Elona

About

Elona is a roguelike RPG built on deep character progression and random world generation. You pick from 11 races and 10 classes to explore a fantasy world shaped by seasonal threats and hidden dangers. Combat magic combat and dungeon crawling share space with quirky side activities like music and town interactions. The game throws corrupting weather patterns and unpredictable enemies at you while letting you tweak settings to play as absurdly powerful "debug" races if you know where to look. A 2007 release that still holds up, Elona earned praise for its intricate skill trees and branching choices. One reviewer called it "very well-made" with systems rivaling classics like ADOM. Over 15 years later its blend of grind and exploration keeps drawing players back. The randomly generated maps and morality-driven god systems add replayability while the occasional god-level cheat mode gives hardcore fans a laugh.

Storyline

The game is set in a fantasy world called Irva. The player creates a character, with one each of eleven races and ten classes, to battle monsters, practice magic, perform music, or take on various other roles. It is possible to change a value in the configuration and play as special "debug" races, such as a god. The player first takes control of their character, who survives a disaster at sea, in the north of Irva's northwestern continent, Tyris. North Tyris contains many towns and dungeons, with randomly generated elements, that the player can explore as they deal with or avoid creatures, townsfolk, other adventurers, and the corrupting effects of a seasonal phenomenon called Etherwind. The player can take quests and make their character believe in one of several gods to enhance their skills and earn various bonuses.