I Played Rogue (1980) With No Tips — The “S” Key, Cursed Armor, and a Brutal Welcome to Roguelikes
A writer with no prior roguelike experience booted up the original Rogue (1980) on Steam to see whether the genre’s ancestor still holds up. They found the game uses ASCII graphics, offers no in-game tutorial, relies on keyboard commands, features procedural dungeon levels and permadeath, and tasks players with retrieving the Amulet of Yendor.
- What Rogue (1980) is and how it looks and plays
- First-time player experience: controls, discovery, and common pitfalls
- Key moments: finding the manual, using the search command, reaching Level 10, and dying to centaurs
- Links to the original manual and a community thread for help
What Rogue is
Rogue, released in 1980, is the foundational roguelike: turn-based, grid-based, with randomly generated dungeon floors and permanent death. Players explore levels, manage resources such as food and equipment, and fight monsters while trying to retrieve the Amulet of Yendor. The game uses ASCII characters rather than modern graphics, so symbols represent stairs, monsters, items, and traps.
First-time player experience
The player started with almost no information. At first, the presentation felt archaic and minimal. The game asked for a name, then dropped the player into the dungeon without explaining controls or iconography. Consequently, the player did not initially know how to use stairs (a green symbol), or how to equip and try on armor and weapons.
Finding help and learning commands
Eventually, the player consulted external sources. They watched a YouTube video to confirm that the green icon was indeed the stairs, and then found the original instruction manual online. The manual explained that F1 shows the command list and F2 explains the icons. The manual is available here:
Later, after restarting a run at Level 5, the player discovered via a Reddit thread that the game supports a search command bound to the “S” key, which reveals hidden passages and staircases. The Reddit post they referenced is linked below. The community reply of “oh,” matched the player’s reaction when they learned the command.
Read the original instruction manual here: https://britzl.github.io/roguearchive/files/misc/EpyxRogueDOSManual/manual.htm
See the Reddit discussion here: https://www.reddit.com/r/roguelikes/comments/kssrtr/anyone_help_me_find_the_staircase_5th_time_ive/
Common challenges and deaths
The player experienced frequent early deaths. For example, a hobgoblin killed them on Level 1, and an encounter with an ice monster left them frozen and vulnerable to a group attack on another run. The game reports a “hungry” status when the player needs food, which the player saw while searching for stairs. At one point the player reached Level 10 and became a Warrior class, but later runs ended when powerful enemies, such as centaurs and rattlesnakes, cornered and killed the character.
Progression details the player noted
During play, the player found items including wands and armor. They learned wands can be used without unequipping melee weapons, allowing simultaneous use of different item types. They also encountered cursed equipment: after equipping a piece of armor to check its Armour Class, the player discovered it was cursed and could not be removed. The player kept notes on enemy threat levels, identifying weaker foes (such as bats and hobgoblins) and stronger threats (such as ice monsters and centaurs).
Summary observations
In short, Rogue (1980) remains a game that expects player discovery and imagination. It offers procedural levels, permadeath, and simple ASCII presentation. New players can expect a steep learning curve, hidden commands like “S” for searching, limited in-game guidance, and reliance on external manuals or community resources to learn mechanics such as icon meanings and command lists.
