A downloadable game for Linux

restoHack is a faithful restoration of Hack (1984), the early roguelike that helped inspire NetHack. This is not a remake and not a reboot, it’s software preservation. The goal is simple: keep the original game compiling, running, and playing the way it did when floppy disks were still king.

Think of it as a resto-mod: the soul stays vintage, the internals get a careful rebuild. The gameplay stays authentic; the build system, safety fixes, and portability get modern attention.

What you get

Authentic 1984-era gameplay and rules
Modernized build system and cross-platform fixes
Preservation-first approach: fix what breaks, preserve what work

Platforms

Currently available for Linux
Windows build in progress

More information

Status	In development
Platforms	Linux
Author	Critlist
Genre	Role Playing
Tags	ascii, Dungeon Crawler, Historical, Indie, Open Source, Perma Death, Retro, Roguelike, Turn-based
Code license	BSD 3-clause 'New' or 'Revised' License
Average session	About a half-hour
Languages	English
Inputs	Keyboard
Links	GitHub

Download

restoHack-v1.1.5-linux-x86_64-static.tar.gz 250 kB

Install instructions

How to run (Linux)

Create a folder for the game:
```
mkdir -p ~/Games/restohack
```
Move into that folder:
```
cd ~/Games/restohack
```
Extract the downloaded archive (make sure the .tar.gz file is in this folder):
```
tar -xzf restoHack-*-linux-x86_64-static.tar.gz
```
Start the game:
```
./run-hack.sh
```

Notes

This is a static Linux build (no additional dependencies required).
Run from a terminal that supports UTF-8 and ANSI escape codes.
Save files are created in the game directory.

restoHack