When comparing HyperRogue vs Nethack, the Slant community recommends Nethack for most people. In the question“What are the best roguelikes/roguelites on PC?” Nethack is ranked 16th while HyperRogue is ranked 73rd. The most important reason people chose Nethack is:
Nethack is a game that you can play for hundreds of hours and still not master. But you'll have tons of fun attempting to master it.
Specs
Ranked in these QuestionsQuestion Ranking
Pros
Pro Unique geometry
HyperRogue takes place in the hyperbolic plane. The grid of hexagons and heptagons and the straight lines which seem to be parallel diverge and never cross and many more unique and unusual geometric shapes.
Pro Easy to get into
A bit like in chess, the basic mechanics are based purely on movement, so no keys to learn. There are no stats, and most creatures are killed with a single hit -- the same is true for the player, but like in Chess, moves which would immediately lead to being killed are forbidden, so the game is over only when you are checkmated. Advanced parts of the game world include lands based on more complex mechanics, and magical orbs which give temporary special powers.
Pro Many different areas
Many areas based on various themes (R'Lyeh, Desert, Overgrown Forest, Living Cave, Palace, Carribean, etc.)
Pro Turn-based roguelike or local coop roguelite
Can be played both as a turn-based roguelike, and as a roguelite with smooth time. Local coop is available in the roguelite mode.
Pro Potential for enormous skill growth
Nethack is a game that you can play for hundreds of hours and still not master. But you'll have tons of fun attempting to master it.
Pro Depth
The gameplay is very deep due to the amount of skills and systems present in the game.
Pro Over two decades of constant development
Nethack was first released in 1987. The latest version, 3.6.0, came out in December 2015.
Pro ASCII and tiles available
Nethack is able to run on simple ASCII graphics or use graphic tiles instead.
Cons
Con Strange visual choices
One of the selling points of the game is also one of its biggest weaknesses. For some, it's simply headache inducing to look at.
Con Burden of knowledge
There's simply too much information that the game expects you to know before you can properly take advantage of the systems in the game.
Con Feature creep
NetHack has an overwhelming amount of features mostly because the development team found them cool at the time, but with little thought of their greater impact. For example, a Nethack staple is Sokoban as a built-in minigame, which feels out of place in a dungeon crawler.
The extremely large amount of items and abilities break the game's balance and coherence.
Con Outdated controls
You need to study a wiki just to learn the most basic controls. The game is broken in this regard.
Con ASCII Art
Con Run of the mill story
The story of the game is pretty generic fantasy fare. It features orcs, elves, and trolls in an effort for the hero to save the world. While it does not detract from the gameplay, it does seem very familiar to those interested in the genre.