—modeled after classic NetHack variants—means most of your time is spent reacting to events rather than orchestrating every swing of the sword. This creates a surprising amount of emergent drama: will you punish cowardice when your champion flees from a horde of orcs? Will you lavish them with power at the first altar or wait until they truly deserve a miracle? Such choices tie your fate to that of a simulated mortal whose personality and perseverance are entirely out of your hands.

Overall, the gameplay balances the tension of god-sim strategy with the random unpredictability of a roguelike. Runs are often short enough to fit a lunch break, yet varied enough to keep you coming back. If you enjoy watching a tiny avatar struggle against fate while you sit on Olympus, What Fools These Mortals delivers a fresh twist on both genres.

Graphics

Visually, What Fools These Mortals embraces a retro aesthetic that fans of early ASCII roguelikes will find charming. The interface uses simple character glyphs to represent walls, monsters, and items, augmented by a basic color palette that highlights threats in red and treasures in gold. While there are no hand-drawn sprites or 3D environments, the minimalist approach focuses your attention on strategy and emergent storytelling rather than flashy eye candy.

If you’re accustomed to modern roguelikes with tile-based graphics, the Python curses display may feel spartan at first. However, the stark visuals quickly become part of the game’s atmosphere: each flickering “§” or “@” symbol feels urgent and alive when your hero is at low health or face-to-face with a dragon. Occasional simple animations—such as lightning strikes or healing glows—lend flavor without sacrificing the nimbleness of the code.

The user interface is clean and functional, with an on-screen log of events, health and mana bars, and a small minimap that reveals the immediate surroundings. You’ll learn to read every symbol and color as you progress, transforming what might seem like dated graphics into an intuitive information-rich display. The result captures the spirit of NetHack’s tradition while remaining accessible to newcomers who crave old-school challenge over hyperrealistic visuals.

For players who appreciate nostalgia and clarity over bells and whistles, the graphical design feels deliberate and effective. It underlines the god-game premise—this is a world of symbols and choices, not high-definition spectacle. What you lose in visual polish, you gain in purity of design.

Story

Inspiration for What Fools These Mortals is drawn directly from Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. You are the god-like Puck, or at least share his mischievous spirit, watching your mortal champion risk life and limb in a realm of myth and magic. The game’s tongue-in-cheek narrative embraces the Bard’s wonder at human folly: each dungeon run becomes an enactment of the line, “Lord, what fools these mortals be!”

While there is no sprawling linear plot, the emergent narrative arises from the relationship between deity and mortal. Every boon you grant and every lightning bolt you hurl weaves a unique story—will your champion survive to tell the tale, or will they perish in a pool of acid because you were feeling whimsical? These micro-stories combine into an overarching legend of your divine stewardship.

The pursuit of the Amulet of Yendor is familiar to NetHack veterans, but here it gains a fresh perspective as the ultimate prize for your devotion. Sacrificing the Amulet at your altar cements your supremacy, while repeated failures highlight the limitations of divine intervention. This playful take on mythic trappings gives even a straightforward roguelike task a theatrical flair, as though each run is a brief one-act play under your directorial eye.

Although there’s no voiced dialogue or cinematic cutscenes, the witty in-game messages and the allusions to classical theater offer plenty of charm. If you enjoy subtle humor and clever references woven into gameplay, the story framework here delivers a satisfying blend of Shakespearean mischief and roguelike suspense.

Overall Experience

What Fools These Mortals stands out by marrying the god-sim concept with the unforgiving randomness of a roguelike. The hands-off control style can feel frustrating when your champion ignores your best gifts or wanders off in boredom, but those moments of helplessness amplify the thrill when everything finally clicks. Each successful Amulet retrieval becomes a divine triumph rather than a mere dungeon crawl.

The learning curve is respectful but not punitive: newcomers to NetHack variants may need a few runs to grasp the command set, but the intuitive altar menu and event log explain themselves well. The roguelike purist will appreciate the depth of player agency hidden behind the seemingly simple UI, while casual players can still enjoy quick sessions of godly meddling.

Replayability is the game’s strongest suit. Random level layouts, varied monster rosters, and the unpredictability of your champion’s behavior ensure no two runs feel the same. The tension between generosity and wrath—between rewarding faith and crushing overconfidence—gives each playthrough its own dramatic arc.

In summary, What Fools These Mortals offers an engrossing experiment in passive deity simulation. It may lack high-end graphics or a sprawling storyline, but its clever fusion of Shakespearean wit, roguelike challenge, and understated presentation makes it a compelling choice for players seeking a fresh twist on both genres. For those who’ve ever wondered what mischief might ensue if Puck ran a dungeon, this game is a must-try.

Retro Replay Score

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