DRL
About DRL
DRL is a free, open source roguelike video game based on Doom and Doom II. Formerly titled DoomRL the game is a was developed by Kornel Kisielewicz using Free Pascal. First released in 2013, DRL is an open source freeware title under GPLv2 license.
DRL is played from the top down perspective. The graphics of DRL use basic ASCII characters to render the game maps, character, monsters and other environment elements. DRL is also turn based and offers some combat heavy game play with both melee and ranged combat. As of release 0.9.9.6 the game’s default graphics now uses a tile based graphical set designed by Derek Yu. This gives the game a more traditional 8-bit graphical look and feel. There is still an option to play the game in the original ASCII version as well. The game features an 25 levels of random doom like dungeons, special levels, inventory system, three character classes and much more.
Initially called DoomRL (aka Doom Roguelike), the developer had to change the name in 2016 after a Cease and Desist order from ZeniMax Media, owners of id Software and the Doom franchise. Therefore, the title changed to DRL and the title screen similarly updated. The original Doom was released as open source a number of years ago and there have been dozens of source ports/clones and remakes of the classic Doom over the years.
How Free is DRL
DRL is completely free to download and play and is available for the PC, Mac and Linux operating system. The downloads page contains links and information on all of the various versions of DRL that can be downloaded.
Roguelike games such as this one, are a type of role playing video game that typically contain procedurally generated levels/maps, turn based game play and tile graphics. This genre of games has seen a resurgence in recent years with dozens available on Steam and other gaming platforms.
Be sure to have a look at Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup another graphical tile based roguelike game available for free download.