Fellow adventurer, turn back while you can! For here begins the roguelike Iter Vehemens ad Necem, a Violent Road to Death. If you choose to travel along it, you will dive into countless exciting adventures to gain items of great magic, attain powerful equipment made of mysterious materials, bathe in the blessings of mighty gods and recruit loyal allies of various shapes and sizes. Unfortunately, along the way you will also often be dangerously injured, poisoned, catch numerous diseases, lose several limbs and transform into manifold different kinds of pitiful creatures in the darkest depths of hostile dungeons. And, at the end of the road, you are bound to perish in a most gruesome and painful way.
Don't say we didn't warn you.
IVAN History
The first alpha (0.301) was released in 2001 by Timo "holybanana" Kiviluoto, Heikki "hexi" Sairanen, and Tuukka "Kahvi" Virtaperko. In 2006 the original developers moved on to other projects. This is a fan continuation of IVAN by members of the Cathedral of Attnam forum (since 2013). Join us on for news, updates, discussion of planned features, or anything else regarding the game. Also the IVAN3D mod by Zeno Rogue is added (which adds an option to view the world in first-person perspective, similar to classic dungeon crawlers).
IVAN can be classified as a "hacklike" -- a roguelike heavily borrowing from NetHack. Hacklikes extend Rogue's signature "time moves only when you move" exploration/combat style and procedurally generated maps with a high degree of simulationism: various effects can potentially equally affect the player character as well as other creatures, items, walls (and, in case of IVAN, even bodyparts). Hacklikes heavily influenced more modern simulationist masterpieces such as Dwarf Fortress, Spelunky, Minecraft, Noita, and Caves of Qud. As you might have already noticed, your road to death is quite violent. While most hacklikes have non-permadeath modes, the developers of IVAN swore to never discard permadeath (although, as in some other hacklikes, another character can later find the body, with all the loot the dead character still had; and technically the included "wizard mode" can be used to play with the simulation and explore the world without fear).
Note: the descriptions below were written in the early 2000s, when "roguelike" had a clear meaning (an RPG using Rogue's exploration/combat style) and it was indeed unusual for a roguelike to have this level of graphical detail.
Body part system
Remember Monty Python and the Holy Grail? All body parts in IVAN have separate armors and separate hit points. After you've found your first good weapons, you will be able to reduce some monsters to helpless torsos by mutilating them frivolously! The game rewards brutality by showing its results graphically. Brutality can also be applied to you, though, so it's best to have a remedy available in case of a lost limb.
Material and equipment system
Unlike any other roguelike, there is a certain definition in IVAN for, say, a longsword. However, the material of a longsword can be anything at all. If you have been lucky enough to get a scroll of change material, you will be able to turn your 'iron longsword' to a 'mithril longsword', but also to a 'bread longsword' if you, for some reason, wanted to eat a bread that is shaped like a longsword (I'm not saying it's a good idea, but it's not impossible). Another example: you might also want to turn your 'leather boots of strength +1' to much stronger 'phoenix feather boots of strength +1'. Besides allowing you to upgrade your equipment in a fresh way, the material system makes it possible for the game engine to easily generate lots of different objects in the dungeons for your use and amusement.
Graphic effects
IVAN has advanced graphics more than comparable to many modern roguelikes. "But graphics are useless in a roguelike!" you might exclaim. You would probably reconsider such an opinion when following a wounded and panicked monster according to its trail of blood. Besides that, you'll face dynamically generated and animated flames, smoke, auras, weather effects, explosions, sources of colored light, water and much more.
General gameplay
IVAN brings gameplay issues further than most roguelikes, while still remaining easy to play. Besides the body part system and the material and equipment system there are such curiosities as 2x2 monsters, wandering mercenaries and slaves which you can recruit/buy, smiths and tailors who can repair broken equipment, and monsters which are able to reproduce. The game also features many different deities ranging from chaotic to neutral and lawful. Each god has its own specialties and altars, and you will be able to affect your own alignment by the way you play. And on the top of all that, IVAN's storyline will keep you pumped with its unique events!
Help, I have no idea what am I doing!
IVAN works pretty much in the same way as other roguelikes. The player controls a character, which moves and attacks from the direction keys. All other commands can be found by pressing '?' key in the game.
