I agree wholeheartedly. Nethack is fun but gameplay-wise it's a bit of a mess, many of the mechanics are extremely obtuse if you don't spoil yourself. And when

I agree wholeheartedly. Nethack is fun but gameplay-wise it's a bit of a mess, many of the mechanics are extremely obtuse if you don't spoil yourself. And when you start spoiling you never know when to stop. On the other hand DCSS's game design is pretty stellar in my experience. It's better balanced than Nethack and relies less on arcane knowledge to get through the game. I've always ended up being frustrated while playing Nethack blindly because it feels unfair, meanwhile when I started reading spoilers I felt like I was cheating. DCSS handles that a lot better I think.