Pathos: Nethack Codex

About

Pathos: Nethack Codex is a single player casual role playing game with a fantasy theme. It was developed by Callan Hodgskin and was released on October 13, 2015. It received very positive reviews from players.

Pathos is a dungeon adventure game with the soul of Nethack.

Genres & Tags

Play Modes

Single-Player

Skip User Reviews

91%

Audience ScoreBased on 1,060 reviews

gameplay23 positive mentions

stability9 negative mentions

Highly detailed and complex roguelike with deep gameplay and countless character customization options, appealing to fans of classic dungeon crawlers.
Intuitive and well-optimized mobile interface that significantly improves usability over traditional keyboard-based roguelikes, making it accessible to new players while maintaining challenge for veterans.
Free with no ads or microtransactions, regularly updated by an attentive and responsive developer, ensuring ongoing content and community engagement.

Steep learning curve and sparse in-game explanations can be frustrating, especially for newcomers due to minimal tutorials and vague descriptions of mechanics.
Performance issues including lag, slow character movement, occasional crashes, and UI glitches detract from the gameplay experience, particularly on lower-end devices.
Certain gameplay elements feel unbalanced, such as aggressive hunger mechanics, RNG-dependent difficulty spikes, and some races or classes being noticeably weaker or stronger than others.

gameplay
61 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
38%
57%
5%
The gameplay is praised for its deep, complex roguelike mechanics, extensive class and build variety, and challenging yet rewarding dungeon experiences that offer substantial player choice and customization. While some find the mechanics initially overwhelming or unbalanced, the game’s solid core, smooth controls, and user-friendly design make it engaging for both newcomers and veterans. Despite simple graphics and occasional frustrations like crafting entropy or specific mechanics, the gameplay is considered one of the best on mobile platforms for fans of classic dungeon crawlers.
- “I like how many mechanics, classes, enemies there are in this game, and how it is based around a classic adventure roguelike where it feels like you can do anything, which you wouldn't find much in other mobile games.”
- “There are so many mechanics and builds to explore and learn; you truly get to experience the dungeon how you choose to play, with no cost at all.”
- “Expect truly complicated and challenging gameplay, real choices and impact from said choices, and significant opportunities to break the linear framework to varying effect.”
- “Offline players who just want to survive and enjoy the game are severely handicapped by the crafting entropy mechanics.”
- “There is one mechanic that is game breaking for me, however, and that is the rabies.”
- “No balance, controls are weird, and random mechanics.”
graphics
39 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
26%
66%
8%
Users generally appreciate the game's pixel art and customizable graphics options, which evoke a nostalgic old-school RPG feel while enhancing accessibility beyond ASCII-style visuals. While the graphics are often described as simple or modest rather than polished or astonishing, many find them charming and fitting for the gameplay depth, with some wishing for upgraded or faster animations. Overall, the graphics are considered functional and user-friendly, complementing the rich gameplay and customization rather than overshadowing it.
- “I knew there were graphic improvements made over time, but none of them hit me like this one.”
- “I have always been fascinated with nethack but needed the more graphical element and this truly delivers.”
- “The game is great, love the ability to change the graphics (sonyvanda is the best), I like the extreme difficulty that somehow isn't completely unfair, the ability to add another adventurer as a companion, there are cheats which most games don't even have these days, love the customization, and there's a bunch of other stuff that shows that the dev cares.”
- “The graphics aren't astonishing but that is made up for in the depth of gameplay.”
- “The "graphics" totally reek and it's a little more difficult than it needs to be.”
- “Controls take getting used to and graphics could have been better but the gameplay is totally worth it.”
monetization
38 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
61%
5%
34%
The game is highly praised for its honest monetization approach, offering a free, ad-free experience with no in-app purchases or paywalls. Players appreciate the absence of intrusive ads and microtransactions, making it a rare, fully enjoyable mobile roguelike that focuses purely on gameplay.
- “And it's free with no in-app purchases and no ads!”
- “No ads or way to spend real money in game.”
- “It's free meaning there are no ads or microtransactions to deal with (but if you like it you should donate to the creator) it is updated frequently, so check back often for cool new stuff and features!”
replayability
14 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
71%
29%
