-Overview-
Linley's Dungeon Crawl (LDC) is, as the name implies, a typical Roguelike dungeon crawl set in a fantasy world in which you take control of a character and enter a dungeon to find the Orb of Zot.

-Story-
From the manual:
"Your goal is to locate the Orb of Zot, which is held somewhere deep beneath the world's surface. The Orb is an ancient and incredibly powerful artefact, and the legends promise great things for anyone brave enough to extract it from the fearsome Dungeon. Some say it will grant immortality or even godhood to the one who carries it into the sunlight; many undead creatures seek it in the hope that it will restore them to life. But then, some people will believe anything. Good luck!"

Well as you can see it's not really the best written or most original story ever to surface in a computer game but it does do its part. After dying 263 times, who's going to worry about the story anyway?

-Races & Classes-
The first thing that will probably catch your attention when starting up LDC for the first time is the large number of races and classes to choose from. 26 races and 29 classes will pretty much allow you to play any kind of "common fantasy" character you please. From Centaur Archer to Demonspawn Chaos Knight - it's all here. There are certain restrictions though: For instance as a Mummy you can only choose to become a Fighter, Assassin, Necromancer or Death Knight. This is a good thing in my opinion as a Mummy Paladin would not make much sense. It also prevents characters from becoming too strong or too weak. LDC probably has the most balanced race/class system I have ever seen in a Roguelike.

There are a handful of races that also have innate abilities; for example Elves learn to perform "Dazzle", Nagas can spit poison and have scales for protection (they need them in the beginning, for Nagas can only wear special armor!), Demonspawn grow horns, scales etc. and the Kenku (a humanoid bird-like race) learn to fly.

Some classes also give you the option of choosing a Weapon and/or God. More on gods later.

-Your Character-
Your characters main stats are: strength, intelligence and dexterity. Not much but it's all you need. In case you're wondering where Charisma is, it's not needed; you won't be meeting any friendly monsters in the dungeon. This is just a good ol' monster-bashing dungeon crawl.

Using the "m" command will open a menu showing your skills, their levels and how close you are to the next level. You advance in skill level by practicing, and the skill points are automatically taken from a "skill point pool" and used to raise your skill level each time you perform an action like swinging your sword or casting a spell. Since you do not have an unlimited number of skill points you can use the "m" menu to decide which skills receive more attention (useful for skills like stealth that are used with every step and would quickly drain your skill points). You receive a fixed number of skill points each time you level up.

-Combat-
The combat is good for a text-based combat interface. The fights are written well and are easily understood - better than Ancient Domains of Mystery (ADoM), in my opinion. It gets pretty cool when your character has the unarmed fighting skill as this doesn't only influence unarmed combat but also allows you to kick, punch and headbutt monsters while wielding a weapon. Some races like Draconians can even use their tails or other body parts for this kind of fighting.

(TIP: If you are playing a Melee character and do not start with unarmed combat then fight unarmed untill you get it... this will give you a bonus for the rest of the game).

-Magic-
Probably the best part of the game! The magic system is great and there are lots of distinctive and original spells to use. The spells actually make playing a spellcaster feel the way it's supposed to. The different spell schools are divided into separate skills, including enchantments, fire, earth, wind, water and necromancy. Some spells use more than one school and require more than one skill to be cast effectively.

You learn spells from books. Each time your character gains a level you get a fixed number of "magic levels" which can be used to memorize spells. The level of the spell you wish to purchase is also its "magic level" cost and its MP cost. This means you'll have to save up levels to memorize higher level spells.

-Items-
I really like the way items are handled here. You can use the "v" command on any item to get a detailed description of it, which sure beats the trial-and-error strategy I'm used to from some other Roguelikes. Of course, items must be identified before you can know exactly what they are. A gold potion in one game might be a Potion of Healing while in the next it could be a Potion of Corruption. There are less items then I'm used to from other known Roguelikes though.

-NPC's-
Lots of mean creatures. Nobody is going to converse about politics with you in this game... everybody just wants to kill and/or eat you, the only exception being your summoned beings. There are two types of creatures, normal ones like your everyday orc, kobold, bat and dragon, and uniques; tougher humanoids that you will only meet once.

A very nice feature are the "bone files". Whenever a character dies a file is created that will make it possible for his/her ghost to bump into a new character. It's neat to suddenly run into your brothers level 15 Troll Berserker when you least expected it.

-The Dungeon-
You start the game on level 1 of the dungeon and must make your way towards the bottom (20+) to find the Orb of Zot. The dungeon levels are randomly generated but don't look all that great when compared to ADoM or some of the other well-known Roguelikes. The dungeon branches off into other "sub-dungeons" which in turn also branch off. All in all, though, you basically just keep heading deeper and deeper untill you reach your goal.

On your way you'll come across shops where you can spend the gold you have found. You can NOT sell your items though, so don't think you'll be getting rich quickly by selling that Ego-Item you have no use for.

-Quests-
Maybe the game's biggest downfall, depending on your point of view. There are NONE. This could be seen as a good thing though as you won't be distracted from the slaughter.

-Staying Alive-
Death is permanent (as in most Roguelikes) so you'll have to watch each step you take and think out your next move carefully. Strategy plays a role and you will learn from death.

You'll have to eat to stay alive. You will find "normal" food like apples, sausages and bread but you will also have to use the "D" command to dissect corpses and eat thier flesh. Watch what you eat though!

-Gods-
Ah yes, the divine! The gods in LDC really make the game a lot better by allowing more character customization. For instance, you can choose a completly normal fighter and have him worship Yredelemnul, a god of Death, in the hopes of gaining necromantic powers that don't rely on intelligence but on your standing towards your god. You improve your standing in different ways depending on which god you choose. Makhleb the Destroyer loves it when you kill monsters or sacrifice corpses in his name, whereas the lawful gods will even lower your standing for doing such things with lawful creatures. Using the "p" command will make your character pray for a couple of turns. While praying anything you do is done in your god's name. The "^" command will give you a description of your god, your standing and any powers he/she has granted you.

There are 12 gods in all. Some classes may choose a god during character creation while others will have to find an altar of the god they wish to worship. There is a temple close to the surface that contains all of the altars so if you look hard you will always be able to become a follower of the god of your choice.

-Mutations-
What's a Roguelike without mutations? There are several ways to become corrupted and the mutations range from pleasant ones that help you out, to bothersome, character weakening limitations.

-"Graphics" & Sound-
We all know that ASCII isn't the best-looking graphics format available but ADoM proves that, when done right, ASCII can do some astonishing things. LDC, however, doesn't fit the bill. Everything simply looks too alike and orange (or gray depending on where you are).
There is no sound.
LDC sadly can't compare to games like ADoM when it comes to the overall atmosphere.

-Summary-
Linley's Dungeon Crawl is a fun, well-balanced semi-"lite" Roguelike with its own charm. The skill and magic systems are among the best I have ever seen in a RPG or Roguelike and give you the feeling that you have a lot of control over your character while remaining believable. The gods make for interesting playing styles and the sheer number of possible race/class combinations will take a while to get through.

LDC is much more accessible than, say, ADoM for people who don't want to spend days figuring out how to play. It also feels cleaner and you can start bashing the moment the game starts. If I don't feel like messing around too much I will always choose LDC for these reasons.

On the downside, LDC is a linear, low atmosphere, unoriginal Roguelike without quests. But don't let that scare you off! It's still a fine game in my opinion - you should at least give it a try.

The game comes with a manual (Crawl.txt) which is pretty extensive and covers just about everything in the game. I recommend reading it, as it will make things easier and more fun. I also recommend playing the game in fullscreen mode because the game looks better than in a window. I couldn't take the screenshots shown here in fullscreen, so they are the windowed versions.