The game offers extensive replayability, driven by a vast variety of monsters, equipment, and randomly generated levels that keep each playthrough fresh and engaging. Despite a steep learning curve and some control issues, players find it deeply rewarding and endlessly playable as a roguelike experience.
- “The sheer magnitude of different monsters, equipment, and level design makes this game really replayable.”
- “Infinite replayability with randomly generated dungeons.”
- “Pathos: Nethack Codex is a deep, endlessly replayable roguelike.”
story
12 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
25%
50%
25%
The game offers minimal to no traditional story elements, focusing instead on emergent, player-driven narratives through roguelike gameplay and item interactions. While some players appreciate the freedom to create their own stories and character runs, others find the lack of quests, dialogue, or structured story mode disappointing. Overall, storytelling is light and relies heavily on player imagination rather than a defined narrative.
- “Simple and enjoyable roguelike with room for emergent storytelling.”
- “In my tell us more (optional) when I was rating this game Google asked me if it was horror; it definitely is. You will die a lot and be frustrated, but it's super fun. The farther you go, the prouder you become; it's more scary to die but just fun building your own different story after every death.”
- “I love creating and roleplaying my own custom characters with imported sprites—turning each run into a personal story.”
- “But, I think you would call it the story mode, is horrid.”
- “Also it would be nice if there were quests, a story, dialogue, etc. in that mode.”
- “The only thing I would ask is to add a story.”
stability
10 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
10%
90%
The game exhibits significant stability issues, including frequent bugs, unexplained mechanics, and occasional freezing during gameplay and registration. However, some improvements have been made through updates, and it generally runs well on budget phones despite multiplayer connection glitches.
- “A wonderfully difficult roguelike that runs great even on budget phones.”
- “It is extremely buggy.”
- “In addition, sometimes it freezes when you try to register.”
- “If I attack its tail, my game freezes for whatever reason.”
humor
7 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Users find the game's humor engaging and consistently entertaining, highlighting amusing in-game moments like unintended consequences of spells and quirky character reactions. The blend of humorous interactions with clever gameplay adds charm without relying on obscure mechanics, making for a fun and lighthearted rogue-like experience.
- “It's super funny getting Midas touch as I instantly thought of Mr. Krabs saying, "I like money," and then started grabbing every dead body I ever passed up as gold.”
- “Master mode has me laughing for hours straight as I attain godhood from step 1.”
- “Okay, casting scrolls on yourself and not knowing what it does is funny; one moment you will be alive, then accidentally delete your entire species with the genocide scroll.”
grinding
7 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
14%
86%
Grinding in the game is seen as both a challenge and a chore, with frequent enemy encounters making progression feel repetitive and sometimes tedious. While loot rewards from grinding are appreciated, the game can be difficult to understand due to poor descriptions. Additionally, the touch controls contribute to the grind feeling more cumbersome, especially compared to traditional keyboard play.
- “You just get bombarded with enemies that makes the game seem very grindy.”
- “Feels pretty grindy for a roguelike though if you want to survive.”
- “I love nethack, however, as great as the port of it may be, it's way too tedious and clunky without a keyboard.”
optimization
3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game is well optimized for mobile devices, offering a complex system that runs smoothly and efficiently. Its touchscreen interface is streamlined and user-friendly, making it one of the best-optimized versions compared to other platforms.
- “It's an incredible game with depth, similar to the mobile version of Stone Soup, with a quite complex system that is well optimized for mobile.”
- “Nethack optimized for phones.”
- “I have played many versions of Nethack on different platforms; this has the best interface by far, streamlined and optimized for touchscreen.”
music
3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
67%
33%
Users appreciate the game's atmospheric background music and sound, enhancing the overall experience; however, some encounter issues with the game force closing when running other music apps in the background on Android.
- “From the atmospheric background music to the super intuitive UI, I kept finding things about this app to enjoy.”
- “Good sound and music.”
atmosphere
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Users praise the game's atmospheric medieval setting for its immersive and claustrophobic feel, enhanced by haunting background music and an intuitive UI that deepens the overall experience.
- “The atmospheric medieval feel (and gun feel) is just so good, it's like claustrophobic and hallucinations on a whole new level.”
- “From the atmospheric background music to the super intuitive UI, I kept finding things about this app to enjoy.”